Feminist ramblings - Doctor Who and rape culture

Since May 2021, the Doctor Who community has been increasingly vocal about the issues of rape culture, harassment and sexism in the DW sets, the series, and the fandom community. This happened following the news that Noel Clarke, who played Mickey Smith on Doctor Who, abused and harassed multiple women (20 initially spoke out, and quite a few more followed) in various workplace settings, including the Doctor Who set back in 2005. The, I repeat, multiple testimonies of all these women show a wide range of sexist, abusive and predatory behaviour spanning years and including not only various workplaces, but also convention floors. Clarke has until now denied all allegations - As many men accused of harassment and abuse often do, shielded by systemic patriarchy and double standards.

Clarke's multiple cases of sexist workplace harassment were also the cause that allowed the DW community to discuss John Barrowman's (who played omnisexual Time Agent Jack Harkness in the series) own set of inappropiate workplace behaviour (which included continuous flashing on set). This has been know for years now, contrary to Clarke's harassment, but, at least to my knowledge, the fandom community had not really discussed the Barrowman issue till now to the extent I do believe it deserves to be talked about. Barrowman, however, also continues to justify and minimize his behaviour to this day, calling it 'harmless pranks' intended 'in good humour' (???), in spite of more than one set member claiming they felt uncomfortable about the whole situation, and the fact that it is literally completely unprofessional to behave in such a way in the workplace, period. Frankly, I don't care if he didn't intend to be super predatory about it, as it turns out that flashing your junk out and putting it on an actress' shoulder can very much qualify as sexual harassment, and is not just quirky jokester behaviour material.

This last month I've been on Instagram and Twitter (1 and 2) writing a couple of storytimes and threads on these topics, following not only the discussion on Clarke, Barrowman and other predatory DW cast, but also the discovery of several rapists and abusers within the Whovian cosplay community, such as @/redheadedchinny and @/timelordbrett.   I decided to post these threads on here as well, post-format, as rape culture and harassment are topics that have been very relevant to me for years, and many people can often disregard problematic issues when they're presented and normalized as part of their favourite fandoms. So here goes.

PART 1: Clarke, Barrowman and the problem of rape culture and workplace harassment

In this society full of rape culture and sexism, and particularly so in the film and TV industry where toxic workplaces aren't a thing of the past, unfortunately, it's not a rare occurrence to learn about yet another man accused of abuse, harassment and/or assault against women. By more than 20 women in the case of Noel Clarke, no less 😣. It might not take me by surprise, but it's still mentally taxing, especially as a woman, to see so many men abusing women and to see it so normalized it literally takes years and lots of bravery from the survivors to speak out.

And it's even more taxing when a part of the Doctor Who fandom is of course responding with the typical justifications of 'innocent until proven guilty', 'these women are lying' and 'all women definitely lied, but one (1) man saying it's all false is telling the truth, because rape culture rules'. Let's stop that shit already. This is Me Too all over again, and this trend will never stop unless abusers are made accountable for what they are often given free rein to do with no consequences. Fortunately, another part of the fandom was very critical of the behaviour of both Clarke and Barrowman, and they have also been made a bit more accountable by the BBC and other film industries (losing jobs, Bafta awards and/or their participation in ongoing projects).

It's also so important to speak up about this and normalize the fact that it is NOT OK to be sexist assholes to women. That it's not OK that workplaces are still sexist af and unsafe for women. That it's not OK to prioritize an abuser's feelings and 'what about his career' and 'that was in his past' vs what he actually did or is still doing to women. Because so many people, and especially the people in charge, keep accepting their excuses and their word over the testimony of multiple women, and don't demand the accountability they should. And if accountability and consequences and actual rules against sexism and harassment and abuse were more normalized, this would happen less. This also applies to the cosplayer abusers that have been unveiled lately in the DW community.

So even though it's been a rough time reading about multiple men in the DW cast and cosplay community being abusers and creeps and inappropriate and sexist, it's also positive that these issues are being talked about. And I applaud all the women who are speaking up about it most of all 👏👏👏👏 Women are so often silenced for fear of not being believed and being judged and attacked, which is a totally valid fear because it happens *a lot* :S, and I truly think you're all badasses.

Regarding the fact that these two actors have less than desirable behaviour in real life, personally I've never quite liked the character of Mickey (or Adam, or Captain Jack, to be honest). So fandom-wise it hasn't been as painful for me, as the work of separating character vs actor while consuming the fandoms we love can be difficult and hurtful. But still, it's horrible to see that the Doctor Who 2005 series set was full of so many creeps 😫. We can list Bruno Langley (Adam) and John Barrowman as well as Clarke, which makes me think if Billie Piper was OK and whether Christopher Eccleston was referring at least partly to that when he mentioned the toxic working environment which made him leave :S And if RTD and the rest of the team were aware of it all and let it slide :S

Toxic workplace environments are most certainly still not a thing of the past. Not enough has changed since Roddenberry et al abused their female cast on the set of Star Trek TOS in the 60s :/ Which is why we need to speak of this way more often, and stop it with the sexist double standards and the normalization of women being regularly harassed and abused in their workplaces. It happen too often, to too many.

I also have never liked Jack Harkness or John Barrowman very much, which was, at least to my perception, often an unpopular opinion in the DW fandom. And both Barrowman's behaviour on set and the way he often portrays Harkness is the main reason why :S Because Barrowman's portrayal of Captain Jack also seems to share traits with his workplace harassment in real life. The incessant unsolicited flirting, inappropriate comments and non-con kisses are not what being a queer character (or a queer celebrity) should be all about. It's just more harassment.

As an LGBT+ queer woman myself, I can appreciate the queer representation Jack brought to the show early on, but his portrayal also brought a problematic way of normalizing what is plain sexual harassment, as well as problematic queer stereotypes, to be honest :S For example, the idea that "bi/pan, gay and queer people in general are super horny and hypersexual all the time and will kiss you without asking while making inappropriate flirty remarks! Progressive! Representation!". Being flirty and/or queer is not the same as being creepy or inappropriate.

Nor does harassment and non-consensual behaviour, or sexism and misogyny, suddenly become cool and legit once the character or the real life person is queer, and I'm tired of seeing it all mixed up in more than one (usually male) queer character and celebrity in the media, tbh. Intersectionality matters. Well-off white gay men like Barrowman, for example, are obviously oppressed in the sexual orientation intersection, but can also be hella privileged when it comes to the gender, race and class intersections, and can most definitely be sexist, racist, classist and/or inappropiate.

I resented for years that Jack's behaviour was seen as cool and adorkable by (to my perception) quite a lot of people in the fandom. It seemed like I kept seeing fans hyped about Jack kissing Graham without consent or drawing fanart of him kissing Thirteen non-con in expectation of the special. The way the character was idolized for those traits as well, it seemed like not loving Jack was a super unpopular opinion hand in hand with not being able to openly criticize Barrowman to the extent that was needed (and this isn't news like it's more with Clarke :S). Like, I shouldn't be pleasantly *surprised* that he ended up, at freaking last, treating Thirteen and Yaz with respect at the special, and that he ditched the inappropriate innuendo for the most part. That is the bare minimum. I shouldn't give anyone a medal for that.

 

We deserve better queer rep than a non-con kiss between a queer man and a straight man, tbh :S

 

 

 

We need better queer role models, characters and celebrities both, and we need to hold people accountable for their harassment no matter any other intersections. And we most definitely need to hold MEN accountable for their actions regarding rape culture and harassment.

And I'm not saying you have to hate the characters now! Maybe you still like Mickey Smith and/or Jack Harkness for the positive traits and representation that they also bring to the world of Doctor Who, and that's OK as well. I'm saying that we should also be critical of the questionable traits of both the actors and characters, and talk about how the actors' irl behaviour normalizes sexual harassment and rape culture, especially against women, and how they've been getting away with it for years.

Because they apparently think they still can get away with it, with Clarke denying all allegations (the nerve, ugh) and Barrowman quite literally thanking his fans in a recent video for defending him and supporting his inappropiate workplace behaviour (wtf) 😐.

 

PART 2: How New!Who also normalizes the problem of rape culture among the DW community

In this second part, I'm expanding a bit on the issue of the normalization of rape culture and harassment in the DW community, focusing on the way the series itself can actually promotes rape culture in its depiction of non-con scenes as either comedic, romantic, empowering, or queer representation.

General disclaimer that of course the DW community is also a wonderful place to be, that there are many wonderful DW cast and set members, and that the DW series and fandom is also full of amazing ethics and messages, and steadily more and more diversity and representation 😊✨🌈 But it's also important to be critical of the more problematic issues within the series and the community. And the issue of how rape culture is sometimes normalized in the series, and how a faction of the fandom reacts to this topic, is one of them. 

 

TW: Non-con kiss gifs and pics below

Why are some Whovians prone to excusing and justifying sexual harassment, and violence against women especifically? Maybe because the show itself - and Rassilon knows I adore Doctor Who - is also culpable of normalizing and legitimizing harassment and rape culture as legit more than once 😬

Apart from the inappropiate and creepy behaviour of some members of the cast in this case, I just wish that the series (and the media in general) would also stop the trend that a non-con kiss (I'm focusing mainly on kiss scenes here, seeing as DW is PG-13) is either funny, romantic, celebratory, or queer representation😐. It's none of these things! It's normalizing what is basically harassment and assault as completely fine. No matter who’s doing the kissing, we’ve got variety in New!Who, and it’s not just Jack Harkness. I’ve always been so frustrated at seeing these moments hyped by the fandom, to be honest, like I mentioned above as well 😬 .

The thing is, men kissing women non-con isn’t romantic, women kissing Tennant or any other incarnation non-con isn’t what agency and girl power should look like, and queer characters kissing others non-con as their MO is not good enough LGBT+ representation. It's just not.

And in the series, just the reaction of the characters to pretty much all instances of non-con kisses and sexual harassment as something used for either romance, female empowerment, comedic purposes, or queer rep helps a lot to normalize this behaviour just plain acceptable and normal. Some examples of this:

1) When Jack Harkness flirts at complete strangers as a hello, most of them are scripted as reacting favourably ("I don't mind!") or being so dumbfounded they don't say anything. He never gets admonished for his actions, the most he gets is the Doctor jokingly exclaiming 'Don't start!' - Which is more in the line of 'boys will be boys' than anything else. His penchant to sexualize anything that moves and make unsolicited advances is generally seen as a 'fun' and 'adorable' character trait, as well as the way legit queer representation works (not really tho). 

 

2) Scenes abound when the Doctor kisses or is kissed non-con, brushed as either romantic moments, grl power or comedy, with hardly any negative reactions going on either. Some examples:

 

Ten started his (shitty) dynamic with Martha by doing exactly this, and Martha reacts by having a crush on him for the entire series 3. She deserves so much better than this.

 

Rassilon also knows I adore the Eighth Doctor (go listen to Big Finish you fools xD) and actually rather like his dynamic with Grace Holloway, but a low of his TV tenure is having him kissing Grace as a celebratory thing, which also gets another favourable response instantly. I mean, it could be somewhat understandable, at least from a fanfic point of view, that you would be attracted to the concept of an attractive Time Lord in full Byronian aesthetic kissing you, albeit hopefully in a more consensual setting, but maybe let's not normalize the false idea that every woman is thrilled at the "romantic" prospect of being kissed out of the blue by what is technically a random stranger.

 

Plot armour also means that when Nine kisses Rose, she's in Bad Wolf mode and in no state to consent, and actually never even remembers the kiss. Not the best Doctor/Rosse setting for a romantic kiss. Whovians can like Doctor/Rose however much they like (I have dabbled in it myself), but this point still stands 😬

3) Violence against women is still the major societal problem, but it's also troubling how the media thinks it's subversive and empowering to have female characters with agency show that by kissing people without consent, too. The Doctor, mostly. Which he tends to receive either positively or with a 'comically' dumbfounded look, too. Women like Amy, Clara and Missy (even with villains in queer-coded dynamics it isn't a funny trope), written that way by men who don't understand either feminism or consent. At least during those scenes. 

 

Honestly I'm so tired of seeing the non-con kiss move as a grrrrl power trope :S

Hell, people seem to love the 'Doctor gets kissed' trope so much even Donna Noble, the ultimate best pal who doesn't want anything romantic going on, ends up kissing Ten in this way for comedic effects. After all, the best antidote for cyanide is an abrupt snog, am I right?

4) Then we have Matt Smith's 11th Doctor, who regrettably spends S7 not only being creepy af with Clara, but also kissing his male companion and his lesbian friend for laughs (some of these kisses were also unscripted 😬). What made you into such a creep all of a sudden, Eleven 😐?

 

 

It doesn't matter that Rory makes a disgusted face or that Jenny Flint rightfully slaps him. It's supposed to be funny! Rory is part of a (kinda 'no homo' homophobic) joke about the Doctor's quirks (with another straight character being abruptly kissed for laughs by the always-oh-so-predatory queers - which does check out for Barrowman tho :S 😐). And not only doesn't Eleven ever apologize to Jenny for his creepiness, but the next scene gets her blatantly sexualized by the camera in the following fight, including disturbing screwdriver innuendo courtesy of Eleven (just, wtf). About your lesbian friend. Again. So yeah, joy 😑 

 

 

There's also the fact that it really looks like there are more instances of rape culture and sexual harassment being normalized and played for laughs in New!Who than in more than one era of Classic Who, contemporary in the 1960s of the infamous sexism - both on and offscreen - of Star Trek's TOS o_O

Classic!Who has its share of sexism as well, tho  (we could go on about this whole topic too), including themes of sexual harassment and sexualization. Female cast members were sexualized and probably also harassed on set. And more than one actor was/is dodgy too in these respects, including but not limited to: Patrick Troughton (as much as I love the Second Doctor) and his double lives; Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) and his cheating and casual pervy comments on female cast members; Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), another rapist and abuser; or Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) and his pretty blatant sexism when he talks about women in his  interviews. But the thing also is, at least to the point I'm in, the mid-Fourth Doctor era, I've also seen much fewer onscreen instances of rape culture with the First-Fourth Doctor eras than in the freaking whole of New!Who. Which is also kinda troubling.

Fortunately, the series has gotten way better in this respect especially since S9, but we still have moments, like the Jack and Graham kiss from S12, that follow this problematic pattern of making light of sexual assault and harassment. And my perception is that these instances, even if rarer, are still being too celebrated by a part of the community as something harmless, and as legit representation or empowerment :S We deserve female and queer representation, but also need to not normalize rape culture as well.

This is not to say that Doctor Who is as of today unwatchable, not at all. I adore Doctor Who at the same time that I'm also critical of it when it needs to be. And there's definitely also good representation in this respect - Positive female and queer characters, and consensual kisses. Some examples of the latter are Bill Potts and Heather, the second fully consensual takes of Twelve and Missy and Eight and Grace, and the gay couple from S12's 'Praxeus':

 

 

In conclusion, in my opinion it's about being critical of the fandoms we consume as well as enjoying them, especially when there's a problematic trend like this one that can pervade real life in the fandom :S It's important to talk about this too, while also enjoying all the good parts, of course 😀 !