When the BBC announced that actress Jodie Whittaker had been slated to be the thirteenth Doctor Who, a lot of back slapping and chest thumping ensued about how cutting edge changing the gender of a character who had hitherto been played by a white man. Even male Dr. Who fans, whom one might think would be irate at their idol being played by a woman, seemed content with the idea. However, complaints about the female Dr. Who have arisen from an unexpected quarter, according to the Daily Caller.
It’s not enough that Dr. Who is a woman
Feminist Critic Anita Sarkeesian is apparently irate at the selection of Jodie Whittaker as the new doctor. The issue is not that she is a woman – that is fine – but that she is white and cisgendered (identifies as the gender that biology has assigned her).
She slammed “Dr. Who” as the “whitest show on television.” Her position is that if the BBC was going to bow to diversity, it needed to go all the way and make the new Doctor a transgendered woman of color, thus addressing all of the groups who have been affronted over the decades because the character has always been a white guy.
Why Sarkeesian lacks imagination when it comes to diversity
Of course, forgetting that “Dr. Who” is about a super being who travels through time and space fixing the universe’s problems in his Tardis, one wonders why one should stop at gender, race, or sexual identification where diversity is concerned.
For instance, why can’t the Doctor be an actual, non-humanoid alien?
Make him a reptilian being, like the Gorn from “Star Trek” or an insect hive colony. Or, better yet, he could be a centaur-like creature. Come on, BBC, this is science fiction, not Shakespeare in the Park. Get out of your speciesist mindset.
The Doctor could be a robot, though, perhaps not a Dalek or a Cyberman.
In keeping with the character’s irascible personality, one has in mind Bender from “Futurama.”
The nationality problem
And then there is the issue of the Doctor’s nationality. Why does he always have to be British? Most fans of the series do not live in Great Britain, but rather in the United States. Bruce Campbell would make a great Doctor.
Or, if making the Doctor an American is too rich for the blood of the suits at the BBC, make him someone from a country in the Commonwealth. Paul Hogan as an Aussie Doctor would be a hoot. He could even wear the hat and the vest and carry, along with the sonic screwdriver, a knife.
