jhonny be good

feministwhoniverse:

Queer Representation and Visibility in Doctor Who - Jack Harkness

Captain Jack Harkness was first introduced in The Empty Child as a rogue, 51st century, time agent. He began travelling with The Doctor and Rose before being stranded on Satellite 5 in The Parting of the Ways. He has since re-appeared in Doctor Who, had a spin-off (Torchwood) created around him, and become an iconic Doctor Who character.

When we are first introduced to Jack we learn, almost immediately, that he isn’t straight. Mere moments after he is shown ogling Rose, he flirts with fellow officer, Algy. By the end of his first episode it has been firmly established that Jack is attracted to multiple genders and species.

He’s just a bit more flexible when it comes to ‘dancing’.

Jack’s sexual fluidity or ‘omnisexuality’ continues to be demonstrated throughout his time on Doctor Who and Torchwood. He is shown to flirt with, be attracted to, and have relationships with many people of different genders.

There are two main elements of Jack’s sexuality which I’d like to highlight.

Firstly, Jack embodies typically masculine roles. He’s the dashing hero who saves the day. Very often in the mainstream media, queer men are portrayed as ‘feminine’. Whilst this is not an innately negative thing and can be done well (e.g. Kurt Hummel), it is generally routed in misogynistic ideas which link traditional femininity with weakness and is not, by any stretch of the imagination, representative of all queer men.

That’s not to say queer men don’t or can’t inhabit traditionally feminine roles however it is important that queer men can are also portrayed as traditionally masculine and everything else in between.

Secondly, Jack’s sexuality is presented as incredibly fluid. He flirts with men, women and aliens alike and has had relationships with both men and women. This is very different from the way most of the mainstream media portrays sexuality. It is often shown as a strict binary. You are either straight or gay. Bisexuality, if it’s shown at all, is rarely taken seriously. This doesn’t really reflect the reality. Yes there are people who are gay and people who are straight. However, there are also people who are bisexual, pansexual, asexual, queer. People who refuse labels and people who haven’t quite figured it all out yet.

Portraying Jack’s sexuality as fluid is a brilliant first step in moving away from depictions of sexuality as a binary and allowing for a more diverse and realistic depiction of sexuality in the mainstream media.

Overall, I think Captain Jack Harkness is an incredibly positive addition to queer characters we see on television. His sexuality doesn’t define him but it is not ambiguous. Now we just need to get more like him on our screens.

There is actually a blog about feminism in Doctor Who. I am so happy I’m dead. :3