What sexuality is the Doctor?
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I've just been thinking about this. He's never mentioned any family back on Gallifrey that I can recall, and apart from Jenny I'm not sure he has anymore children. What sexuality do you think the Doctor is?
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It is possible that what sexuality the Doctor is may vary from incarnation to incarnation. David Tennant's Doctor seemed to handle the business of flirting far more skilfully than the romantically-befuddled Eleventh Doctor, and, although there was a question mark over whether the Ninth Doctor 'danced', certainly there was the implication that he did. Both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors showed traits of possessiveness towards Rose - and, occasionally, jealousy, snideness or dismissiveness to her other 'suitors', Adam and Mickey - which suggested that, on one level at least, his male ego was engaged when she was around. The Tenth Doctor famously also almost told Rose that he loved her, and there was some competitive phallic posturing with Captain Jack when the Doctor engaged his sonic screwdriver. How hard it is to write the sentence part of that sentence and have it sound in any way clean!
From all of the above, therefore, I would suggest that the dominant evidence in the modern series is that the Doctor, insofar as we would use the term, is 'heterosexual'. But there are two caveats to this. The first is that, although the original series established him as a sexual being - a grandfather - we never really saw him being lustful or, by the standards of the later Doctors, flirtatious, other than the occasional moment, such as sharing a cup of cocoa with Cameca, or his two delighted kisses with Grace Holloway, which speak to me more about joy in the moment of living than they do about lust. So it may be that, for many years, the Doctor repressed his sexuality in the interests of saving the universe - which, to be fair, is a fairly all-consuming activity. Alternatively, he may simply have inhibited his flirting out of loyalty to a spouse whose memory he cherished - the Time War being the seismic event, as in so many other areas of the Doctor's life, which finally severed the bond with his family and, after a period of mourning for the same, freed him to be footloose again..
The second caveat is: just as Time Lords can change what we would call 'race', they can also change gender - the Corsair did - and it seems reasonable to assume that, when so radical a change as a change of gender happens, other radical changes could follow, such as a change in sexuality. Whether the Doctor himself would consider this radical, though, is doubtful. He may metaphorically roll his eyes at Captain Jack's horny, omnisexual ways, but he is perfectly relaxed about it, suggesting that our linear definitions of sexuality are not so linear to the Doctor, who - to be fair - has seen a thing or two in his time.
Even if you haven't seen any 60s episodes, surely you must have watched An Adventure in Space and Time last year? Are you really a Doctor Who fan?
Yes I am a fan, and a bloody good one at that.
(Not trying to be rude just clumsily making a point!)
Female, :D
He has a biological granddaughter. He admitted to Rose that he'd been a father once, implying that he was definitely part of a family - he didn't run away from parental obligation or anything like that All of that is indicative of a long-term interest in women. Add on to that his strong emotional attractions to Rose, Reinette and River. To a lesser extent I think he fancied Amy a fair bit, and I think he definitely has an emotional soft spot for Clara too. The attraction to women is all too obvious.
Is there an attraction to men as well? Well the show started in a time that such a proclamation would have had it taken off the air so at one point in time at least, because of behind-the-scenes reasons the concept of the Doctor being anything other than heterosexual wasn't really a concept at all. Now we live in a society where we can ask that question. There have been hints here and there - he somehow found out that several US presidents fancied him, he didn't reject Jack's kiss, he had no inhibition in kissing Rory on the lips and told Andrew Garfield's Frank that he could do the same as a thanks if he wanted, he danced with the men as well as the women at Amy's wedding and so on.
But what's the point in me actually mentioning all these non-explicit examples? Well the thing is that he's never confessed his love to any of the aformentioned women either - even if Rose and River are next to given, it's still open to interpretation.
So what does that mean? I'd say that the Doctor is far too busy saving the universe to try and conform to human sexuality labels. He comes from a race capable of changing faces and genders, which in and of itself warrants a certain kind of flexibility. Even if he had a preferred gender would you argue it is the one he enjoys being in the company of, or the one he's embraced as his own for twelve incarnations? The Doctor fancies and is attracted to individuals, he has a 'preferred type' that slowly evolves as he changes himself (he's clearly been through a 'bad girl' phase recently what with Tasha Lem, River and the suggestions that he finds Jenny attractive too) and that type could involve men or women arguably. Does that make him bisexual? Well no, because that's still a human concept and he's not human! For the sake of argument, he'd likely fit the bill as bisexual/pansexual quite well... but calling him as such goes against everything the show is pointing out about his character. It humanises him in a way that makes a certain line from the McGann movie comparably innocent.
The Doctor has sex.
The Doctor doesn't have a sexuality.
Get Over It.
and yet you don't consider Susan immediate family? Care to expand on that point? Its almost as if in your rush to create yet another contentious thread you forgot an essential part of DW history. Imagine that!
I do, just not immediate family.
I think immediate is: mum, dad, wife, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.
Which is what I was getting at in the OP.
See post above.
Of course, some strange fans like to assume that Susan is just an honorary granddaughter, using the feeblest negative evidence that the characters never explicitly said they were biologically related on-screen.
That's vey true. It's a shame the Doctor's family and perhaps even love life has not been fleshed out a bit more. Would make for interesting watching. Maybe for the future...
You may be a top-notch Doctor Who fan, but your grasp of biology and/or genetics seems a little tenuous. Where do you think granddaughters come from? Maybe the Doctor - or rather, the Doctor's son or daughter - found Susan under a gooseberry bush.:D
You can't get much closer than the offspring of one of your own, surely? He also said (to Martha?) he had a brother once and has said all his family are now dead, presumably on Gallifrey when he thought he'd destroyed it. So he has mentioned them several times in the last few years.
No, it really wouldn't. We're watching his adventures on time and space, not his love life ( well we have been in the new series and tbh I'd rather let him get on with whatever he does in private). Besides, we have no ideaof what Gallifreyan sexuality really consists of, given we know almost nothing about their 'normal' society. Though we did see men, women and children running from the Daleks. How they get that way no-one knows but they do have family units of some kind.
No I'm not mentioning the looms:D
Yes, he has a granddaughter, but we have no idea how his biology works. He could have got pregnant himself or something. Maybe Gallifreyans lay eggs!
I would say in terms of human sexualities he is probably open to whatever, or maybe he would pick up whatever behaviour seems acceptable at the time he's in in order to blend in.
Whatever he'd have said to Rose on the beach (I think we all know!) it would've ended with a kiss, and he's also said he once built himself an android boyfriend. Seems to prefer women, going by his travelling companions, but stands to reason that he's as flexible as Captain Jack and River Song, just a bit more awkward about it.
Bisexual. He briefly flirted with Captain Jack and he also said about a relationship with a male android later on. Even offered a pucker up with Frank in Daleks In Manhattan.
Alternately, it could be similar to an old theory about why the classic (non PC, Lois and Clarke, new man of tomorrow) Superman never really got together with Lois Lane. That being, to his alien nostrils, she smelled like a monkey!
To DW, a time-traveling regenerating alien, humans almost certainly smell different to Galifreyans. But, although stronger and much more resilient than the average human, at least he wouldn't have the other problem superman faced. Losing control over Kryptonian muscles. The theory said if he ever did that during a proposed 'intimate moment' he might simultaneously gut Lois and blow her head off!