Lady Doctor

There has been a great deal of hemming and hawing over the announcement of the 13th Doctor. Jodie Whitaker.

I’d just like to say, stahp.

Nothing you say or do is going to change it, so just stop.

And complaining about gender? What is this, 1940? Well, maybe in some episodes. But not now. Grow the fuck up. Society did. (Mostly. Kinda.)

Sure, I have opinions on the new Doctor. And sure, I’m going to state them here, because it’s my blog. But I guarantee you that NONE of it is causing me to think that her vagina is going to prevent her from being an amazing Doctor.

First of all, when I read the announcement, I saw: “Broadchurch Star To Be New Doctor” and I thought “Olivia Colman! Get the fuck out, that’s genius!” Then I saw “Jodie Whitaker” and I was like, “Oh.” Not because I think she’ll be terrible, but because I’ve only seen her in Broadchurch. I’ve seen Olivia in EVERYTHING and I think she’s great at comedy AND drama which is a huge deal for the new Doctor. So, and this is not Jodie’s fault, it was setup with some disappointment.

Moving on. She was great in Broadchurch. And I hope that she has a great working relationship with Chris Chinball which works itself out into an amazing product for the screen. I loved Broadchurch, I loved Torchwood. Let’s roll. I’m game.

In terms of her being a woman, here are my only thoughts.

1. I AM worried that it’s going to come across as a bit contrived since we’ve already had Missy in the role of the Master. I’m afraid we’re forcing it a bit. But I hope hope hope that the reason for choosing her was that she’d be an amazing Doctor and the reason was not to check a diversity box. (After all, she’s a conventionally attractive, relatively young, British white woman. Not super diverse.)
2. I can’t wait to see her outfit. This isn’t in the same vein as “what did Hillary Clinton wear?” because fuck that. But, it’s because I am curious about this with each and every doctor. BOWTIES. I’m also seeing more cosplay opportunities now that the Doctor and I will share a gender. I like to play dress up. You do too, don’t lie.

That’s it. Vagina. Penis. What the holy hell does it matter? Why do people think that she’s going to be LESS of a Doctor because of this? The absurdity of it makes my brain ache. We’ve had capable female actors playing capable roles since Peg Hughes in 1660. That’s truth, look it up. It’s been 350 years. Keep watching the show, fools. Let’s roll with this and see how it goes.

In the words of my favorite: Allons-y!