Opinion: Why I love River Song despite sexualization

Many people have some issues with the way River Song was written. I disagree.

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When people talk about River Song, many people’s issues with the character is the way she was over sexualized throughout her tenure on Doctor Who. Which no one can deny. River Song was the cornerstone of sexual content in series five and six. Despite that, and despite any hits her characterization make have taken at that “fault”, she was still a badass character.

Was she sexy? Yes. Did Steven Moffat use that to the advantage that felt a bit sleazy? Maybe. Do I think Matt Smith ended up in his dressing room more often than not after a scene? Well, no comment. (Not that I would blame him, or anyone around him, really.)

So yes, a woman was portrayed as sexual. But to say that it was the only thing River Song showed is simply not true. And honestly, I would argue that River Song showed what girls should be – secure in their sexuality, confident enough to turn heads, but strong. Smart. Independent.

River Song: Stripped down

Credit: BBC

River Song was an archaeologist, turned PhD, turned Professor. This is not a woman who relied on her body to get her through things. She had a brain. She wore Louboutin shoes while digging through a graveyard site of Weeping Angels. All while making innuendos about the Doctor and simultaneously challenging him intellectually.

This wasn’t a woman that was there to be the trophy wife of a Time Lord. She could easily stand and make Eleven her trophy husband, should she choose to. She was quick and able, and maybe you have to read the lines, but there’s much beyond whatever Moffat used for her character.

Now, I’m not saying that she wasn’t oversexualized. She was. She was portrayed as the Time Lord with a risque dating life and had numerous innuendos to having sex with the Doctor. The was no denying that you can look at River Song and only see sex. And it’s really made more confusing by the fact that whenever we see her, everything’s different.

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So I understand how people can look at her and only see a character that was full of Moffat’s sexualization of females. But that’s the issue of the writer. As a character, River is more than the innuendos she says or the sensuality she exudes.

Which is why River Song is my favorite character.