sunlitlake

Here's the deal internet.

I understand why you are angry and upset over one Steven Moffat. His characterisation of women has not always been top notch and racially not as diverse as he could be. His writing style may not be to everyone's tastes and that's fine. The show is not the same as it was under RTD and in many ways that is reflected in the viewing figures and the budget. In terms of Sherlock the show is not as socially aware as Elementary or indeed the Canon. 

But the issues being raised and the main flow of the opinions and the beliefs are all being aimed at one individual when really they reflect the industry as a whole. The full force of a website's fury and frustration is target at one man and, possibly, not the right one - just the most famous.

Each writer we love and respect has done good things and bad things. Moffat gave life to Sally Sparrow, Molly Hooper and Madame Vastra the Victorian Ninja Lizard. He brought us the weeping angles and the silence. His Doctor is one of the most popular in recent years and his hand on the franchise has bought in so many more devotees. Yet to hear the things you read you'd think he was Mitt Fucking Romney. 

His fame is of a similar ilk I will grant you but has he done anything much worse than his predecessor? If you examine characters and ignore shipping, what do we come to? Rose was so reliant on the Doctor that she could not imagine a life without him, claiming that she "died". She then didn't appear to get over this fact and felt a lot less independent than Amy Pond did. There were Doctorless episodes and large Doctorless moments under Moffat, but under RTD, it felt more… enthralled? Possibly with each other, possibly down to love but did we not see love with Amy and Rory and they were functioning alone and away from the Doctor.

RTD's women always felt quite flat whilst Moffat loves his femme fatals. I think I'd rather have girls who grew up to be Moffat's version of women (which we can agree is not perfect and has been raised on several occasions as sexist) than RTDs. We REMEMBER Moffat's women, we all too often forget RTDs. Indeed, I can name more on Moffat's female "OCs" than I can RTD's. Yet do we insult RTD to the same extent we do Moffat? No. We put on our Rose tinted glasses and remember how Epic Donna was (though this came down more to Acting than script, lets be honest) and remember Martha at her best rather than when she was constantly pinning after the doctor with big dewey love struck eyes. We choose to forget about Ursula and the cheap Blow Job jokes, we forget about Gwen and Tosh and Chan-Tho. RTD wrote a good handful of episodes in his time on Who it is true. The Series 3 finale was rather good if problematic in areas, Midnight was interesting too along with Turn Left. The rest were riddled with plot holes and confusion strange choices and what-the-fuck women. See Journey's End and Love and Monsters. Moffat on the other hand? Empty Child, Silence in the Library, Day of the Moon, Blink, Asylum of the Daleks, Big Bang 2… so many episodes I remember people LOVING and enjoying. Moments we quote form and characters we love. The fact that I can physically NAME more of his episodes says a lot as well. Possibly just my own opinion but equally an important opinion to have. You may say completely different things in regard to what I just said and that's fine. But think about your opinons on one writer and see if you can apply them to others. 

The Sexy Lamp test and the Bechdel Test are ones we uphold here on the interwebs. You know the only episode of Sherlock Series 3 to pass this test was? Scandal in Belgravia. Yes people please remove your Mark Gatiss glasses the man is on the same level as Moffat. The two are practically married. So please stop treating one like a saint and the other a sinner. And friendly reminder that Steve Thompson is a writer on this show as well. He just doesn't have a public face.

Films people love and ador have also seemed to disappear into the night after a flash of anger. I don't think I'll ever forgive Abrams to what he did to the women of Star Trek. Yet I don't hark on about it and send the man hatred and wish death upon him. I want his hold on the Trek franchise taken away, yes, but I don't make it take over me. 

Heck, even Joss Whedon has written productions that don't hold up to the high expectations you set for Steven Moffat. Did Avengers pass the Bechdel Test? No. But he's out there and he's trying to give us strong women in much the same way Moffat is. Do you prefer Joss over Stephen? Awesome. I think you might be right. I think he has done a great job at portraying women and has done so better than Moffat. But don't let him off for things you'd slit Steven's throat over. 

This is another thing I think we might want to change. Steven Moffat has a name. That name is Steven. We call him Moffat and it de-humanises him. We are far more eager to call Gatiss Mark and Whedon Joss than we are to accept the fact that Steven is a human being with a heart and a family with a Wife who is just as successful in her own field as any other.

At this point I'd also like to point out the role of Women in all of this. We are the ones to complain and to shout about one man. But where is our support and love for the Female writers coming from? The sad fact of the matter is, that not that many women ARE writing successfully for TV. One woman has written for Doctor Who. One. And her episode was met with hate and disgust when I really do not think it merited such behaviour. We praised the work of Lucy Watkins in the Merlin Fandom but have we continued to do so? Does anyone know of any other projects she's working on? I don't, do you? If you do than please tell me because I would LOVE to know.

Indeed, the only female writer I keep up with is Sarah Dollard who wrote "No Care, All Responsibility" along with the Minisodes for that series. And whom I now follow on Tumblr and Twitter with love hearts for eyes and shhhhh let her please never see this. It also probably says a lot about the Beeb when I inform you that Being Human is possibly my only Main Fandom to have included more than one female writer? Shock and horror people, some included more than one IN A SERIES. 

Not only this but a quick search has informed me that Torchwood, another BBC 3 show, included female writers as well. Still in a minority but still there none the less. What is it that is stopping these female writers from achieving greatness and carrying on in their worlds? Is it one man and one man alone? Is it Producers who have a lot of sway over what a writer does and doesn't do? Is it the BBC? What can WEas feminists do in order to break that glass ceiling?

How about we spread the LOVE rather than the hate? Write to the BBC to tell them how much we enjoyed the work of a writer and encourage them to re-employ them! 

You catch more flies with honey than you do with Vinegar, after all.