The Doctor Who Toolkit: Feminism
Did you know we create a whole Doctor Who Fandom Forward toolkit? Here’s one section on feminism— you can find the full toolkit at thehpalliance.org/FandomForward! The toolkit also covers representation, indigenous rights, and war.
Feminism
Feminism is the belief that every individual deserves equal rights. It is a commitment to eliminate systems of inequality and injustice. Feminism is a personal perspective, a political theory, and a social movement. Feminism combats patriarchy and oppression across lines of race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability.
Feminism has a long history full of hard-won battles, protests, risks, achievements, and disagreements. Like all social movements, feminism strives to empower oppressed populations and create positive change. Sounds like something your favorite Time Lord gets into, right?
Because of how long Doctor Who has been around and the fact that it’s a show about time travel, it can be used to take a look at the history of the feminist movement. This history is grouped into three major waves, or movements. These waves are characterized by major cultural and political achievements and aims.
It is important to note that we are highlighting the history of Western feminism, with our focus on the United States and the United Kingdom. This is by no means the entire history of feminism. There were and are many women throughout the world doing important work that are not mentioned here. Likewise, this entire toolkit is written from a Western perspective. Doctor Who is a British show but it is watched all over the world. There are many perspectives not illustrated here. It’s important to consider this while working through this toolkit.
Waves of Feminism
First Wave Feminism (late 1700s-early 1900s) Early feminists worked to highlight the legal and cultural inequalities between the sexes, mainly women’s right to vote, own property, and have other legal rights.
Second Wave Feminism (early 1960s-late 1980s) WWII triggered the second wave of feminism, which focused on building more equal working conditions for women as well. This gave way to building theories for women to examine their own roles and experiences within a feminist context: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949.
Third Wave Feminism (early 1990s-present) Both the first wave and second wave of feminism underrepresented women of color, whose criticism sparked the current third wave, where race, class, sexuality, and gender are incorporated within a more intersectional lens. Further, third wave feminism centers more on personal experiences of women and feminists.
First Wave Feminism in Doctor Who
As a television show, Doctor Who didn’t exist during the first wave. However, the Doctor and their companions do venture throughout the time period in their travels. During this time period, women were expected to be pure, submissive, and domestic. First wave feminists focused on a plethora of issues, namely the right to vote and own property, as well as obtain other legal rights they had long been denied.
1800s: The Unquiet Dead (S1:E3), aired 2005 This episode transports The Doctor and Rose back in time to the 1800s where they meet a young Charles Dickens and an alien race whose members possess dead human bodies.
The Bad:
• Mr. Sneed refers to his servant Gwyneth as “girl” and demands that she “listen to her master”
• Mr. Sneed threatens to fire Gwyneth if she doesn’t help him — like many unwed and underclass women, Gwyneth had very few choices in terms of work
• Rose is forced to change clothes because it’s “inappropriate” for her to dress so immodestly in this time period, while the Doctor remains in his usual clothes
• Mr. Sneed kidnaps Rose and Rose says his hands “had a quick wander” alluding to sexually assaulting her while she was drugged
• There are only white characters (as we’ve discussed this is unfortunately not unusual for Doctor Who)
The Good:
• Gwyneth insists to Mr. Sneed that they need help with their undead problem; this insistence could have resulted in her termination, as there were very few laws in place to protect domestic workers
• Rose calls out Mr. Sneed for drugging her and kidnapping her
• Rose stands by the “wild,” vulgar way she talks, saying, “maybe I am, maybe that’s a good thing”
• Gwyneth, who is shown as meek at the beginning of the episode, also insists that she has a choice in her future, and ends up dying for the cause
Women in the early 1800s had many reasons to be feminists, including fighting against this idea that women have to be covered in order to look virginal, that showing any ankle was scandalous. Likewise, this episode sheds light on the poor working conditions of working class women. Many feminists in the United Kingdom fought for better working conditions and opportunities for women during this time. Bonus: This episode passes the Bechdel test!
1913: Human Nature (S3:E8) / The Family of Blood (S3:E9), aired 2007 These episodes follow the Doctor and Martha as they hide from a family of aliens. The Doctor has trapped his memories in a watch and is living as a human, with human memories, as Martha works as a servant.
The Bad:
• Martha endures a lot of racism
• — Nurse Redfern refers to the Doctor as Martha’s “master,” adhering to the way racist standards were still firmly held in 1913
• — When Nurse Redfern noticed Martha’s obvious romantic feelings for the Doctor, she criticizes her for having the audacity to have feelings for a white man as a black woman
• — When Martha says that she is a doctor, Redfern says “one of your colour” could never train to be a doctor. Many of the schoolboys treat Martha unfairly, highlighting more of the racist standards of the time
• — Martha also has to endure unfair, and often racist, treatment from the Doctor while he doesn’t have his real memories
• Martha’s entire plot revolves around taking care of the Doctor, a common job given to women and female characters because they are “natural nurturers”
• The Doctor’s decision to hide in a time period and location that would obviously be dangerous for Martha as a black woman shows his lack of concern for her wellbeing
The Good:
• Martha stands up for herself when her skills as a physician are questioned by Nurse Redford — she easily names the bones of the hand, something only a doctor at the time could do
- Martha remains resilient even when she is treated unfairly by the people at the school and the Doctor — she shows strength in the face of hardship and discrimination; however, it is unfair to expect her, as a black women, to be strong in the face of discrimination. Black women are still unfairly expected to be composed and “the bigger person” when they are treated in unfair, and often violent, ways
These back-to-back episodes really display Martha’s kickass capabilities. She fights back against both racism and sexism. Black women were fighting diligently for their rights at the time — actively working for women’s suffrage — and the fact that it was a white woman who spoke down to Martha is similarly reflective of the time period: white suffragettes often looked down upon black women, viewed them as subservient, and tried to silence black women’s clubs which were also in the movement.
During first and second wave feminism black women were excluded, which forced them to stand up not only to men but to white women. This echoes the time period we’re currently living in — black women and all women of color are often excluded from feminist discussions. While many people view third wave feminism as more intersectional, there is still a long way to go before there is true intersectionality in feminism. Racism is a part of every facet of our world and it is important for us to acknowledge this so that we can then unlearn harmful white supremacist ideals.
Have you heard of “white feminism?” It refers to a type of feminism that focuses on the oppression of white women and fails to address the oppression of women of color and other minorities. First and second wave feminism notably fall under this category, even though many women of color were essential to the movements. White feminism is still a huge problem today, which is why it’s essential to practice intersectional feminism. Too often the experiences of white, educated, able-bodied women are seen as the universal female experience.
Second Wave Feminism in Doctor Who
“The 70’s era of Doctor Who is a messed up set of feminist contradictions. There are explicit references to women’s liberation, passionate feminist speeches, and triumphant moments where women get to call out condescending men. This era of Doctor Who is probably the most vocally feminist period in the show’s history. Yet it still relies heavily on regressive gender stereotypes and sexist tropes.” -Whovian Feminism
As a show, Doctor Who began during the rise of second wave feminism. There are strong female characters, references to the women’s liberation movement, and, like many science fiction shows, a determination to illustrate that sexism isn’t a universal trait.
1953: The Idiot’s Lantern (S2:E7), aired 2006 This episode follows the 10th Doctor and Rose as they travel to the week of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and save humanity from a nefarious television-inhabiting alien. As this episode takes place in 1953, it highlights many of the reasons why second wave feminism was needed.
The Bad:
• Eddie Connelly, the patriarch of the family the Doctor and Rose meet with throughout the episode, is depicted as abusive towards his son (and no one around them says anything)
• There is a lot of casual sexism, the majority of it from Mr. Connelly
• Mrs. Rita Connelly’s mother is kept shut upstairs by Mr. Connelly after her face and mind are taken by the Wire; this is reminiscent of how women with mental illnesses, or even simply “un-feminine” qualities like independence, were treated during this time (see The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
• When Mr. Connelly calls his son Tommy a “mommy’s boy,” a neighbor responds with an extremely homophobic comment, “beat that out of him”
The Good:
• The Doctor doesn’t take any of Mr. Connelly’s sexism
• — When Mr. Connelly yells at his wife to put the flags up in their living room because it’s “women’s work,” the Doctor opposes this by stating the feminine gender of the queen and makes Mr. Connelly put them up
• Rose doesn’t take any of Mr. Connelly’s sexism either
• Rita Connelly eventually kicks her husband out of their house!
• Tommy Connelly gives his father an impassioned speech about his sexist, controlling behaviour
This episode tackles much of the sexism that inspired second wave feminism. Domestic violence was at the center of feminist conversations during this time. In many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, there were very few options for women who were abused by their husbands or partners. Second wave feminism addressed this problem in many ways, including creating organizations such as Refuge in the United Kingdom and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in the United States.
1970s: The Time Monster (S9:D3), aired 1972 This episode follows the 3rd Doctor and companion Jo Grant as they uncover the Master’s disguise as a professor at Cambridge University, discover his evil plan, and subsequently follow him back in time to the yet-to-be-lost city of Atlantis.
The Bad:
• The Master is very, very sexist; he treats his very intelligent colleague Dr. Ruth Ingram in a sexist manner because of her gender
• The Doctor is sexist too, especially towards Jo (“Do stop wiffling, Jo, there’s a good girl.”)
• Queen Galleia is dressed in clothes that reveal a lot of cleavage — “evil” women are often depicted as being “hypersexual” and, therefore, bad
• While Jo is a smart character, she is given some truly sexist dialogue including, “Look, I know I’m exceedingly dim, but would you mind explaining?
The Good:
• Dr. Ruth Ingram is a strong, intelligent doctor and feminist; she calls out the Master for patronizing her because she’s a woman and has stellar lines like, “A bland assumption of male superiority,” and “Oh, why are you men so spineless?”
• Jo shows great strength and resolve, even when alone with enemies like the Master
• Kronos is a woman, or perhaps more accurately, genderfluid (“Shapes mean nothing. I can be all things.”)
• The Women’s Liberation Movement is mentioned, however offhandedly (“May God bless the good ship women’s lib and all who sail in her.”)
“The Time Monster” is a great example of Doctor Who during second wave feminism. There are feminist characters, such as Dr. Ruth Ingram, who call out sexism within the story. She also serves as a strong female character, a role often left only to the Doctor’s companions. Dr. Ruth Ingram’s character also highlights some of the major battles second wave feminists were waging at the time, especially gender inequality and blatant sexism in the workplace. However, having one feminist character doesn’t necessarily equate to a feminist episode or show. Many of the other female characters are lumped into sexist stereotypes and treated unfairly by the male characters.
Third Wave Feminism in Doctor Who
“Television was, for most women, the first place they saw themselves represented.” -Andi Zeisler, Feminism and Pop Culture
By most accounts, we are currently in the third wave of feminism (though, much like Doctor Who, not everyone agrees on the timeline). There are still many more opportunities to come for strong, female characters and TV shows that address social justice topics. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roseanne helped pave the way for more more badass female characters as well as shows that looked more deeply at social issues. Feminist Riot Grrrl zines like Bitch: A Feminist Response to Pop Culture and later online forums and blogs also allowed for a more open dialogue about feminism’s role in popular culture.
In our current wave of feminism, people often write about women in increasingly diverse ways. There are websites like Bitch Media, Autostraddle, Everyday Feminism, and Feminist Frequency that allow pop culture consumers to explore intersectional issues of media. Websites like Youtube, Tumblr, and Twitter allow fans of shows to communicate directly to each other, and creators, about their favorite shows and whether or not they do a good job at representing different groups of people.
1814: Thin Ice (S10:E3), aired 2017 In this episode, the Doctor and Bill go to 1814 and uncover a rich man’s plot to enslave a sea creature and feed fair goers to it in order to produce powerful fuel.
“History’s a whitewash.” — The Doctor
The Bad:
• The Doctor fails to consider the potential danger Bill would be in as a black woman during the Regency Era (until she brings it up)
• Lord Sutcliffe is openly really racist to Bill (he refers to her as “this creature”)
• The Doctor tells Bill she should let him do the talking because, as a black woman, she may be unable to calmly handle speaking with a racist white man (as if she doesn’t have more experience with it than he does)
• The Doctor makes light of the homeless children’s living situation — one faced by many children at the time
• The Doctor puts the final decision of the episode on Bill, potentially freeing himself from any future guilt associated with the consequences (this wouldn’t be the first time)
The Good:
• The Doctor acknowledges his white privilege by telling Bill he “isn’t the person to ask” about staying safe as a black person in Regency England
• The Doctor punches a racist!
• Bill notes that, “Regency England’s a bit more black than they show in the movies,” to which the Doctor replies, “So was Jesus. History’s a whitewash.” Hey — acknowledgement of non-white people before the 1900s!
This episode is a great example of how third wave feminism has influenced pop culture, especially television shows. This episode’s inclusion of discussions around race, class, and gender illustrate how modern feminists are working to show the importance of intersectionality within feminism.
Bonus: This episode was written by a woman! Sarah Dollard has written two episodes for the series so far!
4126: Planet of the Ood (S4E3), aired 2008 This episode follows the Doctor and Donna to the Ood-Sphere where they investigate Ood Operations, a company that sells the Ood, an alien introduced in The Impossible Planet (S2E8), as a slave race.
The Bad:
• When Donna asks the Doctor why he didn’t do anything to help the Ood the last time he saw them, he responds, “I never asked [if they were happy], I was busy.”
• Ood are a race that humans met and, apparently immediately, turned into a slave (or, as the company calls them, “servant”) race because they could (sound familiar?)
• There are different “voice translators” for the Ood, including one “for the gentleman” where Ood speak in a feminine voice while making sexually suggestive comments
• Many of the Ood’s captors and slave-handlers are people of color, which works to erase the history of slavery on Earth
The Good:
• Donna immediately is horrified at the slavery of the Ood
• Even when Donna is handcuffed, she maintains her resolve that she and the Doctor are doing the right thing
• Instead of the usual narrative of the Doctor saving the day (White Savior trope), the Ood effectively free themselves through their assumed leaders, Ood and Ood Sigma, and help form the activist group Friends of the Ood
• The episode uses the fantastic racism trope to discuss both the history of slavery and the continued use of slave labor for mass production of goods
This episode is one of the best examples of Doctor Who’s use of the fantastic racism trope in a positive manner to create a dialogue around modern day slavery and inhumane working conditions. When Donna expresses horror at the treatment of the Ood by humans, the Doctor responds by asking who she thinks made her clothes. Likewise, when Donna tells the tour guide that she’s going to tell people on Earth about the treatment of the Ood, the guide responds that people don’t ask or care. This mirrors the current reality of worker mistreatment and human rights abuses in factories in many parts of the world today.
What is Feminist Pop Culture Criticism?
“Pop culture informs our understanding of political issues that on first glance seem to have nothing to do with pop culture; it also makes us see how something meant as pure entertainment can have everything to do with politics.” — Andi Zeisler, Feminism and Pop Culture
Feminism offers a unique perspective for analyzing the world we live in, including the media we consume. Feminist pop culture criticism focuses on using feminist ideas to understand, analyze, and discuss pop culture.
Feminist pop culture analysis incorporates the analysis of plots as well as production. It’s important to look at what the storylines are about and who is creating them. While many Doctor Who episodes can be considered feminist, or, more accurately, that they can be used to explore feminist issues, there have only been nine women writers over the entire 50+ year history of Doctor Who. Only NINE non-male writers. Throughout the ENTIRE show. While there have been many female characters, they have almost exclusively been written by male writers.
Likewise, while Doctor Who has employed many women as producers, including Verity Lambert, the very first producer for Doctor Who, and Julie Gardner, who served as a co-producer at the beginning of the revival series, the show has been headed up exclusively by male showrunners and head writers since 2005. One of the reasons Doctor Who is so successful is its strong female characters and companions; however, this is not well- reflected behind-the-scenes.
Further, much like intersectional feminism, the inequity in the writing and production of Doctor Who goes well beyond gender. People of color are sorely and blatantly absent from Doctor Who both in front of and behind the camera. This lack of representation does nothing but reduce the quality of the show and further the agenda of inequality in pop culture. While we are all tremendously excited for a woman to fill the 13th Doctor’s shoes, as it moves Doctor Who into a more gender equitable series, there is still a vast chasm left by hiring another white actor to play the lead character. As Tonya Pennington from Black Girl Nerds writes,
“It is high time people realized that women of color want to see themselves in on-screen fantasy and sci-fi works as the hero and not just the companion, love-interest, or secondary character. As one of the most popular British shows and sci-fi franchises, the show has no legitimate excuse for not making The Doctor a woman of color, especially since there are plenty of actresses that could play the role.”
We hope that Doctor Who begins to address its race issues in the upcoming seasons, both in front of and behind the camera. Science fiction isn’t, and has never been, an exclusively white genre. Doctor Who needs to take lessons from itself, its history, and its fans, because the show is about acceptance, progress, justice, and doing the right thing even when everyone else is running the other way.
TALK IT OUT
- How does male privilege factor into how the Doctor moves through his adventures?
- How do you think having a female Doctor will affect the role of the companion?
- Why is the Doctor always white? What would happen if they weren’t?
- Why is the Doctor (generally) always shown as heterosexual? How does sexuality play into their character?
- Do you think of Doctor Who as a “feminist show?” Why or why not?
- What makes a piece of pop culture feminist?
- Why do you think intersectional feminism is important?
- How is feminist pop culture criticism beneficial when watching a show like Doctor Who?
- Are there some ways in which each new Doctor reflects a new wave of feminism?
- How might it have been different to have been a fan of Doctor Who while the series was in its first run, during second wave feminism?
- What does a female character need to accomplish to be considered “strong”? Have you noticed a change in women’s representation between Classic Who and Current Who?
- How can a show with a global audience better address these issues with a global perspective?
TAKE ACTION
- Create a whole new Doctor! Write a short script where the Doctor identifies as something different than a heterosexual white man. How does this influence or not influence the story? Have fun with it! Cast your friends as characters and act it out! Bonus points for fleshing out your own companion.
- Host a viewing party and discuss these issues with your friends and family.
- Poll members of your chapter or group to see how many male Doctor Who characters they can name as opposed to women. What about white versus nonwhite characters?
- Host a discussion at your local library using the Talk It Out questions above; make it public!
- Learn more about the different waves of feminism and different intersectional views by reading works of powerful women of color such as Kimberle Crenshaw, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Alice Walker, Patricia Hill Collins, Beverley Guy-Sheftall, and Dorothy Pitman Hughes.
- Educate yourself on the history of black womanism, first coined in 1983 by Alice Walker: “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.”
- Discuss current issues with people who may not be on the same page as you. Just as it took time for the Doctor to advocate for other races, it may take those close to you a bit of soul searching — for lack of time travel — to get to thinking critically about what they’ve been taught growing up about those who are different.
- Support a female creator on platforms such as Patreon.
Resources & References
THE GOOD DOCTOR: FOUR ARGUMENTS FOR WHY “DOCTOR WHO” SHOULD GET A FEMALE DOCTOR via Bitch Media
Doctor Who’s First Queer Companion Echoes My Own Gay Journey Through Space and Time
Via Autostraddle
Four Waves of Feminism via Pacific University Oregon
UNIVERSITY STUDY ON SEXISM IN BBC’S DOCTOR WHO (INFOGRAPHIC) via rebeccaamoore.com
Interview with Rachel Talalay: How are directors hired? via Whovian Feminism
YOU GO GIRL! — Feminism: QUEER KID STUFF #7 via Queer Kid Stuff
Feminist Criticism (1960s-present) via Purdue Owl
Social Movements via Wikipedia
What is a Womanist via Fatema Hayat
The Unquiet Dead via Mark Gatiss
History of the Doctor via Doctor Who Reviews
Whovian Feminism Reviews “The Time Monster” via Whovian Feminism
Women’s Role in Society in the 1800s via UK Essays
Intersectionality via Geek Feminism Wiki
How much power did Queen Victoria have over Britain’s policy decisions? via Quora
Queen Victoria: The woman who redefined Britain’s monarchy via BBC
Recap / Doctor Who S28 E2 “Tooth and Claw” via TV Tropes
African American Women and Suffrage via National Women’s History Museum
“Silent” Sexual Revolution Began In 1940’s and ’50s via Extracts
How Often Does Doctor Who Pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test? via The Mary Sue
Watching New Who: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances via Tansyrr
Captain Jack Harkness: Gender, Sexuality, and Queer Time via Vanderbilt University
The Android Invasion (TV story) via Tardis
10:00 AM / May 31, 2016 Female Atlantic Writers From the ’70s via The Atlantic
FACEBOOK FANDOM SPOTLIGHT: DOCTOR WHO FANS. 50% WOMEN! Via Brett Schenker
Teach US History Early Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Women and Their Roles as Represented By Literature Popular in Worcester, Massachusetts via Elaine Fortin
How Often Does Doctor Who Pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test? via The Mary Sue
Baby Steps, Yay! Doctor Who Hires First Female Writer Since 2008 via The Mary Sue
Doctor Who: Thin Ice, Series 10 Episode 3 Review — A Touch of Nostalgia Keeps Old-Fashioned Caper Rollicking Along via Telegraph
Column: The ‘Angry Black Woman’ is a False Stereotype via The Maneater
Women: From Abolition to the Vote via BBC
In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm via In These Times
Sarah Dollard via Wikipedia
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