A brief overview of Dalek pronouns

Throughout Doctor Who's history, Daleks are primarily referred to as 'it'. However, there are several examples of individual Daleks that are referred to as 'he', specifically higher ranking Daleks. In this video we are going to explore the topic of Dalek pronouns.
All footage is the property of the BBC. Music by Garry Schyman, Marty O'Donnell and Frank Klepacki

[@paladinboyd1228]

Dalek pronouns are, the masters of Earth

[@senabecool7232]

DALEK PRONOUNS ARE THE MASTERS OF EARTH

[@paladinboyd1228]

@@senabecool7232 This dalek has a headache and does not want to shout lol

[@phinnyouchoobs]

the Time Strategist is a trans king and that's my main take-away and i support him wholeheartedly

[@Master_Of_Machines]

😂

[@Nat20streak]

That is sccurate

[@hyperion3145]

Changes genders and timelines

[@10thdoctor15]

Dalek Sec was 'he' before evolving. "Scan him, prepare for birth"

[@adamcousins5788]

Fun fact there was a Dalek Supreme that was called she. Susan mendes had her mind transferred in a Kaled mutant.

[@jacobparry177]

People saw pronouns in the title and lost it without watching the video💀

[@codaboi138]

I think the fact that Davros, being the creator of the Daleks, means that the Daleks use he/him as a pronoun is a great explanation as to why the Daleks do this. Having said that, I think "it" being the only pronoun the Daleks use just works much better, even for high ranking Daleks. I feel asthough the Daleks have become more and more "humanised" since their inception, most notably in RTD era where they literally are part human (which is still awesome and horrifying.) But since the Daleks are in desperate need of being actually creepy/frightening again, i think it would be great to see a take on the Daleks that is way more alien than they currently are. I think the original Dead planet story from the 60's nailed it, with their near monichromatic silver casings, the stilted emotionless chatter, the dull foggy white lense they see out of, not ever giving away what the evil little alien brain is thinking behind all that metal. They really were creepy. #makedaleksalienagain

[@SpookyDude69]

The Destroy All Humans 2 soundtrack in the background 🐙👌

[@justanaveragegamer8735]

“Daleks have no concept of gender”

[@dalekhybrid845]

ehem. I do

[@dylbro1166]

“You have identified as Daleks.”

[@dalekhybrid845]

@@dylbro1166 yes

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

The Daleks have gone WOKE, they're using PRONOUNS!

[@Wumpa_Goji]

I also think the reason why Daleks are referred to with male pronouns is because at least in western society many people default to using male pronouns to refer to creatures with no given gender. Ive seen this phenomenon myself as a kaiju fan, kaiju who aren't stated to use either masculine or feminine pronouns and are referred to as 'it' in the movies tend to be referred to by masculine pronouns during discussions.

[@thelicensednerd1626]

It's funny to think that when we were still in school, the word pronouns in English class didn't raise any eyebrows or roll any eyes.

[@RedRory19]

Brilliant choice of music from DESTROY ALL HUMANS 2

[@KitchenSinkSoup]

I do like the whole connection to Davros angle for a more in-universe explaination. I do also think that there's a very widely held general assumption that war is a sort of masculine thing (big men with big guns shooting different big men with big guns) so having your ultra fascist killer pepperpots use he/him makes a lot of sense from that angle, especially given the fact that irl fascist groups did, and still do, very much fetishise that specific ideal of warlike masculinity which the Daleks can represent.

[@TheNickofTime]

I think one big reason when a Dalek has any pronouns, it’s always he/him, is because of the voice. Daleks always use male voice actors, which despite the ring modulator, is evident to the audience and associates the Daleks with masculinity.

[@wolfgangwilcox2323]

Blue bumps and pronounce. But in all seriousness I doubt it’s anything that had any real thought put into it. Even when higher ranks are called “he” they’re also usually called by their rank where one would place a pronoun. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but the majority of times a Dalek gets referred to with mammalian pronouns is from non-Dalek characters.

[@davidspada6256]

same goes to JP dinosaurs

[@Sparx632]

I think it’s just the voice tbh, in the show Daleks have been voiced exclusively by men, who have voices traditionally associated with being male. So when we have nothing else to go off, since they’re just metallic pepper pots with one eyed octopuses inside we just default to he/him off voice alone. Thinking about it though, there is one exception, the Oswin Dalek, while the Dalek form is still Briggs we get that cut between Coleman and him which makes me associate the more human and soft tone of that Dalek with Oswin who uses she/her pronouns, so if I was to refer to her Dalek form I would probably use those pronouns for it.

[@Solidsnakeprime501]

The section leader in planet of the Daleks is also he/him. Some examples of Daleks with She/Her pronouns would be the Supreme Dalek from Dalek Empire 3. Three of the Thal Daleks from brotherhood of the Daleks. And there is also a human female turned into a Dalek in Dalek universe 2 although i dont know if they did still call her She i cant remember. The Mentor from Dalek Empire 2 is also a She, being a female counterpart to Davros.

[@6abbit]

Pronouns of the Daleks, the long awaited sequel to Eve

[@paulo9991]

Probably because of the rank and the Daleks have always sounded masculine whenever they speak.

[@jamesgreep9344]

Of course you have a blue eyestalk and pronouns!

[@royhay5741]

Vehicles are referred to as females. As a warrior race, is makes sense to refer to Daleks as males because female humans weren't warriors. The word "man" in Cyberman is gender-neutral like man (Homo sapiens), which meant Homo sapiens before it meant adult male primate. Adult male humans used to be called weres, which is still in the word "werewolf."

[@SamhainRegen666]

let's face it the moment a Dalek gets called a she or her by a character in the show the internet will roar smh the only bit i disagree with you on is the Cybermen part as I've never seen it as declaring them a male species rather a shortened version of cyber-human

[@ryanmeakins2993]

No one else made this pun that i could see from the quick scroll of the comments so ill make it "Cyberthem" Do with that what you will

[@CyberController-]

We approve of this comment.

[@TheValeyard92]

My headcanon is that masculine traits are genetically bolstered in Dalek mutants in order to make them more aggressive. In his Cybermen book, David Banks also offers a similar explanation for the overtly masculine traits (body shape, etc.) in the Cybermen, although there, it's more a case that - according to him - feminine characteristics were simply deemed unnecessary for the continuation of the Cyber-Race rather than overtly to make them more aggressive (also worth pointing out that, historically, "man" has referred to both the gender and the species, so "Cyberman" is really just "Cyberhuman.") That's kind of the reason for it out here in the real world too. Human Societies are typically patriarchal (that's just a statement, not an endorsement), so historically there is a tendency to default to the masculine, in languages that don't have gendered nouns, at least. Incidentally, we have had at least one female Dalek; the Susan Mendes/Dalek Supreme hybrid from Dalek Empire 3. However, only other people only refer to her by the feminine pronoun. She sticks to doing the typically Dalek thing of either speaking in the collective "we" or talking about "the Daleks" in third person.

[@GiratinaofFury]

It's entirely possible that Daleks built their pronouns around rank or superiority, rather than on gender like we do. However, there is a case where pronouns or gendered language changes based on whether you refer to someone formally or informally. In German, for instance, prounouns change depending on the subject, with "er" being used for masculine nouns, "sie" for feminine nouns, and "es" for neutral nouns, but when referring to someone in a formal manner, the pronoun "Sie", which differs by being capitalised and using different suffixes for verbs, is used. Maybe, this is the same for the Daleks - subordinate units or drones use a different pronoun to higher ranking or superior units, which are referred to more formally. The TARDIS cannot always make a like for like translation, but it can provide a close approximation, thus subordinate units use "it", but higher ranking units use a different pronoun, which the TARDIS translates as "he".

[@silverdaleks1]

The nearest we've got to hearing a female dalek is in brotherhood of the daleks were we heard Thal women or Thal-leks talk with a ring modulator effect over their voices

[@OuchMaster6000]

I always assumed they were similar to the sontarans: reproduce artificially but are all genetically male (as in they all have x/y chromosomes, even if they don't reproduce sexually or have genitals). They just don't make a big deal out of it or act sexist like the Sontarans do - to them all non-daleks are equally inferior, regardless of sex or gender.

[@TwoCentReview]

When faced with the Cult of Skaro, The Doctor found it strange that there were Daleks with names rather than numbers. Daleks are mass produced to be hateful and unthinking, so it makes sense for non-named entities to not even have names, specific pronouns or distinctions. It stands to reason that Daleks could use “he/him” as a sort of title, that these individuals are important enough to have this distinction. Metaltron would still be called “it” because, even though he is believed to be the last of his kind, he was not created to have a unique distinction, so it is still “it”. Those are my thoughts, at least.

[@zombiedalekweck2243]

The Dalek Time Strategists' original form called the Time Controller their husband.

[@luckystars1294]

Honestly a really interesting subject! I usually don't even notice pronoun usage for Daleks, but the one time I always notice it is in Evolution of the Daleks, where the two cult members talk in the sewers. It just always sticks out to me when they say things like "We were created to follow Definitely agree that there are parallels to Davros

[@TomWright025]

I don’t think Daleks care tbh

[@10thdoctor15]

It also has an impact that all Daleks have been voiced by men. Even the Oswin Dalek.

[@UwURainUwU]

Thank you for making this video. x

[@zarrg5611]

In a subconscious psychological sense Daleks are aggressive which might be seen as a male aspect and they also have a harsh voice and are somewhat phallic. A lore idea is that the Kaleds were culturally patriarchal, as opposed to the more egalitarian Thals - we see numerous high ranking female Thals abut I don't think there are any on-screen Kaled Women. This might be reflected in Dalek culture, the powerful figures are referred to as ‘He’.

[@rspbgaming8147]

"Daleks have no concept of Pronouns..."

[@dalekbumps]

Daleks definitely do have a concept of pronouns - the Cult members refer to Dalek Sec as 'him', for example

[@rspbgaming8147]

@@dalekbumps I was more making a reference to the line "Daleks have no concept of elegance."

[@dalekbumps]

​@@rspbgaming8147 yeah dw I got the reference, I was just clarifying

[@Endermite645]

I always thought they had different pronouns that are simply translated to he him dur to the doctor being normally male

[@chaossmith3864]

You know something? Despite being mildly obsessed with... I mean interested in Dalek stuff I never thought about this. I just always defaulted to he with show Daleks. (Fan Daleks are a whole other kettle of fish, i know of at least one lady Dalek there, Dalek Doris.) Is is bad I kinda feel bad now? Because I do lol I should definitely know better.

[@RealMagmaDash]

i think that in-universe it's possible that as well as being xenophobic, davros may have also been racist and sexist, it would explain why all daleks have the same voice and why high ranks are referred to as he, because davros purposefully bred them that way. could also possibly be an additional reason to why daleks despise impurity, but that's just a theory

[@android65mar]

I'm wondering if the Dalek Supreme in the Big Finish audios Dalek Empire III could be an exception to this as that Dalek was voiced by Sarah Mowat and was meant to be a combination of a female protoganist- Susan Mendes with the Emperor Dalek consciousness

[@timecontroller8800]

This is a really interesting topic to bring up and can be widely debated it may slightly depend on the writer and there intent. I do think part of the reason is to do with the daleks voice as it does sound a bit male like and we probably associate it with them. The argument can be brought up with cybermen aswell and that’s probably more a floor with some design elements like mainly with the cybus men as they do look the most mail tho other designs do evoke gender less creature like the invasion cybermen tomb ones, warriors and cyberiad cybermen

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

Doctor companion: so what do you I identify as? Dalek: A threat, Next Question! When it comes to non Daleks at least I imagine it's mostly Folks trying the personify them and the Daleks Just playing along with it for smoother communication. I'm not sure what to make of it when Daleks use he/him pronouns though.

[@unlimitedgamerworks6125]

Okay odd theory what about if as Daleks age they gain a sex? Like some kind of fish So like most start off as genderless and then evolve into males as they have asserted dominance over the sexless drones. As for the lack of female expression perhaps if Daleks are born sexless, are basically grown rather than born, maybe they simply lost XX gens. Would explain why we never see Daleks breeding

[@lotsagold]

i think the point you made about cybermen and darleks has something to do with masculinity being seen as the default with any variation of that seen as other. its pretty interesting feminist theory that i am not really smart enough to really recall though.

[@consciouslyawarenervesyste5846]

How did they get away with making the time strategist of human origin? I thought they don't tolerate that sort of genetic impurity

[@dalekbumps]

The Humanoid duplicate that the Time Strategist came from was apparently grown using the Time Controller's DNA... somehow. So the Daleks extracted the TC's DNA and extrapolated the Time Strategist from that

[@nullstudios2989]

My take on why (higher ranking) daleks are referred to using he/him pronouns is that they’re (usually) made out of Davros’ flesh, and therefore use the same pronouns as him.

[@android65mar]

The Emperor also used the royal 'we' - "This is not part of our plan"

[@randomericthings7506]

Cybermen could refer to human. Hu-man Cyber-man Also in the 60s the word mankind and man were essentially used as human kind. “Man will be reborn as Cyberman”, for example is referring to humanity as a whole. As for the Daleks, another possibility is the Daleks see the sexism of other races and when deciding to identify as a gender, choose the one deemed more superior in the eyes of primitive beings.

[@somberdoc]

i wonder if the pathweb making all daleks interconnected could have caused them to see their own gender as meaning less for the lower ranks

[@NothingHereButMe]

If memory serves Dalek Oswin was refered to as she. Gender and identity are so ingraned in the show it seems odd that there's never been a real discussion about the implications of the *removal* of gender from those who (probably) have a strong gender association

[@emperordalek102]

this will blow many naysayers minds when they find out that daleks have pronouns. its almost hilarious that they have been calling the show "woke" when it always has been. brilliant video bumps

[@LCBK]

I want to see a female dalek

[@beejamjam]

It's maybe not a direct and deliberate commentary on masculine stereotypes but it can very easily be interpreted that way. The Daleks are space fascists, and a key aspect of fascism is an extreme obsession with masculinity, so it makes a lot of sense. Also, the he/it thing seems to enforce an extreme version of our own gender binary; instead of male and female, you get male and worthless drone.

[@beejamjam]

This video is hilarious by the way I love it

[@whatislife7363]

I mean Cybermen as in cyber + mankind. Also knowing Davros he would likely only have picked stereotypical male traits eg. aggression. because their is no sexual reproduction going on(do not want know what that would look like) their isn't any need for sex or gender at all, but because Davros made the daleks from a sexually dimorphic species AKA the Kaleds. Davros would have picked the most aggressive ones which would be male.

[@alexbruckshaw1448]

Literally "Genders? In this economy?"

[@HishamA.N_Comicbroe]

Omg Dalek Bumps has gone woke 😞 This is a joke ofc

[@badwolf66]

Doctor Who Season 3, Episode 7 Pronouns of The Daleks [PRE-TITLE SEQUENCE] Dalek: EXTERMINATE!! Human: Just before you exterminate me! I have a question! Dalek: Daleks do not answer questions of inferior lifeforms! Human: W...w...w..w....wait....my question is......What do you identify as? He/She/It? Dalek: I am a Dalek!! There will only ever be Dalek! Human: But are you He/She/It? Dalek: Pronouns are a humanoid concept, I am A Dalek and I shall forever be a Dalek, EXTERMINATE!!! *Human is Exterminated in pure screaming agony* [INTRO]

[@kafelkan2884]

Cyber"men" likely just refers to the species. Like hu"man" kind. "Cyber"netic hu"men".

[@byron2FZ]

In the audio drama Spare Parts, the Mondasians use the -man suffix for any job or role. Doctor becomes Doctorman. Electrician is Electricman. I think even Nun is Sisterman.

[@TheValeyard92]

​@byron2FZ Which is a nice little world building touch, but I say with 99.99999999999999% certainty, not what Kit Pedlar had in mind when he named them 37 years prior to that audio.

[@DarkRavenProductions]

Daleks are gender neutral as they don’t require two sex’s to reproduce but given their male sounding voices it is appropriate to refer to them as he or him the only dalek that sounded female was the dalek supreme in dalek empire 3

[@Miru_Man]

Why are there no gril daleks

[@10thdoctor15]

I think other species refer to the Daleks as 'it', except for individuals like Sec. Daleks seem to call each other 'he', or by name or rank.

[@shadowmaster8684]

This video would have been perfect for Pride month

[@stuff31]

Can't believe the Daleks went woke, smh 😔 I personally think the Daleks defaulting to he/him is just force of habit from the writers and doesn't have any deeper meaning. However, Daleks are based on the Nazis, and their armies were essentially bred to an idealised standard of Ubermensch with very buff, masculine forms that did not in any way result in the birth of modern American fitness culture. The Daleks are, similarly, very bulky and stereotypically brutish creatures like that seen in propaganda for the SS. As such, they tend to be perceived as masculine. I do think a female-identifying Dalek could be interesting, though. I'm sure Steven Moffat would love to write a big, powerful, hot lady Dalek that w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶e̶p̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ subverts the typically masculine nature of the Daleks.

[@10thdoctor15]

Cybermen aren't 'men' in the masculine sense. 'Man' means human (race), they just added the cybernetics. The same logic could be used for the Daleks.

[@grahamturner1290]

🐙

[@59rlmccormack]

Pronouns don’t mean much for Daleks. They’re mutants, and they’re just machines, tools of destruction. Their pronouns have no meaning. -James M

[@BluBerryVA]

Daleks are woke?!?!

[@thomasgrove2724]

The Time Strategist has a blue casing and pronouns

[@hirathemedicbird523]

i can't believe the daleks have blue cases and pronouns smh my head

[@FactionParadox2090]

Daleks are peak toxic masculinity-

[@TimeForTeletubbiesFAN]

Doctor Woke! Dw just joking 🤣

[@sharpfury77]

DALEKS HAVE NO USES FOR PRONOUNS !! DALEKS ARE SUPREME !!!!

[@dalekbumps]

So why are the highest-ranking Daleks referred to using he/him pronouns, even by other Daleks? 🤔

[@TheValeyard92]

I mean, their second best-known catchphrase is "I obey."

[@sharpfury77]

@@dalekbumps how do you know they are, seeing as either the daleks and the tardis are translating them to English where language is gendered

[@dalekbumps]

@@sharpfury77 it can't be the TARDIS translating them, because other characters who have never been in the TARDIS can understand them perfectly

[@sharpfury77]

@@dalekbumps yeah the daleks and or the tardis. Sometimes daleks are translating themselves to English Sometimes the tardis is translating the daleks to the rest of the tardis crew

[@IllusivePrime]

I can understand that they would be called IT as the Dalek race has a extremley large ammount of Daleks so they can have females so it makes it easier to just call them IT. Would like to see more female-Daleks but I don't want this pronoun thing to be taken out of proportion and heavily political like the show has been for years but I'm not holding my breath.

[@swag-a-dellaman6555]

Why do you always obsess over Daleks?

[@dalekbumps]

I am Dalek Bumps. It is my purpose to discuss the lore of the Daleks

[@swag-a-dellaman6555]

@@dalekbumps So you're a Dalek fan?

[@CyberController-]

It's Dalek Bumps, not Cyber Handles

[@swag-a-dellaman6555]

@@CyberController- I'll take that a yes.

[@monkeyatanofficedesk9253]

it's literally a channel dedicated to the daleks

[@countryofiremany3912]

Really… 🤦‍♂️

[@c0nvict_pleb174]

He finally did it, Dalek bumps becomes woke 😂

[@adamali1976]

This is BS man

[@dalekbumps]

How so?

[@LukeDalli29]

“Pronouns of the Daleks” sounds like the worst dalek story ever! 😂

[@Ellismead2602]

Do we need to discuss something that's so ridiculous.!!??

[@dalekbumps]

How is it ridiculous? Some Daleks are referred to as 'it', some are referred to as 'he' - and that's the point we're discussing today. How is that ridiculous?

[@CyberController-]

It's an interesting topic that explores Daleks individuality and how other cultures have rubbed off on them.

[@TheGameTunes]

Davros doesn't 'identify' as male, he is male.

[@xXSwaghetti.YoloneseXx-uf2bb]

Both

[@therevenger259]

Dalek pronouns? Someone has clearly run out of ideas.

[@dalekbumps]

Not even close, my draft videos script document is nearly 50 pages long