POINTS OF DEBATE: WHAT GENDER DO WE ASSIGN THE DOCTOR?

POINTS OF DEBATE continues as August moves on. I mentioned in the last entry that the 96 Telemovie has created a fair amount of controversy that I'd like to address in this format. I already discussed some of its disruptive influence in the previous essay so let's draw away from that for a bit and tackle a different topic. 


We're probably going to get into, at least, a bit of a social justice discussion in this entry (which might upset some of you since you were certain all of Series 11 was riddled with pesky SJW messages). Most specifically, we'll be looking at some of the ideas presented by those who consider themselves transgendered. As usual, I'm going to try to skirt the issue as much as possible. Pretentious Doctor Who Essays will always try to stay away from political discussions and stick as much as possible to just nerdy Doctor Who stuff. However, how transgenders (or trans, for short) view themselves is a handy way to perceive Time Lords who have regenerated into both forms. So we're probably going to incorporate an ideology or two that they use.

A while back, when I tried to properly chronicle River Song's timeline, we got into a brief discussion of Right To Life vs Pro Choice. No feathers seemed to get ruffled on that occasion. I'm hoping the same happens here.


ACTUAL TIME LORDS WHO HAVE CROSSED GENDERS

While even Sydney Newman, himself, was open to the concept of Time Lords being able to alternate reproductive organs from incarnation to incarnation, we've not seen this actually happen until very recently. Here are the only Time Lords, thus far, who have demonstrated this ability:

The Corsair - We've never actually seen the Corsair. We've only heard talk of him. The Doctor mentioned in The Doctor's Wife that he seemed to be mainly male but occasionally switched to female during certain incarnations.

Missy - This was the first hard evidence that Time Lords could change genders (Eleven could talk a lot of nonsense, sometimes, so we weren't entirely sure if what he was saying about the Corsair was actually true). After being the Master for many incarnations, he has a regeneration where he becomes a woman and chooses to alter her title accordingly. It's my personal theory that there are multiple incarnations of the Master that we never saw onscreen. (I explain this theory better here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/10/chronologies-and-timelines-master-part-1.html). While we may not have witnessed every body the Master has worn, to the best of our knowledge, he was always male until Missy.

The General - The first gender change regeneration that we see happen before our very eyes. In this instance, the General has always been female with just one male body.

The Doctor - Finally, it happens to our protagonist. Once more, this is a Time Lord that has been pre-dominantly male. Even if we count those "secret incarnations" that we saw in Brain of Morbius as being valid (which I dismiss as balderdash, anyway. Those were Morbius' previous bodies), they were all men. Thirteen is the first Woman Doctor.



I think it's safe to say that there is a definite pattern, here. While Time Lords can change genders, they tend to stick to one of them most of the time. This will help validate, at least, one of the theories regarding what type of pronoun to assign them. We'll explore that idea soon enough....

It may be entirely possible that there are Time Lords who bounce back and forth frequently. They're male one incarnation - female the next. Then back to male. Then back to female. And so on... We have never seen a Time Lord like this, yet. So, until we do, I like to think that Time Lords choose a sort of "main gender" and only occasionally deviate from it.

With that mind then, let's look at our first method of gender assignation:



PREDOMINANT PRONOUN

It's a simple enough idea, of course. Whichever sex a Time Lord is most of the time receives the appropriate pronoun. The Corsair, Master and Doctor were all, mainly, men. So we use "he" or "him" when we talk about them. The General would be called "she" or "her" because she's a woman throughout most of her incarnations.

The problem with this method becomes apparent very quickly. When we are talking about something the Time Lord did while they were in their recessive gender - it starts to sound stupid.

For example: The General tried to stop the Doctor from stealing The Moment during the Time Wars. However, when she arrived at the appropriate storage chamber in the Omega Vault, the Moment was already gone. 

I intentionally used the General since she was in a male incarnation when we first met her. So assigning a pronoun that doesn't suit what she was doing during any of the events of Day of the Doctor feels extra odd.

But we can see how this doesn't really work with other Time Lords, too.

Example 2: At the climax of Death In Heaven, Missy reveals that he has been building a Cyber Army for  his arch nemesis the whole time. All those Cybermen are meant to be a gift for the Doctor. 

That one makes even less sense since we're even using a female name but assigning her a male pronoun. The Predominant Pronoun idea seems to be only so applicable. 



THE SLASHES - PART 1: HIM/HER

In many ways, this one probably works best. It is the most comprehensive, at least. Whenever you are talking about a Time Lord that has crossed into both genders, you don't use a gender specific pronoun, anymore. You assign them with him/her, instead. This allows you to explore any exploit they've done in whatever body and you never get the gender wrong.

Example: At first, we believe the Doctor is the only being in the Universe to own a TARDIS. But we discover quite quickly that he/she is not alone. By the end of Season Two, we encounter his/her first rival Time Lord: The Monk! 

Even though we're talking about adventures involving the First Doctor, we are never forgetting the fact that later incarnations will not always be men. It's a very safe blanket statement that makes us never forget that the Doctor is both sexes.

The biggest drawback to this is that he/she does start becoming tedious quite quickly. Yes, it is a very inclusive way to address him/her. But, honestly, we just want to start assigning a specific gender after a while rather than using "the slash" all the time. I know this is an issue of aesthetics more than anything. But whenever I start saying him/her or he/she a lot, I just feel like it's getting tired. It's really best to only use it in instances where you're addressing all the incarnations of a Time Lord.

Example 2: Throughout all of his/her incarnations, the Master/Missy has frequently shown selfish motives and a strong leaning towards destructiveness. Once in a while, he/she will actually form an alliance with the Doctor and do selfless and constructive things - but there's always an ulterior motive behind the gesture. 

I do find this method works well in a situation like this. We are talking about the entire personal history of the Doctor's greatest rival. So both pronouns should be assigned, here. Note that I even said Master/Missy since I am discussing all of his/her incarnations. A Time Lord that changes titles depending on the gender of the incarnation should have both names mentioned when speaking of them in such a context.


THE SLASHES - PART 2: THEY/THEM


Here is where we actually borrow a concept from the Transgender Community. A Time Lord that changes gender once in a while vaguely resembles what we might call someone who is "non-binary" or "gender fluid". Like these Time Lords, they mainly identify as one gender. They might be born female but identify as male most of the time. Frequently, you will see someone like this dressing to look like a man.  However, some trans people will actually feel like the gender they were born with once in a while. So, on certain days, someone female-born  who mainly identifies as male may actually choose to put on a dress, wear make-up and put their hair up in a feminine style (or wear a wig that is female-looking). Again, most of the time, they appear male. But they have these feminine days every now and again. When they do, they change their appearance accordingly. The same thing can happen, of course, with a male-born trans who is non-binary or gender fluid.

People of this persuasion prefer that we use the pronouns they/them when referring to them. Again, it's very inclusive and gets us to remember that, though they frequently identify as just one gender, this is not always the case. This concept can work with the Doctor, too. Particularly when referring to the exploits of all incarnations.

Example: Wherever they go in Time and Space, the Doctor always chooses to stand up for the oppressed and defeat the tyrant. The evil dictator may even appear to hold some victory over them during part of the battle. But, in the end, the Doctor usually wins. 

Another problem of aesthetics arises with this method. It's a pluralization. So it starts to sound like we are talking about several people (which is, sort of, the case with a Time Lord) when we are actually only meant to be discussing a single character. Yes, a Time Lord is represented by many different incarnations but they are meant to be one individual. Using this particular pronoun becomes legitimately confusing.

I do actually have a few non-binary or gender fluid friends. They even admit that, while this is the way they prefer to be addressed, they can see how it can get really complicated, sometimes. There are moments when it really does just sound like you're talking about an entire group rather than a single person!



ONE METHOD THAT DEFINITELY WORKS - BUT ONLY IN CERTAIN CONTEXTS

Since this is a POINTS OF DEBATE essay, I am choosing to show advantages and disadvantages to every theory I present rather than trying to take a specific side on the issue. However, I do feel that there is one method that definitely works - just not all of the time.

Quite simply, when we are talking about the specific exploits of a certain incarnation - we should employ the gender of that incarnation. If something happened exclusively to the Fourth Doctor, then we would refer to the Doctor as he/him. By the same token, if it's a Thirteenth Doctor adventure, then we switch to she/her.

Example 1: Sutehk made a conscious effort in the early 1900s to escape from the prison his people placed him in. Fortunately, the Doctor was able to thwart him. However, he came very close to losing...

Example 2: The Pting is, perhaps, one of the most dangerous creatures in the Universe. However, on the only occasion that we've seen the Doctor encounter one, she came up with a clever solution to rid herself of it. 

As we can see, these are references to very specific stories featuring a certain incarnation of the Doctor. In such an instance, we should use the gender of that incarnation. Something broader doesn't really work well. So why not just commit to the appropriate pronoun?


ULTIMATE CONCLUSION:

When dealing with something isolated, calling Doctors One to Twelve "boys" and Thirteen a "girl" is the best way to go. But what should we use when dealing with all the incarnations of a gender fluid Time Lord?

I was inspired to write up this debate because I find myself actually asking this quite frequently when I work on these essays. If I'm talking about the entire history of the Doctor or the Master/Missy (or the other two we mentioned) I am often puzzling over what pronoun to assign them.

Have I found a personal preference? No. This really is a huge grey area for me. If you should start looking through previous essays that I've composed since some of these characters have changed genders, you will find that I use all of these methods.

Sometimes, I employ a predominant pronoun. Other times, it's she/him. Other times, still, it's they/them. To be quite honest, a lot of it depends on my mood. I get tired of using one technique and think the entry might look nicer if I switch it up to another for a bit. There are even moments when I just don't feel inclined to use a certain form of address at all when I'm writing something that deals with this. It really can be as simple as that.

I truly am a fickle creature, sometimes! 





And that's another POINT OF DEBATE done. Hope you didn't find the gender politics annoying! But this issue really does prey upon me, sometimes, when I am trying to write in here....




Some of what I wrote in this particular entry relates quite a bit to an UNADULTERATED BOORISH OPINION essay that I wrote a while back. Check it out if you'd like: 

A FEMALE DOCTOR
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/07/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-female.html