Father and Grandfathers can change gender now, they are still a father or grandfather they just a different gender to what they use to be.

Could you say why a female Doctor wouldn't work? How would this stop stories from being entertaining

I can see where you are coming from now. I'm not totally against a female Doctor, but would still rather it was male. However,
It would take a fantastic female actor to get the part. The right actor and a female Doctor might work.

Definitely, it would take someone really special, to live up the excellent actors that have previously played the Doctor but also to win people over. If a women does come along who would be brilliant in the role then I do think the producers should go for it.

She might be too big a name for the role should a Female Doctor be cast but I can see Tilda Swinton play the Doctor.
This also means I have no real issue with it. The best actor for the role and the fantastic thing about the Doctor as a character is that it's not having to be limited to one gender.

I have no problem with this as long as they come up with a good story about why this would happen and they got a very good actress to play the part. Also the producers would have to make sure that all the stories for the 1st season after the change were of the highest quality in both writing and execution.

My reason for the Doctor changing to female would be as a disguise.

The scenario that I have thought of is that the Doctor discovers that Gallifrey has been captured by Missy/The Master with the help of a rogue (now) Time Agency (Captain Jack's former employers from the 51st Century).

The Doctor realises that the only way to help his people is to regenerate into a young female form and pretend to be the Doctor's companion with someone (older male) pretending to be the Doctor.

After a season of adventures with the female Doctor the TARDIS finds itself on Gallifrey at which point the Doctor enacts a plan to free his people from the rule of Missy/The Master.

Now that would be a good story.

Yes - fair point paperskin & i suppose it would take on a new twist to the doctors character if a sex change regeneration where to occur, in much the same way as a real father/grandfather changed sex & had to explain to his/her family for the change. Once again, fair point. But IMO the doctor has always been male - with that typical doctoresque character/persona he has always possessed. Why change a winning formula that has worked SO well for 51 years just to please a small minority from the PC brigade.

What would be funny if when the time comes for capaldi to regenerate, his regeneration goes slightly wrong & he regenerates into female says something like "Ooh thats not meant to happen." All the dr who fans go "Ahhhhhhh!" for a split second before the real regeneration occurs & the doctor says something on the lines of "Ah now thats more like it" - gets hold of a mirror then says "At least im not ginger'
& that is with all due respect to people with ginger hair. That would be a typical moffat type thing he would do to get the fans going.

With 71 votes cast currently, it looks like a little under 25% say they'd stop watching Doctor Who if the Doctor became female; a little under half either positive or not affected either way; and the remainder not liking the idea but at least prepared to give it a try.

In my book that's 3:1 (75:25) are open minded about it.

There's a difference between sex and gender. If the Doctor changed sex but not gender, no doubt the writer would add hilarious sexist jokes but there's less grounds for complaint. We would be objecting because it didn't look right.

Gender is part of identity, hence why some people have a sex change so the gender matches the sex. The Doctor has been a masculine role; to start playing it as a feminine role would be too jarring.

Although Bond doesn't regenerate, he has had six different faces, different personalities and has been a variety of ages yet still roughly the same age after sixty years. So essentially he isjust a name.

84 votes and still 3:1 in favour of those who'd give it a chance or aren't upset. Looks like it's settling out that way.

I have no problem with a female Doctor.

But then I haven't got a personality disorder.

I'm not saying you're wrong but what exactly marks him it as ''masculine" apart from his appearance...

Emphasising the fact that either women or men could have these characteristics, qualities such as dominance, assertiveness, courageousness, prizing logic above emotion are stereotypically 'masculine' qualities. With the new series adding the possibility of romance, we can add virility to the list. The latter quality is less pronounced in Twelve but no doubt he'll be given someone age appropriate to flirt with.

Yeah, this is pretty much my sentiment right here.

I don't understand why some people would be so against a female Doctor? Personally, I am happy with the idea as long as it is the right actress. Someone older with a bit of gravitas. The Doctor has never seemed to me to be male or female

91 votes cast and 73:27 (%). A slight change but still almost 3:1 in favour of the open minded.

I can't think of a single good reason why they would regenerate The Doctor into a woman, other than for shock reasons Just as they did with The Master/Missy. There was no reason why that transformation took place either, other than because Moffatt could do it.

I don't know why the previous poll was "invalid and beyond correction", but I can see problems with this one. With 102 votes in, we have 26.47% who would not watch any new Doctor Who with a female Doctor, 35.29% who don't like the idea of a female Doctor, but would "give it a chance", and 38.24% who have "no problem" with a female Doctor, but nonetheless think this would "depend on the actress and the scripts". We can thus, depending on our inclinations, claim that well over half (61.76%) don't like the idea of a female Doctor, or that nearly three-quarters (73.53%) would be prepared to watch but with reservations at least one episode with a female Doctor. [There is no option for unqualified support for a female Doctor. Why?]

Since at no point in the poll has anyone been asked "Are you in favour of being open minded (about this)?" the gathered evidence offers no support for the assertion that opinion is "3:1 in favour of the open minded". I don't mind (in fact, I quite enjoy) polls like this on the forum, but, to be effective, they need to be carefully worded and the results scrupulously assessed.

The other poll originally had the opposite question to the headline leading many to vote the wrong way, the opposite of their intention. This was pointed out, the question corrected by the mods but it was not reset and zeroed to allow people to recast their vote, so it is and remains invalid. This is all clear if you read the earlier posts in that thread.

My comments in this poll are carefully worded and the question in this poll is not leading in any way. If you're at least willing to give it a try with a female Doctor then, almost by definition, you are open minded on this question. I don't see any problem with that. It's a logical inference.

I'm sorry if you're irritated at me for having to vote again, but your irritation is misdirected.

I'm one of those who watches DW regardless of the actor playing the Doctor. Hell I don't even really have a favourite... So if the actor were female it wouldn't bother me at all...

I would not watch if the Doctor became a woman. Not because I am sexist, I am not, but for various personal reasons of how I view the character.

But here is a purely logical/mathematical reason for not doing it:-

According to the poll at the moment 27.8% would no longer watch, 35.19% do not want it but would watch at least one episode to 'give it a chance'. It would be a reasonable assumption that it would be a strong possibility that half of this second group would no longer watch after the first episode as they are biased against it anyway. That would mean that 45.4% would no longer watch the programme.

If the poll was representative of the general Dr Who audience (I actually suspect the number would be higher as the general audience is made up of a large number of casual viewers who would think "sod that") that would mean that the programme would lose 45% of it's viewing figures overnight. Viewing figures would be barely above 3 million and therefore devastating. Therefore, regardless of your personal views on the gender of the Doctor you should ask yourself if you want to see the programme have it's viewing figures destroyed and risk cancellation.

Calling us names because of our views of a television character does not change the maths.

*sigh* Go on then, I'll bite.

Why does not wanting one of the fundamental (I'm purposefully not going to say 'defining') characteristics of a much-beloved fictional character to change, mean that someone has a personality disorder?

I'm not sure what you mean when you think of open-mindedness - but certainly 'watching it regardless of the change' and 'giving it a chance' both fit under the definition for me.

It's interesting how female-doctor-supporters are trying to usurp this second group who DON'T like the idea of a female Doctor, but they would "give it a chance". Those people DON'T like the idea! They would keep watching just because it's their favourite TV show and they don't want to stop watching just because of this nonsense. So stop counting this group as they are supporters of the idea because they are NOT!

Also, stop calling us names just because we think that gender is very important part of Doctor's identity. We se him as a male character and that's it. It's not sexist because we are not denying that women can be great superheroes, we just oppose gender changes.
Also, just because some people don't see the importance of gender, it doesn't mean that they are "open-minded". I would personally call them nihilists but I don't want to be unfair by calling them names (like they are offending us by calling us "sexist" and calling supporters "open minded").

Amen, amen and amen.

With over 100 people replying to this poll, over two-thirds don't want a female doctor with about 30% of the people who will automatically quit watching the show. Throw into that the fact that the second third will still probably stop watching it and you have a show killer.

The vast majority of people do not want The Doctor to become a woman. If you want a female Time Lord (Lady?) to whom to idolize, then lobby for a spin-off with The Doctor's Daughter, The Rani, Romana or a new character. However, leave The Doctor alone. Just because something can theoretically be done, doesn't mean that it should be done. This is one of those things that should not be done.

Nobody is counting them as supporters of anything. You probably want to re-read that. They are viewers that would be willing to give the idea a chance to prove itself. Being open-minded enough to consider yourself willing to re-evaluate your position is a win for everyone.


Which is the part that's interesting. How do you feel about real-life cases of humans changing gender?


I think you also have an odd idea of what 'open minded' means. Believing that gender doesn't limit personality isn't a case of open-mindedness - being wiling to be swayed by strong evidence to the contrary is. I could only call myself open-minded, for example, if you were able to provide evidence that gender produces a barrier to identity and personality that cannot be crossed - that men and women are fundamentally different beyond reproductive organs.