Gender reassignment should not be confined to only one sex

The writing has been on the wall ever since Dame Judi Dench became M. A female Jemma (or even Jamila) Bond may yet be a few movies away, but Dr Who has appropriately taken the plunge and morphed into a woman in the latest avatar.

Clearly, that has caused some consternation, given that the Merriam-Webster dictionary has been galvanised into tweeting an instant corroboration of the hit series’ decision by clarifying that ‘Doctor’ has no gender. Neither do scientist, banker, engineer, lawyer and architect; or, for that matter, thief, tycoon or psychopath.

But then again, they have not been immortalised on the small screen as a time-travelling, shape-changing alien. At a time when nurse, nanny, secretary, plumber and even Potus have lost their implicit gender segregation, this is an inevitable gender transformation. In any case, the very English Dr John Watson has already become Joan and Chinese-American.

From Hamlet to The Mighty Thor and The Ghostbusters, male protagonists’ roles are increasingly giving way to genderreassignment. That, of course, begs the question of why there is no equivalent movement in the opposite direction too.

Asweet old Mr Marple, a male devil wearing Prada, an endearing Mario in Sound of Music or a cute young Theodore in The Wizard of Oz could be a politically correct beginning.