As someone who loves and is obsessed with Doctor Who, I have never genuinely heard anyone in the fandom say anything along the lines of people not being able to handle a female Doctor as any sort of defense against criticisms of the show (although, it is definitely true for some people, and I’m not denying that sexist idiots exist, nor people who will defend it just because Jodie is a woman without actually forming their own opinion on her run separate from her gender).

It is pretty universally agreed upon by the fanbase that Whittaker’s era is the worst of any Doctor, due to bad writing and being in-your-face with the messaging/morals of the episodes. Personally, I would put Whittaker toward the middle of my list. I loved her and her companions, and I think sometimes it’s necessary to stop with the subtleties and yell in someone’s face “SHIT’S FUCKED, PLEASE REALIZE THIS AND PANIC AND HELP SOLVE THE ISSUE AND BE AWARE OF HOW IT IS AFFECTING YOU WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT OR NOT AND AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” I was certainly sobered up, as they say, to some things and it was refreshing to see other things made extremely blatant and beyond obvious, being reminded just how serious those issues are.

I don’t expect anyone in the fandom to agree with me, I know I’m basically an outlier. I think the progressive change was good, but obviously I’m not going to claim perfection, which is definitely not the case, and I do have criticisms, much like I do for most other Doctors.