*sigh*

[lederhosen]

"There was a slightly jarring moment when a fan asked the panel if there would ever be a female Doctor, and Steven [Moffat] pointed out it would be entirely possible, but then asked for a show of hands who would like to see that happen. This got about 50% of the audience raising their hands, but then he asked how many people would switch off the show if there was a female Doctor, and 20-30% of the fans put their hand up, to a certain amount of gasping from everyone else."

Leaving aside the question of how many of those 20-30% would actually follow through, you'll notice what he didn't ask - and probably never even considered - was "how many people who currently DON'T watch the show might switch on if there was a female Doctor?"

It reminds me of when smoking was banned in Australian pubs a few years back. The owners lamented that it would drive them out of business, because their patrons LIKED to smoke and wouldn't want to come to a non-smoking venue.

What they never considered was that there were a lot of people who were staying away from pubs because they couldn't stand the smoke. I don't have sources, but my understanding is that when the ban was enacted, what little custom the pubs lost from smokers was balanced out by the influx of nonsmokers.

Comments

[serehfa]

That would have been interesting. I have been engaged in discussions elsewhere about the way that Australian women seem to go along with being overlooked and trampled on while defending the perpetrators - be that personal, societal, governmental - and the answer might vary depending on who esle had the remote control that night. There would be some Xena fans who would tune in!!

I would also, and I'd love to see how a woman would play out in the role, but I think Kerry Greenwood would have to do the story. Moffatt to me seems to still be indulging teenage male fantasies with himself as Doctor with adoring women helplessly hanging off him. The whole David Tennant run turned me off, despite the Tennant eye candy.

[serehfa]

So, with the link behind the quote, it took me to another page of someone's blog with just that quote, but apparently no link to the story behind it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but when I get to a page full of reblogs and retweets, I get lost. Is there a link to the original article somewhere?

[lederhosen]

I didn't follow the links back when I posted it, but this article has what appears to be a link back to the Anglophenia article. However, the latter is timing out at the moment - don't know whether that's just a temporary hiccup.

[lederhosen]

edit: Anglophenia link seems to be working now.

[serehfa]

Thanks, it is.