I’d forever hold that Steven Moffat isn’t bad at writing women, at all. Amy, Clara, River – they’re all different and differently fascinating.
What he was absolutely bloody awful at, though, was writing them into situations where their consent and bodily autonomy didn’t matter to the story.
I figured something out the other day. I honestly don’t care if you like Donna/Martha/Rose more than Amy/Clara/River (though a lot of the reasons for that come off p sexist), what do I hate is “they’re just issues to be solved” because I, you and plenty of other neuroatypical (sorta)girls can really relate to them and saying “they’re not human-sounding and just problems for dudes” taps into what I at least have been told for a lot of my life.
Yeah, completely agreed. (This is the same reason I hate the whole ‘manic pixie dream girl’ label now too, and I hope it goes the same way as ‘mary sue’ as a term that’s just plain toxic for women.)
Ooooh, and although it’s not quite as personal I also hate it when people bring out the ‘No-one dresses like Amy and Clara, they’re costumed entirely for the male gaze!’ argument, because I dress almost exactly like Clara with a hint of Amy sometimes and it’s certainly not for anyone but me…