Dear Steven Moffat
Whilst I appreciate your continued dedication to keeping one of my favourite television shows in its rightful place on BBC1 in the prime time Saturday night slot, there is something we really need to have words about. Two words, actually: a phase. To have a female character refer to an ex-girlfriend as “just a phase” might have seemed like a throwaway line to you, but it will have struck a nerve with most of your bisexual viewers. To have your sexuality dismissed as “just a phase” by friends and family is something you’ve probably never experienced, but bisexuals are treated that way far more often than you’d think. To have a character on a successful television show use that phrase about her own sexual history will mean that a whole bunch of people will feel their narrow view point has been validated.
Do us all a favour and take a tip from your predecessor. If you’re going to include a character who’s attracted to men and women, make them a bit more like Captain Jack Harkness. Make them bold and unapologetic. Make them strong and decisive. Or… just don’t even go there. To be honest, we preferred it when you weren’t even trying to restore ‘the gay agenda’ to Doctor Who. We also preferred it when Amy wasn’t a model and River wasn’t obsessed with the size of her own arse, but we were trying so hard not to complain. Let’s hope the way your female characters have been going is “just a phase”, eh?
Yours hopefully
Lori Smith
Image via Radio Times.
I still want to see a woman Doctor – can you imagine the whole set of new conditions and conventions to play with then?
Oh God, yes. The way women are going in this series is slowly but inexorably getting worse and worse. Just less and less depth and more nonsense.
It didn't help that the new character was Seriously. Freakin'. Annoying. either.
The new character was a little annoying. I was thinking maybe she'll get better but during that episode she didn't.
I like that she's a genius, though. More smart women need to be represented.
On the bisexual thing, it made my skin crawl. Why did she need that line, why did she need to justify her actions? Perhaps it was more Moffat showing us how the human race evolves in terms of sexuality.
Captain Jack was unapolagetic but maybe Oswin is from an earlier time when that sort of openness is becoming more acceptable but she still feels she has to justify herself…
I bet RTD could write a good female Doctor! They need him to do the characters and Moffat to write the stories.
Am I right in thinking this Oswin is the new companion? Hopefully she'll be better once we meet her properly (like Donna was).
Moffat has confirmed that River Song is, like Jack, bisexual.
https://twitter.com/steven_moffat/status/200839207386746880
There's a really great analysis about Queer Representation in Doctor Who on the Feminist Whoniverse blog which you might want to read. I don't agree with everything in it or necessarily the blog in its entirety, but it brings up some very interesting discussion points.
http://feministwhoniverse.tumblr.com/tagged/Queer-Representation-and-Visibility-in-Doctor-Who
Thanks for the links, Cate!