I've got a theory

[kindkit]

I've been thinking about Time Lord sexuality. As you do.

I am forced to admit, reluctantly, that the Doctor seems rather sexually indifferent. Even in the ostensibly sexed-up new series, the only person he clearly has some kind of erotic/romantic interest in is Reinette. And before the new series, my understanding of telly-canon is that he's

Comments

[kindkit]

Eccleston and Tennant are practically oozing warm fuzzies compared to, say, Tom Baker.

*nods* The Doctors I've seen/read--Two, Eight, Nine, and Ten--are apparently the warmest ones, emotionally. So I've probably got a rather skewed sense of what the Doctor is like. Of course, it's difficult to talk about "the Doctor" in general because his self is so inconsistent--each new incarnation has a distinct personality.

I think the Doctor sees most humans (Reinette being an exception to the rule) as kittens

*nods* I often think of the Doctor as being like a person who really, really loves dogs. He thinks they're smart and wonderful as a species, and he adores his own dogs like crazy. But they're still dogs, and you don't fall in love with a dog. On the other hand, in some ways the metaphor isn't apt, because human beings, while not as smart as Time Lords, are sentient creatures, and of course Time Lords and humans are much more physically alike than humans and dogs/kittens. So I don't think the sense of taboo and ickiness is necessarily

[van]

But, yeah, most of the companions are fluffy kitties, or big annoying-yet-beloved hounds. Only a few seem to get a real emotional response from the Doctor, at least judging by what I've seen.

Yes, this is definitely true. And, there are some companions who, while they might rise about the "Fluffy kitten" stage, for him to treat them like that would be dangerous for THEM. For instance, I would say that Sarah Jane probably was more special to him, especially early one, than say, Dodo. She's one of the companions I could see the Doctor being fond of in a sexual way.

But Sarah Jane (like Rose), wouldn't have had a healthy relationship with the Doctor. She would have wanted more than just sex. I think she would have wanted to settle down and focus on her career (this is Sarah Jane we're talking about), and would want it to be a "forever" thing and that was something the Doctor couldn't give her. He doesn't want to watch the people he cares about grow old and die he already did that with Jamie, he can't settle down in one place, etc. But

[kindkit]

Hmmm. I see what you're saying, but I think there's a lot of wiggle room between "no strings attached sex" and "house and morgage." Personally, I'm more interested in writing about emotional relationships--happy or not, long-term or not--than about sex per se. And my sense of the Doctor--at least, the versions I know reasonably well--is that he does form emotional attachments at the same time that he keeps his distance.

*shrugs* YMMV.

[some_stars]

oh have you read Nos's WONDERFULLY SAD ten-martha-not-quite-/ story where timelords and humans aren't sexually compatible? SO WONDERFULLY SAD. not my preferred fanon but oh MAN.

[kindkit]

I haven't seen it (I'm not really into het pairings) but it does sound very sad. Poor Martha, hasn't she suffered enough already?

[anonymous]

I love that theory. It works. And it's just such a... I don't know, it's kind of a sweet way of thinking about it. Plus, it does tend to line up with the fact that generally, whenever anything romantic's happened with Nine or Ten (read: kissing), the other person was initiating it.

My own, semi-tongue-in-cheek theory is that in some way, the fact that the Doctor always seems to avoid that sort of thing unless someone else initiates it (in "The Dying Days," one of the novels, it's implied Eight gets some, but the woman involved just about pinned him to the mattress first, and moreover there was just a bit of alcohol involved) is that he's seen too many of those B-movies where some alien drags the screaming maiden off, perhaps with perverted intentions, and he thinks that thus there'd be something wrong with him shagging a human when he initiated it. Something like that.

[kindkit]

I like your conscientious!inhibited!Doctor idea. *grins*

[van]

In regards to how I feel about him canonically, that is basically the conclusion I've come to. That Time Lords CAN have sex and such, but that they've bioengineered themselves not to want or need it anymore. I wrote a fic once where the Doctor is basically explaning this to his amorous companion, and saying "I just don't feel anything like that anymore" and the companion counters with, "You've reneged from the Time Lords, stolen a TARDIS, broken the non-intervention time laws, etc. Why not break the 'no sex' rule too? Live on the wild side!" And eventually the Doctor is like, "WHOOHOO OKAY!" hahahahaha. But he had to conciously sort of give in

[kindkit]

I like the idea of the Doctor discovering/rediscovering his sexuality once he's around humans. I'm not sure the aging theory works for me, though, since each regeneration allows physical renewal. But I could certainly see his attitudes about sex, and his willingness to engage in sex, changing over the course of his long lifetime.

[flo_nelja]

In "Human Nature/Family of Blood," the amnesiac!Doctor was certainly in love with Joan Redfern, to the point of wanting marriage and children. If he had no sexual capacity, that wouldn't have happened.

Well, he was not only amnesiac, he was human, fully human biologically and psychologically, with only one heart, and a sex drive, of course.

It doesn't change that in the new series, the Time Lords clearly can have sex - if the Master wasn't sleeping with Lucy, there's something I didn't understand. ^^

I like your theory, by the way.