“No-one can know the Doctor’s name, except each successive showrunner. We’re taken into a special room far beneath the BBC and given the ancient and special runes that spell his true and awful name. We’re commanded never to reveal what we have learned, because then the show would have to be renamed ‘Mildred’. Oh, bugger.“
Steven Moffat in Doctor Who Magazine #475
For the commentary meme, skalja asked for a scene from Things They Talked About In The Playground. Which is easily the most disturbing, triggering thing I’ve ever written, so it’s under the cut.
Warnings: discussion of rape and victim blaming.
From the personal diary of H.M. KOVARIAN, 50/15/5145
At
some point I went through all the Doctor Who wiki to try and work out
when exactly A Good Man Goes To War was set and if I had any leeway with
the timelines and whatnot. I think I got the year either right or not
overly wrong.
The ceremony was a stupid idea.
Manton
gave a little speech, directed at his soldiers, about how it is the
highest honour for a woman to be a mother. About how marriage isn’t
marriage without kids (that directed, I know, at me- he knows what I
did),
Hey, Moffat, I stole your line! A year or so back, in your intro to the Good Man Goes To War bit of the Guide To The 2011 Series, you talked about how marriage can’t be considered real marriage unless you’ve had a kid. And really pissed me off. So…er…congrats. More on you later.
about how we must show Amy the utmost respect now. And her husband, too, if he arrives and proves to be an ally. (There has been talk about this possibility- it seems incredibly unlikely even to me, but we do not know what sort of man Rory Williams is.)
I really like the Legend
Of The Last Centurion thingy they played with a bit in Series Six. I
like the idea of Rory pretending to be an ancient, vengeful creature
when he’s really…not.
Anyway. He dreams of a new Mary and
Joseph with a little female Jesus- a dream soon to be dashed, I fear.
More so than they have been already, for things did not go as planned.
Manton gave his speech, and then he gestured to Amy Pond, up above them
all in her prison with her baby. She was dressed in white, like a ghost,
and she looked so small with the crowd beneath her.
If this
fic had a subtitle, it would be, simply, ‘Who undressed Amy’? Because
when she was kidnapped, there’s no way she was wearing that white gown
thing she gave birth in. Someone must have undressed her while she was unconcious. (Fun fact: That maaaaay be why I reacted so strongly to this.) Even before we knew that other stuff happened at Demon’s Run – something that left Amy barren – we knew they stripped her.
They raised their hands to her. Some of them clapped. Amy looked down
on them. I have read Manton’s primitive fairytales- the ones with which
he controls his lackeys- and Amy Pond looked in that moment much more
like a warrior of god than any of the soldiers down below.
With a
thousand men and women staring up at her, she raised her hand to her
chest. She undid the buttons on her gown, one by one, with her sleeping
baby in her other hand- and slowly but surely she disrobed entirely,
stood naked before us.
We all of us saw it, the scars and the
stitches crisscrossing on her skin. We were all of us forced, for less
than half a minute, to see. Her body altered by childbirth, legs
unshaven, breasts limp- eyes cold and calculating. She stared at me.
I got chills when I wrote that. Amy really does have no agency, no hope whatsoever here, and yet she still finds
a way to fight back against her captors, even if it’s just by showing
them the true price they’re all paying. It’s just…it just seemed so
in-character for her. Amy Pond knows a lot of things, but mostly I think
she knows how people’s minds work. She knew Kovarian would see her and be ashamed. It was the only triumph she was gonna get, and she took it without a second thought.
I looked back, of course, at the thick red lines. I could not be
ashamed of my own handiwork, of the collateral damage, of the egg I
broke. But eventually, like almost all the others did, I turned away
from Amy Pond. I have seen places on and in her that even her real own mother had not…
Madame Kovarian (who earlier in life, it is noted, gave up a daughter with red hair) slips up a little there.
it seemed obscene for her to be showing to men what only women had seen-
Madame Kovarian terrifies me in this because she geniunely believes she has a right to Amy’s body. Why? Because a) she needs it for a higher purpose and b) …the even more terrifying reason…she thought Amy had, through having sex, through being promiscuious, relinquished her own right to it. This is what Madame K says later to her: “Think of what you were before we found you. A vacant, pretty face who dressed like a slut and sold her mouth to men! You were a nothing then, and you are a nothing now. A human incubator.” Madame K is utterly and totally a misogynist and the worst kind of victim-blamer: Amy Pond is not the correct sort of woman, so she deserves everything she gets. It’s horrible…
…and
I’d be lying if I said some tiny part of it wasn’t influenced by
fandom. I love Amy. Adore her, and relate to her a lot. It stings when
people call her things like “just a pretty face” “not a character” “ a
wank fantasy” and so on. Some people say things like “Moffat obviously
hates women, because he wrote Amy as a slut.” I shouldn’t even have to
talk about what’s wrong with that, and yet…I did talk about it, because I
think that might even be what the fanfic is about in some sense. Or at
least what sparked it.
Who owns the body of a woman who’s not real?
I know the Amy I’m writing about in this fanfiction isn’t, can’t be, the exact same Amy Steven Moffat wrote into a glass tube. (Aside from anything else, I thought about the implications of her kidnapping and pregnancy, and he didn’t.) I mean, this Amy swears; original Amy is on a children’s show and can’t. The characers who surround this Amy can say the word ‘rape.’ And that’s just for starters.
But…characters
are always real people to the people who love them. So I was writing
Amy as if she was a real person: not created by Steven Moffat, not
created by anyone, just a person who walked into my life with all those
particular, horrible experiences. If someone had said those things to
the real-life Amy, that woman who doesn’t exist, they would have been…a
profoundly terrible person. Amy’s not real, so it’s all a moot point.
But at the moment I wrote Kovarian’s dialogue, I wasn’t thinking any of
that. I was thinking, “How dare you judge this person by what happened
to her, instead of what she is.” Amy says almost that exact thing, at
the end of the story.
Dr White reached for a control pad and
turned the lights off in her cell. I do not know if he punished her- I
don’t think he did, and certainly not in that way, I watched the
security cameras even after dark. But she did not get her DVDs, I know
that much.
The punishment MK was thinking of is exactly what you’re thinking, too. (I dunno if I went too far with that line. Maybe I did. I suppose this is at its core a story about misogyny, but I don’t know.)
Things They Talked About In The Playground is absolutely the most – important? – fanfic I’ve ever written: it influenced my original work massively. I’ve loved Doctor Who since I was sixteen, I’m twenty-six now, it’s been with me for a massive part of my life.
But mostly through my adulthood.
I used to work in a school playground; kids absolutely talked about Doctor Who. I hope they will for many years to come, but I am certain that some of them, especially the girls, will watch the Amy pregnancy arc later on and wonder – Who undressed her? Who spread her legs? My story gets a bit meta at the end. MK tells Amy children will talk of her in the playground, but there’s a real playground, real children, in real life. Amy herself sums up what was pretty much the reason I wrote this story:
“They still might talk about this in the playground,” she said. “When and if the story ever gets told. And they’ll wonder, eventually, they’ll wonder. They’ll wonder who stripped me. They’ll wonder who cut into me. They’ll wonder what went where, when that was done. They’ll wonder. And what will their parents tell them, when they ask?”
I want to teach my future kids to be critical of the media they consume. I’ll most likely be that parent. I may not – beyond “judge people by what they do, not by what was done to them” – know what to tell them.
But I’ll be so glad that I taught them to ask.
What Steven Moffat actually said about Christopher Eccleston’s absence from the 50th anniversary.
(I know the source for the other one is a joke blog; the source for this one is Doctor Who Magazine #467)
Let’s play a game, Doctor Who fandom! It’s called, “who said the obnoxious/insulting thing, Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat?” Do reblog with your guesses before hovering over the quotes for the answers, but there are no prizes other than props for the winners, sorry!
All giveaway data such as episode names has been taken out to make the game more…”fun”. Hit my askbox if you want more detailed sources. The management is not responsible for any ill effects suffered from reading this tripe. (but trigger warnings are in place.)
Go go go:
1. “I think kids will not have a problem with [a female Doctor], I think fathers will have a problem with it because they will then imagine they will have to describe sex changes to their children.”
2. [on designing humanoid aliens] “I suggested that everyone wears bindis. It’s all I could think of. We can’t afford alien prosthetics on every single extra.”
3. [being asked what historical figure would make a good Doctor] “Hitler. He was stern and strong. He would be great.”
4. [on the fans who were criticising him for killing a popular character] “Nine hysterical women.”
5. “I like that Helen Mirren has been saying the next Doctor should be a woman. I would like to go on record and say that the Queen should be played by a man.”
6. [on trying to insert book titles into dialogue] “DONNA: It’s like Ten Little Ni- DOCTOR: Niggles aside, let’s look in the library. But I thought it was too risky, so I cut it.”
7. [on fans who don’t like his episodes] “Ming-mongs.”
8. “There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of respect for anything male.”
9. A young married couple without a kid? You’re just dating. You tell yourself you’re married, but you’re just dating.”
I think the thing (to me) about RTD’s vs Moffat’s sexism is that Moffat’s is more along the lines of immensely annoying jokes about women and their attractiveness, but RTD’s always seemed more unfair? Like Donna: everyone loves Donna because she’s brilliant and she grew and changed and she saved the universe…but she doesn’t get to keep any of that, all her character development is promptly undone for no good reason. And Harriet Jones: she’s this good and capable politican who’s demonised for doing exactly the same sort of thing the Doctor does. (True, she dies heroically, but the Doctor doesn’t seem that bothered about that.) And Jackie, who’s brave and wonderful but is reduced to a punchline half the time…
Like Moffat’s is more like “hurr hurr women and their short skirts and their inability to drive, hurr hurr” but RTD’s is more like “LADIES, PLEASE STEP TO ONE SIDE FOR THE UNSTOPPABLE DOCTOR-ANGST JUGGERNAUT. DID I MENTION HOW LUCKY YOU ARE THAT THE DOCTOR LIKES YOU. ALSO NO FEMALE DOCTOR EVER.” And it’s a matter of…taste?…I know, but that one just annoys me more.
Guys can we please remember that during RTD’s run on Doctor Who/Torchwood, he:
-suggested that the Voyage Of The Damned aliens be made to look ‘less human’ by ‘having them wear bindis’ (see: The Writer’s Tale)
-Tried to work a reference to the n-word into The Unicon and the Wasp (see: The Writer’s Tale again)
-Knocked down Penny Carter, a woman of colour, to build up Donna in Partners In Crime. He even tells her “You’re a journalist? Make it up!” – there’s no way he’d speak like that to Sarah Jane. (More on Penny here.)
-Never really had Ten apologise for what Martha went through as a companion (after being trapped in 1910 in Human Nature, she was then trapped in the 1960s in Blink, which must have been crappy for her, but it’s never acknowledged.)
-Made a date-rape ‘joke’ in the very first episode of Torchwood
-Of all the love interests the Doctor had during RTD’s run- Rose, Martha, Reinette, Joan and River – Martha’s was the only one love left completely unrequited, and she was the only woman of colour
-In fact there have been many essays about how Martha and her family’s treatment was not just problematic but offensive
-He doesn’t think the Doctor could ever be a woman because then parents would have to ‘describe sex changes to their children’ (see here.)
-Has called fans ‘ming-mongs’ – this is an awkward one because when and where I was growing up ‘mong’ was an very nasty insult towards people who had Down’s Syndrome. That’s probably not what he meant but it really annoys me.
-Referred to fans angry about Ianto’s death on Torchwood as ‘nine hysterical women’ (the original interview seems to have vanished, but it’s pretty well documented)
-Had Donna grow as a person, turn into a hero in her own right, and then take it all away from her in a scene which deprived her of any real agency
-Anything problematic in Moffat’s episodes written during the RTD run would have been done with his full approval
His version of Who may very well have been good for you, may have been everything you ever dreamed of, but it certainly wasn’t for everyone. RTD’s worked in the same industry and with much the same attitude as Moffat- even perhaps through no fault of his own it wasn’t even written for everyone.
I wonder if everyone thought the name “Russel T. Davies” at the same time, he’d appear in a cloud of good writing, forgive Moffat for his transgressions and save season 7.
Nah. He’d be too busy undermining characters of colour, making jokes about the n-word, thinking a female Doctor would be a problem for parents to explain to their children, not being able to think of any better way to write Donna out of the show and giving Moffat the showrunner job in the first place.
Dear Moffat, I would like:
“Show me the man who says anything against women, as women, and I boldly declare he is not a man.” -Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
Steven Moffat ain’t a feminist. He’s said some really rubbish things, like that thing about how difficult it is to be a straight white male when it is most certainly not. Okay, I know a lot of quotes from him were taken out of context, but enough of them weren’t. Like this one, which really got me:
“A young married couple without a kid? They’re just dating. You tell yourself you’re married, but really you’re dating.”
That one hurts because I know people who are trying desperately for a kid and I’m pretty sure they’re married, since I was at the wedding and all. Or what about the people who don’t want kids? Or, selfishly, what about me? There’s something wrong with me now and children may not be an option any more. Things are piling up and sex might not be an option anymore. Does that make my future marriage mean less? I wish he hadn’t said that; I wish he’d use his not inconsiderable media power more wisely.
But I think Moffat’s writing problems spring from the fact that he thinks (or, you know, I think he thinks) that sex and the ability to have sex is the most important thing about a person. Sex gives you power, sex gives you control, sex gives you children. That’s why neither Sherlock or the Doctor can be asexual, why Amy, River and Irene all use sex as a weapon- to Moffat, that’s what makes characters good and makes them interesting. Sex and everything it creates.
Which brings me to Moffat’s attitudes on women, specifically. With only Moffat the writer to go on, not knowing the man…I think he’s jealous of them, in a way he probably doesn’t even know about. Womb envy or whatever it’s called. If sex is the most important thing, and if he thinks a woman can use sex as a weapon (or as a distraction- see Space and Time), and if he thinks a woman can have a baby and bond with it in a way a man probably can’t…I think The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe hinted that Moffat thinks being a mother is the most important thing in the world. And he isn’t one. Hence bad stuff. I doubt he even considered how traumatic a situation he put Amy in at the end of The Almost People– according to DWM, he “wanted Amy to have a baby just like that,” and thought about time
compression to reduce her pregnancy period before settling on the Ganger thing. And in the end poor old Amy suffered more than anyone, with things that wouldn’t have happened if not for her gender.
I wish he’d pay attention to his critics. (I do suspect The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe was a reaction to the misogyny criticism, just not the most well-thought-out one.) He badly needs to get some women on staff, for a start, and he needs to think about what his female characters can do rather than what can be done to them. Amy deciding to kill Kovarian was a good start, but River needs more interests outside the Doctor, and Irene needs to come back and kick everyone’s arse (including Sherlock’s) in style. I know Moffat will never read this, but I hope he picks up somehow that people want less Strong Female Characters (i.e. sex, guns, rock n’ roll) and more…female characters. If that makes sense. I think he can do it, he’s a great writer. Someday he may even be a good one.
Recently Moffat was rightly criticised for saying asexuality was boring. His worldview really does seem to revolve around sex and procreation, and I hope one day it doesn’t. I don’t know for sure if there is a place for me, or for many others, in Moffat’s Whoniverse. But I’m gonna force my way in anyway- I love Eleven and Amy and Rory and River and they, I’m sure, would welcome me with open arms.
I don’t really trust Moffat to make improvements, he has reacted badly to criticism so far, but I believe and hope that the world isn’t divided into good people and misogynists. (Paraphrasing the fabulous JK Rowling there- hey, maybe she should join the writing staff!) And regardless of what happens with my future children, I will be married, because I want to be.
Steven Moffat, explaining why he had the Ponds have a baby: If you’re a married couple and you don’t have a kid, you’re just dating. You think you’re married, but you’re just dating.
…
Riiiiiiiiiiight I’ll go tell that to the married couple I know who don’t know if they can ever have a baby or not.
Also the people I know who just plain never wanted kids. Was Verity Lambert never properly married? You’re a good writer, Moffat, but please learn to think before you speak.