There’s a lot of discourse about whether the next Doctor Who showrunner should be female and I just want to debunk the notion that “the best person should get the job” instead as though these two things are incompatible or that there could ever be an objective “best choice”. 1/8

We as human beings have a lot of implicit biases, and it’s let to a homogenised creative industry where the talent behind the camera is even now made up of mostly thin, abled-bodied cisgender white men. Doctor Who from 2005-14 for example had 24 writers, 23 men and 1 woman. 2/8

White men tend to see “the best person for the job” as white men and it creates a self-reinforcing structure where nobody is intentionally being exclusive but where those in power relate to similar looking people so marginalised groups must work harder for the same success. 3/8

An example of this is Richard Senior, a male director who booked his first ever professional job directing Let’s Kill Hitler, while the most qualified director in the show’s history with a litany of credits, Rachel Talalay, is female. (S1-10 director ratio m-f is 42-4 btw). 4/8

We’ve also seen that men struggle to write women as well as they have less to relate to and so characters aren’t as authentic. This leads to multi-Bechdel test failing episodes with female characters’ arcs based solely around their connection to men (e.g. Martha / S7b Clara. 5/8

Many people were also upset about series 7b, where in a male written and directed episode under a male showrunner the Doctor sexually assaulted a lesbian character and in another m-m-m episode the Doctor made lewd comments sexualising his female companion. This happens often. 6/8

For the many female fans of Doctor Who, a female showrunner presents new storytelling opportunities and a chance for better representation, as well as female characters that aren’t written through the male gaze and therefore sexualised and reduced to their connection to men. 7/8

So when people say “I want a female showrunner”, responding with “I want the best person for the job” implies you think that the under representation of women is acceptable and you want the same self-perpetuating cycle to continue indefinitely. Here’s to a female showrunner. 8/8

Just an addendum - “best person for the job” is a phrase that’s only ever used when referring to marginalised creators! When m. people FINALLY get jobs they’ve been denied, the impartiality of the decision is criticised, but nobody EVER says this when white men get said jobs. 1/2

When you view white men as the default and any deviation from this must be repeatedly justified, you hold people who are already at a disadvantage to a substantially higher standard. If Richard Senior can be the “best person for the job”, so could a woman in his position! 2/2