anedumacation:

shaelephant replied to your post: shaelephant replied to your post: I actually…

i’m in the process of writing some ridiculous manifesto about how moffat fucked up female agency in doctor who. (not that i don’t love moffat, but… he did.) it loves on rose, donna, martha, amy and river a lot, and how the last 2 got shafted.

I’d be interested in reading that, because to be very honest, I don’t buy the Moffat-is-sexist arguments. 

So, I invite you to try to change my mind. 

I too remain unsold on Moffat being sexist.

Which, to qualify, it’s not that I feel he’s Officially Not Sexist, just that he’s merely your average Guy Who Writes Sci-Fi. To me, he’s as sexist as he is homophobic and racist.

Yes, the alien pregnancy was cheap and tacky, and yes there are some very awkward questions that arise out of River Song being brainwashed. But Moffat isn’t Joss Wheden, and never claimed to be. While he never managed to sell alien pregnancies and brainwashing as legitimate plot devices to me, they were still more interestingly explored than usual, and were by no means as much a massive slap in the face as the (many) fails in Buffy.

And while I’d never argue that Amy or River were feminist icons, because that would be silly, they were at the very least two very well written, well rounded female characters, with two very well written story arcs, on a massively popular prime time TV show. In a science fiction format no less. Ok, so maybe those story arcs didn’t make any sense whatsoever, but they were still enjoyable to watch.