Steven Moffat has hit out at accusations his writing has sexist overtones, defending his female characters within Doctor Who as “strong women.”

Speaking at the BAFTA tenth Anniversary event in New York, Moffat, who has come under scrutiny in recent years from a section of fans for allegedly portraying his female characters “in a way that ties them very closely to the men around them“, said:

“These are strong women. If anyone needs rescuing, it’s the Doctor. As for “macho” – Matt Smith, David Tennant? Really?”

While the Producer defends his position however, it seems many are completely opposed, The Guardian for example disagreeing with the Showrunner in a 2014 opinion piece, saying:

“River is a gun-toting badass who is romantically entwined with the Doctor. Amy is feisty and curious, and tries to kiss the Doctor the night before her wedding. Clara and the Twelfth Doctor, played by series newcomer Peter Capaldi, are supposed to have a refreshing lack of sexual tension. But Moffat overplays it in the season eight opener, which premieres tonight, with some heavy-handed dialogue about whether or not the Doctor is actually Clara’s boyfriend. It almost makes one wistful for the days of Russell T Davies, when the Tenth Doctor told a heartbroken Rose: “Does it really need saying?”

While Moffat’s position may be divisive, he us unafraid to shy away from it, nor the big age old question of a female Doctor. Speaking again at the BAFTA event about the age old question of a female Doctor, Moffat said:

“There’s an aspect to it where you could say that if you made the Doctor female you’d lose a fairly unique rare role model, I’m not sure if I’m completely persuaded by that argument purely because I don’t think the Doctor is the role model of Doctor Who. He isn’t. Because you can’t really base yourself on the Doctor. He’s off the spectrum, barking mad, from space and has lots of mysterious abilities that we do not. How do you base yourself on that?’”

Steven has spoken before on the accusations, describing them as “utter nonsense” and saying how he believes women to be “cleverer, nicer, kinder and better at stuff”!

What do you think? are Doctor Who’s female characters good positive role models for women… or is Doctor Who still a male centric whoniverse? let us know.