Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, jodie whittaker, opinion, series 13

Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Causes Boys to Commit Crimes?!

Since today's Thanksgiving and us "ugly Americans" like to use it as a day of giving thanks, watching dog shows & football & (if you're like us) starting leftovers scorecard. So imagine our surprise and how thankful we were for the wonderfully ignorant comments Conservative Party MP Nick Fletcher had to say about the BBC's Doctor Who in general and Jodie Whittaker specifically. Basically, that casting Whittaker as the Doctor (along with the practice of casting women in what Fletcher considers traditionally male roles) is a slippery slope that forces boys to look to criminals as role models. As we said, that's the kind of "gift" on a slow news day that we're just going to love. "Is there any wonder we are seeing so many young men committing crime? There seems to be a call from a tiny, but very vocal, minority that every male character or good role model must have a female replacement. In recent years we have seen 'Doctor Who,' 'Ghostbusters,' 'Luke Skywalker,' 'The Equaliser,' all replaced by women," Fletcher actually said in the middle of a meeting in which his words were actually going to be recorded for the record. The comments were made by the British politician during a Westminster debate marking International Men's Day.

Normally, this would be the part where we go off for 300 words about how there is still a huge need for more female role models across the pop culture spectrum and how someone needs to show us where boys are lacking in role models when the ratio of male-to-female heroic leads is still obscenely off. But this one's easy because it's such an easily stupid thing to tee off on. To all of the parents out there, a moment of tough love. If your little boy is running to Walter White from Breaking Bad and James St. Patrick from Power to learn how to be a real man, that speaks less of what Whittaker's doing with her career and more to what you're not doing as a parent. You might start realizing that being a mom or dad is a bit more "interactive" and "hands-on" than you want it to be, but those are the "Terms of Service" you should've read ahead of time before choosing to raise a human being who needs to be able to function in an ever-diversifying society. The Doctor isn't the problem. Folks like Nick and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley are, with their dangerously antiquated views on what "real men" are supposed to be.

Of course, if you have 1-1/2 hours of your life that you can never get back to spare, you can check out the entire debate below:

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!