#aro doctor

[variousqueerthings]

also interesting because I just watched a video doing a rundown on the history of queerness in doctor who, which naturally had a lot dedicated to aro and/or ace reads of the doctor, which at one point discussed that ofc reading the alien character specifically as such can be alienating (not... that as an aroace person my own reads would be attempting to alienate... myself... although also here insert other discussion about how the aliens often are just the blank slate upon which non-normative behaviours are placed, so it makes sense to see the neurodivergent/disabled/queer/otherwise othered body reflected from them, while also understanding that this means the world views you as inherently alien, while also being like "sure, yeah, I always have done," while also knowing that's dehumanisation, while also...)

but, when it's consciously done, when does this alien being (whatever narrative we're looking at) resonate through the lens of xyz because we're interested in how social structures built Not on today's earth human constructs could end up in wildly interesting different spaces in which what is non-normative to us is presented as normative to them (thus making an argument of stop being such freaks against trans kids, for example), and also when do we read those characters as incongruent with their own societies (I think also here of star trek's the outcast and rejoined, which blend queerness as we recognise it in our societies with characters who break alien normative structures as expressions of an alien queerness, and then there's ofc left hand of darkness in which gender-and-sexuality is at the centre of the political narrative and it's queer on multiple in-universe and out-of-universe levels)

for example, the doctor isn't really an outsider timelord if we look at them through the lens of genderbending regeneration -- that's normalised in that society in canon, and the interesting thing there is usually how that interacts with human social constructs and politics of gender and as a scifi way of deconstructing and dissembling real life consturcts... but they are clearly an outsider in terms of many other things they do, for example seeming neurodivergent if looked at through a human lens and a timelord lens

so where do aromantic and asexual reads fit in there?

well to start with aro!doctor -- I am into the science-fiction ability to create societies with completely different expressions of "connection" that eschew simple human monogamous ideas and histories, but if we were to take that second lens as well of "what if the doctor is aromantic as an identity and not simply as an alien," the doctor continuously (with the exception of romana and the master) creates deep connections with beings that don't have a particularly long lifespan/aren't timelords, especially considering they're near-immortal. and with romana and the master there seems to be a different set of rules happening there than anything one might describe as uncomplicatedly romantic, bitter exes vibe of the doctor/the master acknowledged

the doctor interests me from the lens of "aromantic as non-normative/queer from the pov from both our and timelord society" because they seem to continuously struggle with people not accepting the connections that they're offering them. the doctor's way of having a relationship is often not "enough", isn't easy to describe/vague, and people get jealous or angry or feel betrayed for reasons that isn't the doctor's fault, because there simply seems to be a lack of language to properly describe it in easy digestible terms

that is... a very aromantic experience

and then sometimes the doctor will just have little non-romantic connections that work, like donna -- and, despite not being my favourite seasons, the bits where the doctor simply lives with/drops in on the ponds is very sweet. and the tardis of course. am a "doctor-and-the-tardis are a matching pair and one without the other is wrong, but it's not romantic" person at heart, beyond anything else

(I am interested in how this will play once my rewatch gets me back to 13 and I can watch until the end, because I know yaz confesses that she's in love with the doctor near the end, and the doctor has an interesting reaction from what I understand)

(I guess at this point asexuality is another post)

but yeah. I think I'm not saying anything new with regards to the writing of aliens (and android and otherwise non-human characters), in that obviously one would like to imagine some interest in exploring these forms of non-normativity outside of "well that's an alien" (she's an alien and he's gay) but also there's reasons we're all so into aliens

genderbending genderfluid regenerating aliens is all well and good, but it only becomes really interesting in this case when we see trans/non-binary/genderfluid/genderbending humans (as is coming up soon! and I hope we see many more actors of the trans and gender non-conforming persuasion on this show!) similarly -- while I do think we have had more than a taste (donna my heart and soul honestly) of that non-alloromantic queerplatonic vibes doctor-companion dynamic -- I'd be fascinated in what a consciously aro (and maybe ace also) companion opposite the doctor would be like, how that would restructure their relationship with the doctor, compared to others who had expectations that the doctor couldn't ever hope to fulfill, like rose, martha (although they did let down martha in many ways that had nothing to do with romance), amy, possibly yaz, (here the confession that I never did get much of what was going on with clara but maybe this watch will clarify for me), possibly sarah-jane, possibly river song although she seems to have just kind of gone with it I guess, possibly romana... heck, possibly the master (I guess possibly that american woman from the movie, I forget her name... I cannot remember rn if other companions ever expressed an interest like that in them, but if so, then them too)

also I just want to rub moffat's face in it if I'm being honest. writing snide commentary about what was described as "asexual" doctor pre-nu!who, in a way that very much encompassed aroness (because romance-and-sex has so often been and still is put under one header), and totally misunderstanding why fans were into it or why it's interesting, and then being obsessed ever since with his weird little crusade of making doctor who "sexier" and alloromantic and imo utterly failing, despite it all

[vroomvroomwee]

Something that often scared aspec people is being left out in the cold when all our friends eventually find partners and start families and it leaves us feeling so unimportant and like we always come second place.

But this...

It shows how capable of perseverance platonic love is. It only needs to be strong enough. People can love their best friends just as much as their families. And it can be beautiful. To see this as an aspec person gives me so much hope for the future, I hope rtd knows how much this finale means to so many ace and aro people

[algolithium]

hey it's feb 14. Love is in the air. So I turned some of the aspec flags into plague doctors.

because is love in the air? No. Miasma.

here's my tribute to the aspec community, to make this day a bit bearable, I guess. :))

[a-bit-of-a-queer-one]

I just rewatched The Giggle (again...) and I know others have already said it, but Fourteen's happy ending being a normal life with his best friend and her family rather than with a romantic partner means the universe to me. I'm not sure I've ever seen found family be the happy end for any adult character without there being an element of romance to it before and it is beautiful

[g1ngerbeer]

remembered i can draw whatever i want :)

[audhd-nightwing]

aromantic doctor who fans be like: my favorite duo is ten and donna because there’s no romantic feelings between them, they are just besties!

(it’s me i’m the fan)

(also applicable to twelve and bill)

[quietwingsinthesky]

on that topic, both the doctor and the master are aromantic as well. they have a QPE. queerplatonic enemyship.

[aq2003]

"the doctor is aroace," i say into the mic. the crowd boos. steven moffat throws a tomato at me. i walk off the stage. then, several voices arise from the back of the room. "they're right", say over a third of the actors that have played the doctor over its 60 year long history

[awkward-aro-ace-princess-76]

Interpreting any character as aspec is fighting a losing battle cos the aspec headcanon will NEVER be the popular fandom interpretation. I can’t think of any character that is widely interpreted as aspec by non-aspec people, it only seems to be the aspec community that headcanons characters as aspec and everyone else treats us like we are taking away from “real” queer rep with our headcanons.

[convolutedblasphemy]

Characters that are aroace according to me and several other people who have approved these headcanons. Explanation for who they are under the cut + brief summary of the source material because if you haven't consumed these yet, you should! (I need more people to talk about them with)

1. Toshinori Yagi: He's the main characters' mentor and No. 1 Hero in the anime and manga "My Hero Academia" which follows the story of Izuku Midoriya, a high school student who was born without powers in a world where about 80% of the population has superpowers, as he attends a prestigious hero academy to become a licensed superhero. Watch the show.

Aroace level: has never shown romantic or sexual attraction to anyone in canon, has however shown what I interpreted as sex repulsion on a few instances in bonus material. the aces in the fandom crowd around him. it's a popular headcanon.

2. Monkey D. Luffy: Protagonist of One Piece, which follows his very, very long journey across the world with his friends / pirate crew in order to find the One Piece, the most legendary pirate treasure, and become the pirate king. Watch the show.

Aroace level: basically as aroace as you can make a character without explicitly using the terminology. crap ton of evidence to support this both in the source material and in stuff the mangaka said. like genuinely, I consider Luffy an aroace protagonist.

3. Sampo Koski: A playable character in Hoyoverse's turn-based gacha game "Honkai: Star Rail" where a group of people travel on an intergalactic train to different worlds in order to get rid of the Stellarons, known as the "Cancer of All Worlds". He's a jester-type character who scams people. Play the game.

Aroace level: Personal Headcanon with no canon evidence but somehow the aroaces on Tumblr crowd around him.

4. Michael: A timeless being who oversees the neighborhood in which the show is set. The story follows Eleanor Shellstrop who falsely got sent to The Good Place (basically heaven) after she died and is now trying to learn to become a better person so she can stay there. Show is hilarious, teaches you about philosophy and has a lot of unexpected twists and turns! Watch the show.

Aroace level: Listen I do not know a single person, ace or not, who knew what "aroace" is and walked away from this show not under the impression that Michael is aroace. He's a very aroace character. You'll understand if you watch it.

5. Dr. Robotnik: Antagonist of the Sonic The Hedgehog movies. Watch them.

Aroace level: Do not come for me with this one because he gets shipped with his assistant and there's a lot of people saying they're undeniably gay and in love with each other but this is a character who's struggled with alienation a lot and openly mocks the average person's socially expected life; the headcanon basically writes itself.

6. 9th Doctor: Listen, I wouldn't know how to summarize Doctor Who even if I tried but it has time travel, aliens and chaos. Watch the show.

Aroace level: The Doctor in general is a very asexual character (even said by Matt Smith himself), and this one in particular just struck me as very aro as well. He kisses another character in the show but I did not register that as romantic at all...

7. Benjamin Linus: An antagonist (you will go back and forth between loathing his guts and loving him. also he gets beaten up a lot. like an almost comical amount) and pretty major character in "Lost", a show that follows the passengers of a plane crash after they landed on a mysterious, seemingly deserted island where strange things are happening. Watch the show, it's fantastic.

Aroace level: Personal Headcanon. Doesn't have a love interest or displays sexual attraction in a show where a lot of characters do. Singular attempt at romance looked more like display of his mental health issues than genuine romantic attraction.

8. JB Cox: A master thief who's simultaneously very cunning and also very stupid. Basically live action version of Sampo Koski. He's from the series "The Hardy Boys", which follows the teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy as they try to solve the mystery behind their mother's murder. Contains murder mystery, crime and secret societies. Watch the show, I have no one to talk about it with. Not a single person.

Aroace level: Not a singular display of romantic or sexual attraction but also he's the only notable character of his age group in this show. Lives in a secret hideout / apartment and spends his life breaking into buildings and stealing things for people who hire him. I cannot look at this man and imagine him as someone with a love life. I just can't.

[variousqueerthings]

watching doctor who confidential onwards into season 2, and of course we reach some of the more... considered romantic-type episodes -- school reunion up through age of steel, because of sarah-jane, renette, and mickey

what i find interesting about the ways people describe the dynamics between the doctor and sarah-jane/rose/renette, it immediately becomes much more Alive than simply using the word "romance," which ultimately says nothing. people will throw around the word "romance" and then start talking about "well the doctor is possessive of his companions because he's terribly lonely," "well, rose thought she was Chosen to be special and save the world, but discovered that there had been many people before her who had subsequently (often) been unceremoniously left behind on earth once again without their consent," "the doctor cannot bear saying proper goodbyes to various companions, because it's too painful and so deliberately used to try and keep it casual," "the doctor knows what the companions don't quite understand, which is that they will always die and the doctor will always live," "sarah-jane had a bit of this magic and then was abandoned," "rose sees her future in sarah-jane," "renette goes into the doctor's mind and sees the loneliness there," "the doctor sees this person he knew as a girl grow up and then die in a very short space of time and it's tragic"

and that gives much more flavour to the various dynamics the doctor has with their companions. at one point dtennant describes different "relationships" without using the word "romance" and while I don't know if that was conscious, it's much more accurate and doesn't put a dynamic on the relationships that's quite... limiting. I think it's quite telling how much people tend to conflate the two words, because romance is unconsciously put on that highest pedestal, so if the relationship is intense it must be romantic, because... well romance must be intense (also, from what I've seen, not necessarily true)

it's not enough that renette encapsulates some of the doctor's worst fears (a companion simply dying because humans will always die, and there's nothing that can be done to stop the passage of time), or that she briefly caught a glimpse of some of the doctor's true loneliness and helped assuage/distract it for a little bit, before it all came crashing back tenfold, or that she as a human from a certain time period conceives of the doctors through terms like "angel," as if all of those things aren't intense

it's not enough that the doctor has left companions time and time again without saying goodbye, and that this has now been confirmed in nu!who as being because it's too hard to let them go every time and actually say goodbyes that have proper meaning, and the doctor consistently wishes for them a life beyond the tardis and sometimes they make the choice, but often it's the doctor's decision (most times without them even knowing) that now they're at a point to move on without the doctor, or doesn't need the doctor anymore, or it's too much/dangerous, or whatever that choice is based in. and that often in the past this choice has been related in them finding romantic relationships that have superseded what the doctor has to offer (skill issue, but then I'm aromantic -- I do acknowledge that the ponds is one of the only times this hasn't quite happened, which is funny because I too tend to become swallowed (with affection) into various couples to various degrees) and the doctor accepts this

once again, the worst quote came from stephen moffat, saying that in renette the doctor had finally found an equal because she was educated and cultured, which feels like a (probably not on purpose but still quite noticeable) slight against rose being able to be considered an equal -- rose who deliberately was introduced as a young woman who never finished highschool, and in the idea that romance is about... equal knowledge? equal education? unclear, but it's another example of all the talk about romance being quite waffly compared to actually describing what's going on in these narratives, which is a fascinating set of dynamics that can't be encapsulated by that word

also ofc in rise of the cybermen/age of steel mickey finally lets go of rose, and there was a description there about how mickey did read the doctor as this other guy who came in and swooped rose off her feet and had so much to offer -- but that makes sense, because mickey is a human man seeing his girlfriend prioritise someone who to them both looks like an attractive young man (who owns a time machine to boot). whether I would personally read mickey as thinking it's romantic, I don't think it matters much because mickey mainly just recognises that the doctor is more important to rose than he'll ever be, and it's a rare-ish example of the doctor taking precedent over another romantic pairing, which was quite interesting (also, again, from an aromantic perspective)

[vroomvroomwee]

I cannot stress how much of an impact this will have for the aspec community. It shows a character who has quite literally seen almost every inch of the universe, met all kinds of people, has been in all kinds of relationships. And what makes him the happiest is settling down with his best friend. He doesn't need romantic love or a relationship. How incredible is that? To have a show, in this sex obsessed day and age, do that?

When the entire world is telling aspec people our "lifestyle" is wrong or depressing or sad. When everyone is trying to "fix" us or is pitying us. When aroace erasure is so deeply rooted in society that you can scarcely find a fictional pairing where the fandom isn't crying their eyes out because they didn't get together or didn't kiss, as if their relationship is somehow lesser or inferior because of it.

I could go on and on about how earth-shattering it is to have one of the most popular and beloved characters in media choose platonic love. To show how platonic love and friendships are so powerful they even defied physics, probably even deeper and more powerful than romantic ones.

"This is the happiest I've ever been" Me too pal. Me too

[shmaroace]

beginning to think that romantic attraction is actually made up and everyone is gaslighting themselves into feeling it

[gothicghoul]

nightmare aziracrow AU

[fiaistired]

SPOILERS FOR WEDNESDAY!!!

so I don’t really like Tyler that much but the whole reveal that he’s actually evil seems bullshit. he’s been emotionally abused, he’s been through a traumatic event, possibly related to his mothers death, his father neglects him, then he’s LITERALLY tortured and manipulated into hurting others. he’s been chained up in a cave, naked, and he’s magically (or something of the sort) controlled by Laurel. after a while he starts to cooperate with his abuser who can, let me remind you, also basically-sorta-mind-control him if he doesn’t do what she says.

After Wednesday confronts him, he tells her he now enjoys hurting people but i feel like he’s not in a right place mentally in that moment. He’s just been in a very stressful and possibly triggering situation after Wednesday kidnapped him and hurt him to try and get him to confess to being the monster.

It’s crazy to me that I just saw a bunch of people hating on him for being “a fake manipulator” or something along those lines - yes i agree that his interpretation of Wednesday leading him on was really far fetched but also he seemed to be genuinely interested in her and cared for her. I hope if there’s more seasons they won’t turn him into a cold uncaring evil mastermind or something like that. Justice for Tyler!

[hollow-keys]

It's annoying to me that people are like "The Doctor is canonically queer now!" As if 13 wasn't sapphic, 11 wasn't aroace, 10 wasn't ace-spec and 6 wasn't aroace.