A bell is a cup until it is struck

how about we talk about misogyny: about how romana has all but forced - coerced and tricked, even - leela into pretending to be a sex worker, to putting her in a position where she is sexually harassed and degraded; the way that this is all played for Funny by the text too - it's Funny that leela doesn't understand that she's an 'exotic dancer' - why? because she is a 'savage', because of her outfit?

or what about how this episode is a direct consequence of the misogyny of forcing lou into that costume in the first place, because seeing that outfit made the writer of this think 'sex worker'; how baano - the only voiced worker - has a regional accent because, of course, to be a sex worker you have to be Lesser somehow, less intelligent, less civilised; how baano is of course in on the scheme to take down the conference; but further from that, leela is the only one with any compassion and as such manages to rescue this script from being a total misogyny fest to actually being about privilege in society and desperation

and of course we could talk about why leela is the only one to really recognise baano et al as people and why romana is patronising to leela about it at the end; or how leela is always so rigid in her morality and how her idea of justice is always in blood - and this episode does little to deconstruct the 'savage' that it loves to call her. because anything alien is lesser to gallifrey, and anything lesser can be mocked, laughed at, used. how if you're a woman, your use is obvious if you're willing to be sexy or you're a 'callous bitch' if you dare to have your own thoughts and feelings and ambitions

or if we don't like that, we can even talk about gallifrey's relentless objectification of leela - not even just sexually though god knows we get enough of that, but also how she is literally turned into an object through her identity as a warrior - she is turned into a blade and treated as a person only as long as she serves her purpose there. this is a theme throughout - leela is a Tool a Weapon a Creature, all this and more said direct to her face time and time again over fifty damn years of the character existing in an attempt to control or belittle her, and again it's only louise jameson that manages to turn most of this from pointless misogyny into a quiet rage, a seething helplessness at having your options be take it through gritted teeth to keep whatever little security and freedom you have, or lose everything you have, again

Samia Halaby. Night Seeing, 1980.

Makeup by DAVID CRAIG FOREST, JANE AULL and JOHN BLAKE Hair by MARIE-ANGE RIPKA, LYSSA WITTLIN and JULIE WOODS Costumes by ELLEN MIROJNICK

✨The aura✨