If you have the pleasure/misfortune to know me then I’m sure that if you were asked to describe me in 3 words, ‘Doctor Who’ would be two of them. I’ve been obsessed with it my entire adult life. Had I not been born in what fans dub ‘the dark years’ (the period between the late-80s and 2005 when it was off the air) then I have no doubt I would have loved it as a child too.
I always feel guilty about loving something that relegates LGBTQ characters so far into subtext land that you need binoculars to see them (Classic Who). Or blink and you’ll miss it representation (New Who). As much as I live and breathe the show I hate that there is no real visibility for me within it. That it is often biphobic.
Time and time again LGBTQ people are told that we are “rubbing people’s faces in it” at the merest hint of non-heterosexuality, such as when you mention your girlfriend’s name or that you’ve read a Sarah Waters novel in conversation. So it hurts all the more when shows have a heterosexual kiss/sex scene/flirtatious moment in virtually every episode.
And yet a character that supposedly represents bisexuality? Nothing.
Poor Clara doesn’t get to say she’s bisexual. She is only allowed to hint at it through brief sentences that can be passed off as jokes in case anyone gets too worried. Jane Austen is a phenomenal kisser apparently. Naturally we never even get to see her and Jane meet. But she does have a season long romantic storyline with her boyfriend Danny.
Another litmus test for me is whether the cast or crew ever mention it whilst doing publicity. “She had a love affair with Jane Austen,” Jenna Coleman says in one of the Series 9 DVD extras. And whilst it’s awesome that it’s stated out loud and on the record how awesome would it have been to see that story play out on screen!? Why are we denied that part of her identity? What is so wrong and terrible about it?
Nothing!
And what a terrible message it sends out to the audience; that same-sex attraction should be secret. Because it’s too naughty, wrong, and risqué to be shown on screen. Because it’s not worthy of being shown in a single scene.
It really upsets me.
Especially, as I’ve mentioned before, when it’s a sci-fi drama where aliens, time travel, monsters, living on the moon etc. exists and is often depicted. But two people of the same gender having a relationship – hell no. Damn you for even wanting it!
The image shows a portrait of Jane Austen on the left and a publicity photo of Clara on the right. The colours of the bisexual flag have been painted in behind her. A red strike crosses out the image from bottom left to top right, obscuring Clara’s eyes.
And then you come across all the speculation about her sexuality in the media, because after all there’s nothing official that confirms it. Jenna Coleman’s words could be interpreted as a joke or given the meaning ‘was very interested in as a hobby’. And then the press do hurtful things like start an article with “No, we’re not being salacious…!” and I want to scream at the world over and over again to stop sexualising bisexuality.
I know this is nothing new in the show, River Song falls into this category too and there are plenty of other examples outside of Doctor Who. The show has taken some long overdue steps forward with the latest companion Bill (I’ll debate the pros and cons of that character later) but it’s not enough. It’s got a long way to go to make up for all the hurt.
