My objection has more to do with contemporary sexism than Gallifreyan biology or culture. The Doctor has to seem alien. My biggest objection to, say, Tennant, was that he never sold alienness to me; my favourite Doctors seem the least human.
I think the alienness stems from a sort of awkwardness, weird features, subtle mannerisms, etc., and that is a thing that tends to be more culturally permissible among male actors than female. I can think of a handful of women who I think would pull it off—Tilda Swinton, Janelle Monae—but in general even the BBC casts for pretty with women and casts for interesting with men. I would, of course, like to see more weird and alien looking women on screen, but that's tangential.
It's also a very visceral reaction because I grew up with the show and the Doctor's always been male. Internalized sexism, I guess, but it's also hugely important to have that kind of archetype and role model. The Doctor's defining characteristics—compassion, intellect over violence, humanism in the philosophical sense—tend to be derided in men, and having the hero of a sci-fi show be all about words over fists is quite rare and significant from a feminist perspective. He shows young boys how they should act, and young girls an expectation of how men should act.
I do really want there to be a POC Doctor, though. Not for a very long time, because I want Capaldi to be the Doctor for a very long time, but for 13. Specifically, Idris Elba.
no subject
I think the alienness stems from a sort of awkwardness, weird features, subtle mannerisms, etc., and that is a thing that tends to be more culturally permissible among male actors than female. I can think of a handful of women who I think would pull it off—Tilda Swinton, Janelle Monae—but in general even the BBC casts for pretty with women and casts for interesting with men. I would, of course, like to see more weird and alien looking women on screen, but that's tangential.
It's also a very visceral reaction because I grew up with the show and the Doctor's always been male. Internalized sexism, I guess, but it's also hugely important to have that kind of archetype and role model. The Doctor's defining characteristics—compassion, intellect over violence, humanism in the philosophical sense—tend to be derided in men, and having the hero of a sci-fi show be all about words over fists is quite rare and significant from a feminist perspective. He shows young boys how they should act, and young girls an expectation of how men should act.
I do really want there to be a POC Doctor, though. Not for a very long time, because I want Capaldi to be the Doctor for a very long time, but for 13. Specifically, Idris Elba.