CULTURE OF SCIENTIFIC COMPETENCE 1 The Gendered Culture of Scientific Competence: A Study of Scientist Characters in Doctor Who 1963-2013 Lindy A. Orthia and Rachel Morgain The Australian National University Author Note Lindy A. Orthia, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, The Australian National University; Rachel Morgain, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. Thanks to Emlyn Williams for statistical advice, and two anonymous peer reviewers for their useful suggestions. Address correspondence concerning this manuscript to Lindy A. Orthia, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, The Australian National University, Peter Baume Building 42A, Acton ACT 2601, Australia. Email:
[email protected] Published in Sex Roles. Final publication available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0597-y CULTURE OF SCIENTIFIC COMPETENCE 2 Abstract The present study examines the relationship between gender and scientific competence in fictional representations of scientists in the British science fiction television program Doctor Who. Previous studies of fictional scientists have argued that women are often depicted as less scientifically capable than men, but these have largely taken a simple demographic approach or focused exclusively on female scientist characters. By examining both male and female scientists (n = 222) depicted over the first 50 years of Doctor Who, our study shows that, although male scientists significantly outnumbered female scientists in all but the most recent decade, both genders have consistently been depicted as equally competent in scientific matters. However, an in-depth analysis of several characters depicted as extremely scientifically non-credible found that their behavior, appearance, and relations were universally marked by more subtle violations of gender expectations.