When Jodie Whittaker was announced as the first female Doctor in Doctor Who’s history, I expected there to be some backlash and criticism over the casting, but The Sun and The Daily Mail took it to a whole new level of misogyny with their coverage. They decided the most noteworthy acting in Whittaker’s past was the nude scenes from her movie Venus, and they just had to cover that. They then preceded to screenshot scenes where Whittaker is nude and very loosely relate it to rest of the article. In an article in the Mirror, they tried to tie some relevance between Venus and Doctor Who by saying, “It was one of her very first professional acting roles, proving that Jodie has never been afraid to throw herself into a job.”
The Daily Mail and The Sun ran articles along the same line where they highlighted her acting in Venus rather than her much more relevant role in Broadchurch, or really any other acting job where she wasn’t naked or involved in anything “saucy.” Fans, upset and disappointed in the coverage, supported Whittaker on Twitter and denounced the articles. Other news sites also pointed out the sexist and irrelevant coverage.
If you want to see her actual acting talent rather than nude screenshots, you could watch her in the Black Mirror episode “The Entire History of You,” or the more recent Broadchurch. Or you could wait for her to become the 13th Doctor in the Christmas Episode later this year. Either way, Whittaker is paving the way for women in sci-fi and hopefully, she will continue to move us forward regardless of the absurd and sexist coverage.
Photo Credit: Black Mirror, Netflix
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