I apologise for being a humourless whinger, but... Why those three? Why pit three female characters against each other? Maybe it's because I didn't grow up in a country or era where this game was played, but it makes me uncomfortable.
Um, yeah, basically this. It's not like there isn't enough sexism in fandom already, and pitting three female characters that get a lot of hate in fandom (at least Peri and Mel do; don't know much about the general opinion on Tegan) as it is against each other is deeply unnecessary and actually kind of upsetting.
This is a meta community. Why not talk about why these characters are so (in my opinion, undeservedly) disliked instead? Discuss their roles in canon, what could've improved them, how they're fleshed out in paracanon... This is Who, it's not like there's not enough screentime for any of them.
Co-signed to both these comments. Not that there isn't a place for humorous discussion in meta, but there's plenty to discuss about each one of these characters in their own rights long before resorting to "shag, marry, kill."
I agree with you completely, but as I mentioned above, I know this comm does not get many Classic Who submissions, and it looks like the topic above was a submission. If you have any topics about Peri, Tegan & Mel (or any Who characters, really) that you think would make a good discussion, please, please submit them.
Fabulous. Any submissions would be much appreciated! While I of course can't speak for the owner or other co-mods, I personally love Tegan and Peri (don't really know Mel), but don't feel well versed enough to come up with good topics. I'd love to see more discussion of either of these ladies, and I bet others would as well.
I think it's supposed to be fun not serious. The game lets you think about different reactions to the characters. I think these three are a good grouping as they were all JNT's young pretty female companion types and were kinda instrumental in how companions were when they were in modern Who.
I think it's ok for a community to discuss the good as well as the bad in a series. Especially for something like Doctor Who were there are so many different opinions on everything.
If people want to discuss characters they dislike, there are other ways than making them choose between three extreme options to subject the character to. This isn't a question that invites that sort of discussion, it doesn't ask why so many people would throw Mel off a cliff and what that says about fandom in general, it just asks how many people would take that option.
Likewise, if we were to discuss female companions during the JNT era, why not do that? Why only pick out these three? They don't have that much in common, except that they are characters that tend to not be favoured by fandom. Why not all companions, or all the Doctors?
In my opinion, it's an unnecessary and problematic question because fandom is already harsh towards female characters as it is. Also, the options themselves are pretty gross, particularly when applied to women (marry the one that meets your approval, use another sexually and kill the other off? Because it's not like women being treated like objects is something that's a problem irl...).
To do it this way is a way to have start those discussions that is supposed to be amusing and interesting. I've seen this format used in other communities for other shows and it is usually as a good discussion starter. It's a device that is commonly used to get discussion started nothing more. I've seen this used equally across the board for both male and female characters so don't think there's anything inherently sexist in the question as it's applied to male ones as well.
I agree there is a lot of sexism in the fandom and that this reflects the sexism that exists in society as a whole. And there's nothing wrong with discussing that either. Perhaps you'd like to submit that as a topic to the moderators of the group so there can be more of a discussion on it?
I've seen this used equally across the board for both male and female characters so don't think there's anything inherently sexist in the question as it's applied to male ones as well.
Meh. This argument isn't a good one. Just because something can be applied equally to two groups doesn't mean it's not more problematic for one of them. For example, you can call a man or a woman a slut, but they have very different connotations in society.
I think applying equally to men and women is exactly what feminism is all about. It's when things aren't equal that sexism occurs. There's nothing wrong with a woman being a slut anymore than there is a man being one.
There's nothing wrong with a woman being a slut anymore than there is a man being one.
You're missing my entire point. It's not about how things work in an ideal world or your personal feelings on the topic, it's about how societal norms and pressures shape things in real life, which is what I said in my original comment.
Regardless, this is not the venue to have this conversation, so I'm ending this here. Agree to disagree, etc.
I wasn't trying to have a discussion on sexism. Just point out why and how the question could be useful and how I'd seen it successfully used in other comms. I've never seen anyone accuse it of being sexist before. I'd much rather see people discussing the characters than complaining about the question. Which is why I posted my answers, then tried to point out the different ways people could engage with the question to talk about the things they wanted to.
There's nothing wrong with a woman being a slut anymore than there is a man being one.Ei-yiyi-That isn't exactly how I recall expressing feminist views. Why should we lable anyone a slut? I understand as I am American, that in both USA and British culture calling someone a slut, manwhore, slag, "Ho", bitch, is causual and fun, and not intending to denote harm or judgement, however not all cultures contained in our society think like that. In some cultures Slut, bitch, whore, are the last words you hear before some beats you senseless, and in some cultures people treat women accoridng to shag, marry, or kill rules
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I think this must be another example of the Uk and the Us being divided by a common language. I can't speak for all cultures of even my own. I was just expressing my own opinion that I see no negative connotation to behaviour that would be labelled "slut" regardless of gender.
I understand that not everyone comes from a British culture but as we are discussing a British show trying to understand a British form of humour would be part of that. Trying to explain that in its cultural context this was not viewed as a sexist question and try to get people back to discussing the original question about Tegan, Peti and Mel was my only intention.
Trying to explain that in its cultural context this was not viewed as a sexist question and try to get people back to discussing the original question about Tegan, Peti and Mel was my only intention. By cultural context do you mean that because the casting directors and writerrs for Doctor Who are/were British, they designed the characters of Tegan, Peri, and Mel by the Shag, Marry, Kill model?
I'm not disputing that they may have been designed as women who are either sexy, rejected, or irritating--, look at the roles designed for Martha, Donna, and Rose, --I'm just asking was this spirit in which you asked the question.
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This is a meta community. Why not talk about why these characters are so (in my opinion, undeservedly) disliked instead? Discuss their roles in canon, what could've improved them, how they're fleshed out in paracanon... This is Who, it's not like there's not enough screentime for any of them.
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I think it's ok for a community to discuss the good as well as the bad in a series. Especially for something like Doctor Who were there are so many different opinions on everything.
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Likewise, if we were to discuss female companions during the JNT era, why not do that? Why only pick out these three? They don't have that much in common, except that they are characters that tend to not be favoured by fandom. Why not all companions, or all the Doctors?
In my opinion, it's an unnecessary and problematic question because fandom is already harsh towards female characters as it is. Also, the options themselves are pretty gross, particularly when applied to women (marry the one that meets your approval, use another sexually and kill the other off? Because it's not like women being treated like objects is something that's a problem irl...).
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I agree there is a lot of sexism in the fandom and that this reflects the sexism that exists in society as a whole. And there's nothing wrong with discussing that either. Perhaps you'd like to submit that as a topic to the moderators of the group so there can be more of a discussion on it?
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Meh. This argument isn't a good one. Just because something can be applied equally to two groups doesn't mean it's not more problematic for one of them. For example, you can call a man or a woman a slut, but they have very different connotations in society.
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You're missing my entire point. It's not about how things work in an ideal world or your personal feelings on the topic, it's about how societal norms and pressures shape things in real life, which is what I said in my original comment.
Regardless, this is not the venue to have this conversation, so I'm ending this here. Agree to disagree, etc.
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I understand that not everyone comes from a British culture but as we are discussing a British show trying to understand a British form of humour would be part of that. Trying to explain that in its cultural context this was not viewed as a sexist question and try to get people back to discussing the original question about Tegan, Peti and Mel was my only intention.
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I'm not disputing that they may have been designed as women who are either sexy, rejected, or irritating--, look at the roles designed for Martha, Donna, and Rose, --I'm just asking was this spirit in which you asked the question.
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