#representing sherlocks sexuality

[variousqueerthings]

happy ace day, and inspired by @aq2003 some favourite asexuals:

hon. mention: the entire oeuvre of middle-earth + 50 characters or so from star trek (star trek is so ace, there's a whole essay to be written about that). and every doctor from dw ofc, but decided to rep with 10, as they're misunderstood in that iteration. also sugar in some like it hot but i went for monroe's character in seven year itch who is doing The Most around this mediocre guy. someone save her

[cimness]

Two days ago I dreamed I was watching a late 1970s/early 1980s movie starring Angela Lansbury and Al Pacino about an organized-crime connected Showgirls-esque club.

The showgirls themselves were a mixture of women and drag queens, but they all had a shared dressing room with the top half of the walls covered in wig stands and the bottom half covered in shoe stands.

Al Pacino was running this club with another guy representative of various organized crime entities and they were hiring an emergency replacement for someone who had gone to jail, and Angela Lansbury was sent, looking very prim in a tweed suit, backed by… some other organized crime interest I guess?

At first it looks like this isn't going to work, because how can someone so prim and proper (and wearing such a long skirt and such low heels) be - whatever job she's supposed to have, doorman? Hostess? Bartender? Idk - but Angela Lansbury was told to show up and she did and she is sure she can do whatever this job is, because she's nothing if not competent. Then there's a humorous scene with playful music where the girls transform Angela Lansbury into a sexier version of the secretary look she's got going on while they're also getting themselves dressed, putting on wigs and stockings and shoes (and drag queen padding and makeup for about half of them).

Then they have one night's business (and presumably some minor conflict with the Bad Organized Crime elements, elided) and after closing they're laughing and taking off makeup in the dressing room pointing around at the wig stands and talking about the ones on the wall and whose they are and what act they're for and then someone playfully asks Angela Lansbury to guess one, but they don't know that she realizes it's a challenge and does a masterful Sherlock Holmes style deduction that it's Al Pacino's. (Correctly.)

Tragically I woke up, but Angela Lansbury was obviously going to join them and help them kick out the other guy and the 'bad' organized crime connections, leaving, obviously, only the good organized crime, while having a playful sexual tension romance without the actual romance with Al Pacino.

Tragic that this isn't a real movie.

[dizgreen]

PERSONA HOT TAKE

Naoto is not trans and Kanji is not gay.

Or at least that’s not the point. Hear me out.

I’m tired of people putting these two particular characters in tiny little “me irl” boxes and labeling Atlus as homophobic just because they didn’t blatantly state that they were definitely one or the other.

Persona 4 is a game who’s theme is Outer Perception vs Inner Self, but rather than just saying “one is bad and one is good”, it’s about how BOTH of those aspects have to interact together in order to create a full person.

Every single character in the game reflects this theme in some way, and in the case of Naoto and Kanji, it’s a direct examination of how gender and sexuality affect those two aspects of a person’s self.

I think that simply writing off the complex personal questions these characters ask themselves as simply being one thing and one thing only does a huge disservice.

Let’s start with Naoto. Cuz in my experience that’s the one people are the most passionate about.

Naoto is a young genius who chose the job of a detective because they grew up watching crime movies and idolized the grim serious characters that they saw. Upon solving their first case at a very young age, they immediately knew this was what they wanted to do, but they were very quickly disillusioned with the whole thing once they realized the lifestyle they had chosen was dominated by stubborn old men who, unfortunately, were EXACTLY like they were in the movies.

These men took personal offense to the insinuation that some upstart kid could come in and do better at the job they’ve been doing for years, and on top of that not just a kid but a GIRL, who as far as they were concerned had no place anywhere near the kinds of situations common in this line of work. Naoto’s early personality is a direct reflection of these experiences. They try everything they can to appear more masculine and mature, as well as acting very aloof and refusing to let anyone have any more information than they need.

The whole “Detective Prince” act is essentially Naoto cosplaying as Sherlock Holmes or Takeshi Kitano in an effort to be taken seriously. This is further reflected in Naoto’s Shadow Self being quite literally a small crying child in an oversized coat.

It’s notable to me that the part of Naoto that they, themself, deny isn’t anything to do with femininity or masculinity, it’s literally a personification of everything that the people around them would’ve criticized or mocked in order to delegitimize them during their early detective career.

Now the thing people typically point to as the smoking gun of Naoto being trans is the fact that Naoto’s Shadow Self wants to perform a literal sex change on them and “achieve perfection”.

But what I think a lot of people just kinda ignore or write off is the fact that it’s a procedure AGAINST THEIR WILL. It’s quite literally a change being forced upon them in order to achieve some idealized perfect self without any input from themself at all. To me, that seems like more of a representation of Naoto’s personal insecurities and the pressures of society quite literally FORCING femininity out of Naoto in order to meet some nebulous ideal of perfectionism that for some reason can’t be achieved when you have girl parts. Naoto may not like the fact that they’re born a woman and therefore don’t meet this perfect caricature of a hard boiled detective, but it wasn’t really a choice for them in the first place. There are no female idols to look up to that in any way represent the life they want to live, there’s no one in their life that accepts they can be the way they were born as and still be the person they want to be, and there’s no one around them that’s willing to take them seriously WITHOUT bringing gender or age onto whether or not they deserve it.

Now you’ve definitely noticed I’ve been using They/Them for Naoto this whole time, and the reason for that is because I believe the whole POINT is that you’re supposed to question Naoto’s gender in general.

That’s why I don’t like calling them trans, I feel like that’s a reduction of the complex nature of their identity in the first place.

You’re not SUPPOSED to have a clear cut and dry answer to what Naoto may be or may want to be, because not everyone just GETS a cut and dry answer to that kind of question.

I think you HAVE to look at Naoto without the lens of a gendered identity and examine how that makes you look at them, therefore making you further examine how you look at yourself and others without those clear and defined labels in front of you. I think you’re supposed to look at Naoto struggling with both living in a society that denies femininity as something that can be taken seriously, and how that impacts their own perceptions and actions as they themselves want nothing more than to be taken seriously as a person. Then you take those examinations and, as with all fiction, apply them to yourself and see what you identify with inside of them.

If your conclusions are that Naoto is trans then that’s great, and even better if you could find something that you personally relate to in the character, but I think it’s a severe reduction of them as a character to simply say “Atlus should’ve just said they were trans and moved on”.

I mean, personally I think Naoto is genderfluid, but that’s just my interpretation.

Moving on, Kanji

Kanji, I feel, is a much simpler case.

He’s not GAY, but he IS completely obsessed with masculinity. He’s got this idea in his head that he needs to be tough and strong and manly, or else people will treat him like shit. He’s not allowed to show weakness or wanting in any way, because that’s how you get teased and beaten up.

His encounter with Naoto changes a lot about him because it’s literally the first time he’s ever outwardly asked himself whether it’s okay to WANT TO BE LOVED. He even fully admits this.

The fact that his internal conclusion is that he doesn’t mind who it is that’s loving him, all he wants is TO be loved, regardless of man or woman, clashes instantly with his masculine persona that he’s been working so hard to cultivate, and drives him into a spiral.

Kanji is all about whether or not it’s okay to WANT things as a man. He likes cute things, he wants to sew, he wants to be loved, he wants friends.

He’s a man, though, so he’s not allowed to ask for any of these things or seek them out, because any of those would certainly make him seem gay, which is (as we all know) a very bad thing to be when you’re a 15 year old boy who doesn’t want to get picked on.

Ultimately his shadow self is a result of an absolute repression of literally everything that isn’t masculine enough to be straight, all coalesced into a ball of masculine obsession.

The whole idea of him and Naoto is pretty much boiled down to “is it gay for a man to want to be loved” and the ultimate answer is “kinda, but that’s okay”

Personally I feel like Kanji is more of a panromantic than clearly just “gay” or “straight” but ultimately is 15 and never even spoke to a girl before the events of Persona 4, so it’s really not something he’s probably even going to be able to answer for like 4 more years minimum.

And that’s great, because sexuality is yet another question that isn’t 100% cut and dry for everyone, and it’s a disservice to the questions about sexuality and masculinity this guy poses to just write him off as only gay and nothing else.

Anyway, there’s my most controversial Persona Hot Take, I’m sure no one has ever said these things about these characters before.

I have another one about how much it pisses me off that everyone writes off Anne from P5 in a way that directly reflects the way people write off actual assault victims in real life, but that’s for another time.

[affectionatecorpse]

How often do you think Moriarty gets sent off for repairs? Like- plastic is definitely WAY more durable than like. Ceramic. But it's definitely still breakable. I mean, he lost a piece of his head in the film. How long has he been fighting Sherlock? Has he received any minor damage before?

I still very much think this was his closest brush with death, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if he'd damaged an arm or a leg in their scuffles before. Especially since broken ceramic can very easily pierce plastic.

So do the folks at Moriarty's Pies just sit there like- "Oh for crying out loud what happened to the statue this time???" cause they all got to work in the morning and just found Moriarty randomly missing an arm?? Without context??? And then the SECOND he gets back from repairs, since plastic is easy to mend, do they have to send him off to get fixed again in the next 24 hours because he's a little menace who can't sit still to save his life? Because that's hilarious.

Better question, imagine if there was more than one van. Wouldn't that mean more Moriarty's? Would they all have the same personality or no? I wouldn't think so. Watson does state that OUR Moriarty was made... wrong. Sometimes making ornaments goes wrong, and we get evil ornaments as a result. Plus, Moriarty's actual personality itself outside of the murder does seem very different from the character he represents. Moriarty the character appears to be very innocent and sweet, while Moriarty the statue is... well, the complete opposite.

So would each one have a different personality? If ornaments weren't tethered to the personality of whoever they represent? Would there just be like 50 Moriarty's and all of them are chill except this ONE?

"Oh yeah that's number 43. He's a bit of a douche, we kinda just leave him out of things. It gets awkward when he's around, he never stops talking about murder :/"

Would that also mean they have different disorders? Or would all of them be extremely obviously ADHD and/or bipolar in varying levels?

Even better question. Would that mean they'd also have different sexualities- would there be like- one token straight Moriarty who everyone refers to as Mike to avoid confusion-- I'm getting carried away. I don't actually think there would be more than one considering we see the van in the background several times, but he's never on top because. Y'know. The pretending to be dead thing. If that wasn't the only van in the city, there's bound to be a different statue in at least one background shot.

Still absolutely hilarious to think about though.

[nightimecoyote]

Sherlock's Sexuality: Irene Adler

There are many interpretations of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler's relationship but I raise one I feel at least hasn't been explored. From a psychological and narrative perspective, Irene represents Sexuality

Sherlock is a man who hasn't had any sexual or romantic experiences. We know he is a thrill addict and given the chance would probably be interested in the opportunity sex gives him though because of choice or asexuality he hasn't. When Irene and him first meet she bombards him with the reality of something he hasn't thought of before. For the first time we see him falter, he doesn't know what to do.

Both Mycroft and John seemed appalled at the prospect of Sherlock having a romantic or sexual relationship with a woman, especially one so open about her sexuality. She represents sexual freedom for Sherlock which he has never allowed himself to have. I don't know if he is actually sexually attracted to her but he is intrigued by the idea of it. There is also such a thing as platonic BDSM and many people have sex with people they aren't actually attracted to for various reasons. In my mind, this is the reality.

I keep thinking of the scene where she says "I would have you on this table until you were begging for mercy" and he just stares at her for a moment. Not in longing or really like he's attracted to her at all but quizzically, "I've never begged for mercy in my life" he says. He's genuinely curious at the prospect of being in that situation.

For many people being submissive in BDSM is an escape from their reality. Many people who are very dominant in their everyday lives are submissive in bed as a way to cope and add balance. Releasing the need to be dominant, in his case, perfect as he was raised to be, is freeing. To take a "less masculine" role and not be always right, always above everyone else, the person he has forced himself to be. It's not that that isn't who he is but it isn't the whole of him. Everyone needs a bit of downtime and for some, they find that in BDSM.

I think Sherlock sees Irene, a dominatrix, as the epitome of sexual freedom. He sees in her something he wishes he had, but also a kinship of someone who understands him in a way John can't.

Irene Adler is many things narratively and as a character, this is just one, but I think it's one of the more important ones, especially with the story the writers wanted to tell.

With all that being said, for the love of the gods, let Sherlock be a BDSM sub he deserves it!

[paverage-blog]

Safer in the Fire - average138 - Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle [Archive of Our Own]

There will come a day when I write a Holmes fic that doesn't include gay panic homosexual angst* and a love confession in front of the Baker Street fireplace.

Today is not that day.

CHAS is such an interesting story. This fic ended up including the topics of mental health conditions, murder, queer history and the criminalization of homosexuality, on top of gay panic homosexual angst* and confessions of love. I'm very grateful for @julienbakerstreet and @friday411 for giving me feedback and encouragement, as well as catching my mistakes.

I hope you enjoy.

*edit/note: Thanks to Anonymous for pointing out my piss poor wording which implies the “gay panic defense”, the legal defense used in the US and other countries which refers to a situation in which a heterosexual individual charged with a violent crime against a homosexual (or bisexual) individual claims they lost control and reacted violently because of an unwanted sexual advance that was made upon them. That is not what I mean to convey here, that term is triggering, and I apologize.

Neither do I mean to imply “gay freak out” in the sense of “omg, I like someone of the same sex.” I mean something along the lines of the angst one feels when in the face of targeted aggression because of one’s sexuality (as this is set against a time when male homosexuality was criminalized in Britain) or perhaps when faced with intense homophobia in an unsafe space. It’s the danger we felt during the 80s AIDS crisis where the LGBTQ community was demonized, and the angst many of us feel today as we watch US states pass anti-trans legislation and generally work to systematically disenfranchise and oppress us.

Marginalized and oppressed groups have always created language to represent our lived experiences. There’s no need for a heteronormative word for “I have feelings for someone and am therefore faced with dangerous societal/legal repercussions because of our genders.” Is there a term for that? As a queer person who loves words, I’m asking genuinely, because growing up in the time before the 2000s it was such a visceral feeling and specific taste in one’s mouth. Anyway, sorry for the soapbox. This is an edit and apology!

[such-geekiness]

okay so like. in the grand scheme of things, I am nobody important in the 911 sphere. however, I know I still get comments/kudos on my fics and have people here who mainly followed me for weewoo reasons and I have Thoughts and Opinions™ about the state of the show and the past two weeks (under a cut for length)

I love (loved??) 911. Genuinely, I can’t fully express what this show meant to me. I started watching in 2021, around the time I first started developing chronic illness symptoms and my life was in a state of upheaval (covid, college graduation, friendship stuff, etc). So much of my life was melting down around me — my purpose, my health, some of my close relationships, and my world as I knew it. 911 became a stabilizing force. I lived Monday to Monday during that last semester of college, and after I graduated, I really lived Monday to Monday.

I processed my depression and grief through season 5b. As cheesy as it sounds, I found the courage to start medication for depression and keep living because of Eddie’s arc. Later, again through Eddie’s character, I began to understand my sexuality. I loved this show and all it represented in my life. I loved it deeply, and I could love it like that because I trusted it. 

To me, storytelling is the ultimate exercise in trust. It’s a contract of sorts. To simplify it: the writer provides a world, a story, in which there are rules, expectations, and boundaries; within those boundaries, the audience becomes invested. As a writer myself, I feel as if that contract is precious. People could be doing anything with their time, and they’re choosing to stay with my story for a bit. When I write, I try to stay within expectations. This isn’t to say that there can’t be plot twists or surprises. Mostly, I’m using “expectations” here as a way to say that if you’re, for example, telling a story where dragons don’t exist, it’d be a hell of a surprise to have a dragon coming soaring in during the third act (and not necessarily a good one, sorry dragon fans).

Or, if you’re telling a story where main characters survive the impossible — tsunamis, blod clots, slit throats, and hearts stopped for 14 minutes — killing a main character in Season 8 breaks the contract of storytelling that 911 established for itself. And not only did 911 shatter the audience’s trust, they did it in a cruel way. 

I cannot overstate how mean-spirited this felt. In my opinion, Bobby’s death is more than a simple betrayal of the trust between writers and audience. It’s a deliberate dismantling of something the audience loved deeply. It’s killing a character who spent eight seasons overcoming suicidal ideation. Storytelling comes with responsibility. Bobby isn’t real, but the people who were loud about feeling seen in Bobby’s survival are. Bobby’s death mocks the audience and is the type of narrative decision that ripples backward to make the rest of the show feel pointless. Personally, I have no desire to rewatch old seasons now that I know how the 118’s story ends. 

This reminds me a LOT of two things: BBC’s Sherlock and Avengers: Endgame. I loved both deeply for similar and different reasons. I imprinted on Tony Stark like a baby duck (hello, character with suicidal ideation who chose to live); I believed Sherlock was telling a clever story worth following, and while I didn’t fully know why at the time, the potential of queer storytelling meant the world to me. 

Tony Stark’s ending resonates in just how stupid I find it, and just how narratively unsatisfying it was. Sherlock’s resonates for a different reason. Over the past two weeks, I have been reminded of TJLC (The Johnlock Conspiracy, a theory that still makes its rounds sometimes). For those of you who don’t know, TJLC is the theory that there is a secret, unaired episode of Sherlock that is the real ending because the ending we got couldn’t possibly be so terrible.

Could it??

In my opinion, yes. Was it deliberately bad? That’s more difficult for me to say. Sometimes, I think straight, white male writers begin to hate or resent their audience. They want to be the smartest person in the room (or on the Internet). They hate that their story has come to mean so much to women, non-binary people, queer people, people of color, etc. They hate that their story is “predictable” (well-told) and that the audience is predicting what’s next. They hate the audience and turn to destruction — to shock value. 

I can’t say for certain that this is what’s happening here with 911. But I can say that 911, for a few seasons, told deliberate, precise, and excellent stories that fulfilled the trust the audience had given it. Bobby’s death and the dismantling of what so many people loved about 911, as well as the cruelty with which it was done, also feels deliberate and precise. Again, we can only speculate why. Parasocial relationships and fandom are two-way streets. Toxicity gets to people. Shows end. At the end of the day, it’s television. 

I can’t choose where the story goes, but I can choose whether or not I turn on the TV. After all this, my main question was: do I trust 911 enough to continue watching? Personally, I’m leaning toward no. I turned on 911 to forget the world for a bit. The night 8x15 aired, I’d spent the afternoon worrying about my brother, a student who was on lockdown due to the active shooter at Florida State University. I’d had a shit day. I trusted 911 to provide 45 minutes of escape. Sure, 911 had off episodes, but it was never cruel like this. 

It’s difficult to know where to go next, and I don’t think anyone is looking to me for answers. I’ve never watched Sherlock again, and I don’t really think about it (until I miss when plugging in my phone charger, iykyk). I wrote a 50k fic about Endgame for my own closure and never watched another Marvel movie again. I don’t know what I’ll do with 911, but I do know that I certainly won’t give Tim Minear my time or attention by hoping Bobby is alive or that, somehow, this is still a giant gotcha. Even if it is, I won’t be tuning in, I think. I’m not interested in a show that is mean. Yes, I am still invested in the storyline. Yes, I think there's a non-zero chance of Buck/Eddie happening. I care about that deeply, but again, the narrative has been extremely mean to Eddie. Not interested, sorry.

My final note: the comfort and creativity that anyone drew from 911 is not fake. Tim Minear fucked up, so the characters and the world are yours now. Fuck canon. Write AUs, write fake scripts, write analysis. Honestly, in retrospect, the theories and creativity from this fandom provided some of the best and most meaningful experiences for me. No writer is God; we are the audience, so the story belongs to us. 

And for anyone who writes, remember how this feels. It sucks to see a show you love so much go this way, but it’s valuable in learning the contract of storytelling. The world always needs storytellers, and now, they’re needed more than ever. I know so many viewers of this show who will be writers I can trust fully. Maybe you won’t be telling the 118’s story, but there is always an opportunity to create something new. 

[vergess]

molly carpenter, who has suffered more than j*sus

First of all, I would like to thank you very kindly for encouraging my absolutely terrible fascination with some weird white guy's fetish rag. Secondly: correct. Let my girl live, Jimothy, my goodness.

Okay, so.

My Favourite Ship

I think I've made my opinions on Molly/Harry/Murphy pretty clear, honestly, but then again, I struggle greatly with theory of mind, SO! Just in case I haven't been clear enough: Molly/Harry/Murphy.

It's not even close. I literally develop my fics exclusively with this in mind. I started writing third wheels for this ship. ME!!! THE POLYSHIPPER!!!!!!

But like. Okay, I think this ship has me understanding why some white polyamorists are so into that "primary partners" shit, I see it now: It's the catholicism. (<- Said in the same exotifying and slutty tone as [your preferred racial fetish] would normally be)

My Most Hated Ship

Cousin, I've been doing research for my fics and people are bad nasty to my girl. It's amazing how dirty even the Molly/Harry shippers do her. Maybe especially them.

Like, the struggle is terrible because I really enjoy playing with my little blorbos, but everyone else is playing wrong even when we're ostensibly on the same side. It's the same way I felt about being a John/Mary shipper in Sherlock or a Poe/Finn shipper in Star Wars. Like, come on, can't you be nice with the dollies?? Or at least fuck 'em up in cool ways???

So um. In conclusion, I think it might be Molly/Harry. Oops. I swear I still like it when I do it. Me and my little conclave of like minded queers, you know?

My Unusual Ship

Okay, so, I want to talk to you about my complex conspiracy of Molly/Thomas bullshit, and why if you enjoy the presudo incestuous faggotry Thomas broadly represents in the series, you should experiment with putting him and Molly in the Situation Machine and going to town.

Consider the following:

Jimothey Butcher very clearly only knows the Molly Type Of Girl from the convention circuit, not real life

The Molly type of girl in real life has a solid 70% chance of having realized she was queer at age 6 over vintage Star Wars VHSes.

They are WLW/MLM solidarity

The solidarity is that Thomas knows sex acts with no risk of pregnancy so Molly doesn't have to keep Living Like That

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

My Crossover Ship

Oh man, so the thing about memes from 2013 is crossovers were a lot more common back then, because of Ask Blogs, which were a sort of prototypical Roleplay Blog but the entire gimmick was that were roleplaying with the audience, via answering asks (often framed as in universe fan letters or similar). So sometimes you'd get asks from characters from another world ("sometimes" meaning about once a week).

It's actually way harder for me to spitball a crossover ship and get invested these days, because I never get to see anyone's take on the interactions but my own.

But!!! What's nice about Molly is that she's a Very Specific Type Of Character, because of all the fetishes in the fetish rag. That means she translates well.

You know what would fix her?

What would really, truly Cure Her Being Like That?

Crossing over with the Rentarou Polycule from 100 Girlfriends. Let that girl exist in a romantically and sexually supportive environment with so many people on her side that she can start recovering. Ultimate spa year. Isekai My Girl!!!!

My Favourite Headcanon

Molly is cis. I tried to think of some other more compelling headcanon, like the chemistry she has specifically with queer men and other women, but I think we all know that Molly is bisexual.

My hot take is that I also think Molly is cis. Like, she examined thoroughly during the 14 year old scene kid with a fake ID stuff and reached a conclusion and she's been pretty happy since, you know?

(Context clues for suspicious readers: no one else in those books is cis, except maybe Susan. Maybe. Thomas is cis passing but that gender's fucked man.)

A gif that reflects how I feel about the character!

You know what's nice about the future? We have gif search now. I mean it still doesn't fucking search right, but it exists. That's nice.

[Ask Meme] [My Inbox]

[my-dialect]

Addiction in BBC Sherlock

This is an off topic post for me (whey big up F1) because I’m a little drunk :)

I feel like a running theme in BBC Sherlock is addiction (obviously) but not just through Sherlock you know?

TW for discussion of drugs, violence, EDs, and SH, and I guess alcohol mention as I am incredibly drunk typing this below the cut :)

Sherlock: I mean there’s the obvious one of drug addiction, which I must say I think is portrayed incredibly well - it’s not romanticised and it’s not exaggerated. But more so there’s that constant hungering for a new case, that craving of excitement - this is however still portrayed as a displacement of those drug cravings.

John: In John’s case, I would say it is also an incredibly obvious representation of addiction but different in the way that Sherlock’s is. John craves that excitement but has little to no interest in the cases unless there’s violence involved, interesting for a medical professional. But perhaps a tad more stereotypical for a media characterisation of a veteran. John craves violence because it feels like home - it’s those years in the army and, to an extent, those years at home - having grown up around alcoholics who may not have always been so kind.

Mycroft: Mycroft will always be a fascinating character to me I feel. Whilst Sherlock was not any where close to my first introduction to fandom, this was the first character I felt I related to (eldest sibling type shit). For him addiction is less blatant than John or Sherlock. There’s multiple references to disordered eating, potentially not enough to be considered an eating disorder but enough that when you see Mycroft at home, he’s exercising or staring at an empty fridge. He’s often portrayed as being a large child (even though I feel that is a harsh judgement to make on anyone) and the focus on that from Sherlock and then the focus on dieting and exercise from Mycroft suggests more than just sibling bullying. This is not to say that disordered eating is a form of addiction (although one could argue it is) but more so that there is an idea of perfection, and Mycroft is addicted to that idea.

Irene: I’m an Irene lover, quite literally she was a solid part of my queer awakening and we love to see it. But I feel that she represents the lustful elements of addiction - I mean obliquely she is a dominatrix and is often portrayed as an inherently sexual being (being naked, with a crop, etc.) as well as being one of the characters who alludes to something between John and Sherlock. She sees everything through the lens of sex and yet it does not cloud her mind like it may others, suggesting not only an addiction to sex, but also to control.

Moriarty: He’s a lot more of a layered character than wine drunk me can get into right now to be perfectly honest. But I’d argue his addiction is to attention and reaction, he needs to have a reaction from people or he isn’t happy. Maybe he’s a character I’ll revisit sober, maybe I’ll forget all about this post.

Eurus: For Eurus I’d argue this is a lot more of a tenuous link given that we see comparatively very little of her. Because I mean there’s the obvious addiction to violence, however if an individual feels nothing then can they feel addiction to anything? For some factors like violence I’d argue no, however she is portrayed as actively suicidal with multiple scars. Self-harm is absolutely something that can be classed as an addiction as the endorphin release can really be extraordinary (this is not in any way an endorsement, seek help if you feel it is), however she doesn’t ever express true joy or sadness and it raises the question of does she actually have an addiction to self-harm or was it fully manipulative. Is this just a way she puts herself above the Holmes brothers, by putting herself above human things such as addiction?

I may be a psychology and neuroscience student but do not for a second trust a word I say regarding addiction, it is not what I’m focusing my studies on :)

I mean it’s been years since I watched this show but this just came into my head as a thought haha.

I wrote this over the space of an hour and kept drinking as I did, lord help me autocorrect.

I spilt wine on myself typing this :(

[wearebackbagels]

"Whether or not it’s conscious, we recognize our own flaws and deficiencies, and that in turn makes it easier to identify those traits in others."

At their core I think Tom and Freddie are very much alike: smarter than what is seen on the surface, observant and caughgaycaugh.

They both see right through each other from the get go and they are both aware of this. But where Tom is quiet and always on his toes to not get his constant cover blown, Freddie is a leaking cauldron of confidence that is not afraid to show off his deductions( sidetrack but I feel like Freddie basically is a less jittery slightly gayer Sherlock).

Sure he is smart enough to pose as a potential threat to Tom's entire cover but that on its own isn't enough to hate someone on a personal level.

I'd like to think there was a time when Tom was more openly confident and used to show off his skills a lot more, much like the 1999s Tom Ripley does, but that he learned to tone it down to not draw attention to himself( something many neurodivergent people can probably relate to). Freddie on the other hand is not ashamed to show off and take up space, he comes off as confident both in who he is and his sexual orientation, as in he doesn't flaunt it but he doesn't actively hide it either.

Option one: Tom sees Freddie as someone he could have been, confident and outgoing, someone people like, which in and of itself could make you dislike a person, or....

Option two: he sees himself and all the things he has to hide represented in Freddie (and that really says so much more about Tom than anything else.)

So, with these thoughts fresh in mind, let's take a look at the Caravaggio once more....

-and mull over the fact that Caravaggio is both David and Goliath, both the killer and the victim, both the hater and the hated.

(Credit to @poorlittlevampirebaby who provided the last three stills)

[ava-amelia]

On Sherlock, asexuality and arguing interpretation

I wanted to speak about this for a while but I was afraid of my words being twisted and being misunderstood. This is not pointed at a particular person. It is not meant to anger or sadden people. To repeat, all headcanons are valid. All ships are valid. This is not meant as a rebuttal of a particular reading of a character's identity or a reading of the show.

I have time and time again seen people say things like "It's so frustrating to see people say Sherlock can't be in love with John because he's asexual. People can be asexual and still in a romantic relationship!" And every time, I wanna say. "Yes, for some people that's true. But they meant aroace. They meant aroace. They clearly meant aroace. (aromantic asexual)"

A lot of people unfamiliar or uneducated with asexuality use "asexual" in place of "aroace". That's how I used it too when I discovered what it was. There was this article about a young woman who felt no sexual or any kind of attraction towards anyone. She was perfectly content with family connection and close friendships. She masturbated but didn't fantasise about anyone while she did and found it strange to find out people even do that.

When a person says they believe Sherlock is asexual and thus cannot be in love with John, this is what they mean most of the time.

They believe he does not participate in relationships or sex and is focused on the Work because he feels no sexual or romantic attraction towards anyone. And most of them feel represented by that because it aligns with their own experiences.

Now, Sherlock could be homoromantic or biromantic or even heteroromantic and asexual. He could be demisexual or gray ace.

But if a gay ace Sherlock and John entered a relationship on the show and they kissed and held hands and were a couple and got married. Guess what?

That would primarily be representative of a same-sex/gay couple. Sherlock is not on HBO. Even if they made Johnlock canon, they would never show them have sex on screen, probably not even implicitly. Sherlock was never going to be about discussion of sexual boundaries and consent. To the majority of the audience, it would have been a gay couple in a sexual (and romantic) relationship.

To quote someone, gay ace is still gay. A gay ace Sherlock would still be a version of asexual Sherlock. But it's not the same thing.

The same way if an ace Sherlock dated Molly and they were a couple, it would be more relatable to heterosexual, bisexual, people attracted to the opposite/different sex people because it aligns with their experiences. That doesn't mean heteroromantic ace people are the same as allo straights. They are not, unless they consider themselves as such.

When people say they want an asexual Sherlock, they mean one that is not dating or having sex with anyone, not John, Molly, Irene, Lestrade nor an original character.

They want to see that identity represented, that you can feel fulfilled in friendships and family relationships. That friendship is not less than, less important, less valuable. That not dating anyone doesn't make you broken.

That not everyone needs a sexual and/or romantic relationship!

That you don't need romantic entanglement to be complete as a human being!

But the inverse is also true.

People will claim it's better Johnlock isn’t canon because Sherlock is ace and that's better and evil Johnlockers are erasing his identity!

Moffat implied asexuality is boring ("...it's someone who abstains that's interesting.... it's a choice of a monk, not a choice of an asexual..") and stories where a character never falls in love is boring. He was going for celibacy, not asexuality. Don't give the writers credit for something at best implied on accident.

Is asexuality a valid and valuable reading? Yes, it is. But it's not canon. The same way Johnlockers saying making asexual Sherlock is erasing gay representation, or that ace Sherlock headcanons make them mad, or calling someone an "asexual fuck" and sending them hate, so is using ace representation as a shield to explain why you don't want more gay representation and that sacred male&male friendships should not be soiled by evil gay sex!

We should be able to have both. We should have more m&m friendships, m&f friendships and more gay, bi and ace representation!

Stop saying "why can't men just be friends?" You do not sound like someone advocating for more male friendship visibility. You just sound like a homophobe. If you see John and Sherlock as strong male friendship or "brothers" (*sigh*). Okay.

If you see them as a same-sex couple, that's great too. Do you. Just let others do the same.

[colormepurplex2]

ColorMePurplex2's Jeon Jungkook Masterlist

RATING: (regardless, this space is not��for minors) G - general audience | PG - strong, suggestive language | PG-13 - frequent use of strong language, grittier subject matter | R - large amounts of vulgar language and adult references | MA - strictly for adults 18+ WARNINGS: please do not take these lightly, if it’s listed that means you can expect to encounter it DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to own any part of BTS. All members of BTS are faces and name claims for these stories. Every post is entirely a work of fiction and by no means is meant to be a projection, judgement, or representation of real-life people. Any scenarios or representations of the people and places mentioned in my works are not representative of real-life scenarios.

▻ Make You Mine ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): A/B/O, Enemies to Lovers ⤜ Genre(s): angst, smut, mild fluff ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [2/2] WC: 11,231 Summary: Alphas might rule the world, but Jungkook finds himself being ruled by the need to make you his. Omegas are rare, precious, and pliant. At least, most are. When you present late, well into your twenties, you’re already set in your headstrong ways; a challenge even for a commanding alpha like Jungkook. Add to that the centuries-long feud between your families and the last thing anyone expected was for him to claim you as his soulmate. ⚠️ Angst, shit-talking, praise kink, breed kink, knotting, creampie, marking/claiming Please check the beginning of each chapter for specific warnings.

▻Chasing Shadows ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): Modern Day Sherlock Holmes, Best Friends Brother ⤜ Genre(s): fluff, smut, angst ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [4/4] WC: 21,511 Summary: Your job gets you into trouble sometimes. Who would have thought crime journalism would put so many targets on your back? But, it’s happening again, someone’s threatening you. Only, this time, it’s not just you that’s in the crosshairs. Your best friend, Enola, is out on an assignment and can’t help like she usually does. So, what does she do instead? She sends her brother, Jungkook, armed with a magic bag, a charming smile, and deductive reasoning skills that prove his worth as one of the best PI’s around. With more at stake than ever before, what lengths will you go to in order to connect the dots and catch the bad guy? ⚠️ Death threats, breaking and entering, descriptions of violence, stalker behavior, talk of crime/criminals, oral f receiving, vaginal fingering, protected sex, nipple play, dirty talk, imagery that reflects choking but isn’t, guns, lots of foul language, scare tactics, talk of a car accident from drunk driving, minor injury, mention of blood/wound, an allusion to mild depression/self-reflection Please check the beginning of each chapter for specific warnings.

▻ On Wings of Mist & Memories ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): High Fantasy, Exiled Royalty, Enemies to Lovers ⤜ Genre(s): angst, smut, fluff ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [3/3] WC: 39,753 Summary: You’re a Psion—disguised Field Scribe—of the Golden Kingdom of Bolas, attached to the Front Wing Infantry. After an ambush from the sky rips down the safe walls around you, you find yourself at the mercy of a brutal man, his dragon, and his shadows. ⚠️ Crass language, combat/violence, minor character deaths, talk of war, brief nudity (nonsexual, mostly), sexual references and feelings, flashback minor character death, mild sexual tension, suggestive inner thoughts, lots of sexual tension, crude banter, fingering, kissing, dirty talk, teasing, shadow penetration/sex (it’s exactly what you’re probably thinking it is: fun af), lots of praise, sexual pleading/begging, endearingly awkward sexual tension, shameless flirting, oral m. receiving, shadow clit play, nipple pinching/teasing, v. sex, mild cum play & eating, multiple orgasms, sad feelings/thoughts of the future, fighting, mild violence, implied minor character death, minor character terminal sickness that leads to off-page death, talk of forced bonds, heartache, pregnancy, off-page childbirth Please check the beginning of each chapter for specific warnings.

▻ Now I'm Yours (follow-up to Make You Mine) ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): A/B/O, Established relationship, Soulmates ⤜ Genre(s): angst, smut, fluff ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [2/2] WC: 14,064 Summary: Jungkook is terrible at feelings. He’s possessive, reckless, and most definitely an Alphahole; you were once his sworn enemy for a reason. But, after he claimed you as his mate during your designation celebration, how do you even begin to navigate the dark waters of such a precarious relationship? Especially when there is darkness creeping over the horizon, threatening to blanket your world in permanent shadow. ⚠️Vulgar language, semi-hate sex, fingering, knotting, creampie, discussion of violent acts, drinking, fighting/physical altercation, alpha challenge, knife violence/attack, blood, injury, bond sex, dick licking, slick eating, biting/marking, blood/wound licking, surprise pregnancy Please check the beginning of each chapter for specific warnings.

▻ Shatter With Me ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): Best Friend's Husband, Surrogacy AU ⤜ Genre(s): angst, smut, fluff ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [3/4] WC: ~46,420k (ongoing) Summary: Your best friend, Jiyoon, and her husband, Jungkook, have faced years of hardship trying to start a family. In a last-ditch effort to have their dream life, they seek solace in surrogacy. Wanting to see your best friend smile, you offer to become the bright beacon at the end of the tunnel, giving them what they have always wanted. But what happens when you begin to shine your light on their darkness? Things aren’t always as they seem—happiness can be a façade, shattering under the lightest pressure. ⚠️Crass language, talk of infertility, drinking, very mild bullying and references to cruel behavior/words, talk of surrogacy, at-home medical procedure, genital touching (non-sexual), planned pregnancy, talk of pregnancy termination/abortion, BIG hurt feelings, open palm slapping, accusations of infidelity, rejected/unwanted drunken kissing that could be viewed as dubious infidelity, lies/deceit about fertility, broken marriage, infidelity, talk of divorce/filing for divorce, legal separation, kissing, fingering, cunnilingus, mild dirty talk, mild begging, sex while pregnant, creampie Please check the beginning of each chapter for specific warnings.

▻ Golden Cufflinks ↳ Pairing: x f.Reader ┉ AU/Trope(s): A/B/O, Best Friend's Fiancé, Soulmates AU ⤜ Genre(s): angst, smut, fluff ⤜ Rating: MA Chapters: [1/1] WC: 11,742 Summary: You’ve never given much thought to finding your true mate, firmly believing it’s something that will happen when it happens. But, when you do find him—thanks to a pair of golden cufflinks—it very well could ruin everything. They say not all’s fair in love and war; you just hadn’t expected your best friend’s wedding to be the battleground. ⚠️ Crass language, talk of designation hierarchy, mild talk of misogynistic practices of the past, confessions of cheating(not by main pairing), anger/arguments, kissing, dick sucking, mild cum intrigue, maybe mild breeding kink if you squint, unprotected v. sex, knotting, lots of slick and cum

WIPS: Smoke & Mirrors - mafia, single dad All Night Long - music festival turned fuckfest

◅ Back to MAIN Masterlist

Check out my other Masterlists: OT7 x Reader/OT7 Kim NamjoonKim SeokjinMin YoongiJung HoseokPark JiminKim TaehyungJeon JungkookMulti-Member x Reader/OCMember x Member

©️      2021-24    ColorMePurplex2  

[podcastbrainrotdad]

Anyway, I urge you to kill the heteronormative cop in your head and reevaluate.

We need to stop perpetuating the idea that a character can only be "properly" queer if they're labelled or are in a queer relationship. I know we've been burned before by Sherlock media, but there's a difference between a character only being implied as queer and a character being queer in a casual way.

Sherlock openly discusses his attraction to several men on the podcast. This isn't subtle or implied. And yes, sometimes it's played for laughs with the man being an absolute horndog on main, but even those instances are also a representation of his queerness. This isn't subtext, it's just text.

Not to mention that the podcast is, theoretically, a true crime podcast (in universe), and in a situation like that, I can't see Sherlock "coming out" to the audience. He's shown distain towards sharing his personal life on podcast before, and I assume his sexuality and past sexual encounters would count as "personal."

As far as I'm aware, the only two things confirmed by outside media are that Victor Trevor and Sherlock were involved at some point and that Mariana and John are aware of Sherlock's sexuality. Both do not make a queer character but simply add to already existing parts of the show.

I know we like to throw the term "queerbaiting" around but I need tumblr to start differentiating actual queerbaiting a-la "Dumbledor is gay" and creators showing and not telling queerness. The show has never shyed away from representing queer characters and has certainly done so more than most other ACD adaptations. I have faith in it for a change.

[jehan-d-art]

my time has come and I can finally talk about this story 😊 (I love how someone guessed it's my fic simply because I've mentioned The Devil Judge, Beyond Evil and MinKey in one go...)

the idea to write something with one of my favourite tags "Food as a Metaphor for Love" soon turned into something with additional warnings such as passing mentions of movie/series-relevant things like blood/gore, vampires, zombies and cannibalism

all in all, this fic is basically a love letter to some of my favorite series/movies and ships - here's one of my favorite parts of the story:

" (...) It doesn’t take long before Minho mentions Jinyoung, a fellow idol and acquaintance, who just so happens to also have had a role in Yumi’s Cells. 

Mentioning Jinyoung and his acting skills and previous parts he had played leads the conversation in a different direction. Eventually they talk about The Devil Judge. Minho quite likes series like it. He likes to deal with the question of just how far a human being would go for someone they love, the set moral rules and even laws be damned.

Dongwook brings up different kinds of love, the ones that are seen as good and the ones that are seen as bad. Somehow, Dongwook and Minho find there’s not much of a difference and yet also barely a fine line between love that is selfless and giving and love that is selfish and only ever taking without ever giving anything back in return.

Minho makes a mental note to keep in mind how all the crime-themed series he has watched with two male leading actors have somewhat of an age difference, with one person kind of representing physical or mental collapse, a standstill so to speak while the other person becomes their light and motivator to keep going. However, there is also a role reversal happening and in the end both characters change each other, for the better or for the worse.

Minho wonders whether these characters could be compared to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson or whether Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty would be a better comparison. 

The underlying homoerotic tension would be there no matter what.

Dongwook raises a brow when Minho chuckles at the memory of how he fell down a rabbit hole almost a decade ago when SHINee released Sherlock just while the BBC series with the same name was airing. Minho remembers how some Shawols mentioned the British mystery crime drama  and how Minho, made curious by those comments, had checked it out.

In that series, the tension between the two main characters gets addressed by people assuming they are together again and again. But ultimately the two men never actually end up becoming an official couple. It caused an uproar back then and while Minho is familiar with the term queerbaiting, he doesn’t know whether that’s the case with the relationship between Holmes and Watson or Sherlock and John. 

Maybe it was what was happening with the TV series from 2010 but there are plenty of other versions that also toe the fine line between platonic and romantic love.

Besides, is it really erasure when the love between two or more people or characters is obvious and clear to see even if there are no sexual scenarios happening between them? (...) "

[culttvblog]

Denis Shaw Season: Sherlock Holmes - The Beryl Coronet

Next in this series of posts about TV shows in which the actor Denis Shaw has a part, we have this episode of the 1964-5 series Sherlock Holmes, starring Douglas Wilmer as the detective and Nigel Stock as Dr Watson. This series rather tends to be seen in continuation with the 1968 series starring Peter Cushing as Holmes, possibly because Stock remained Watson in that show, in amongst doubling for Number 6 in The Prisoner.

I like the story of this one enormously, because it is far from being a linear detective story. Put simply, a banker named Alexander Holder gives an unnamed client who calls at his home a loan of £50,000, accepting as security a coronet, which is a smaller crown worn by lesser royalty or nobility. Part of the coronet is stolen, and Holder suspects his own son of stealing it.

What I love about it is that far from the single line description I have given we have a complex web of possibilities. We have Holder's son's obvious gambling problem, which his father refuses to continue to enable by lending him any more money for his gambling debts. We have the household, which would obviously have been a den of sexual tension becauwse Holder's niece also lives in the house and both Holder and his son want her to marry the son but she won't. We have the obligatory shifty servant. Of course the real point of the story is not this web of complexity but the real storyline is more about the British Empire and the great and the good who have fallen on hard times and been forced to get loans. The coronet, far from merely being an expensive trinket, represents the State and the Empire, and that is what is at risk here. The peer or minor royal who has given the coronet as security is never identified. That would be indiscreet.

Shaw's role in this show is to play a most ungentlemanly gentleman's gentleman in the employ of the actual villain of the piece, who I won't identify. Honestly apart from its other qualities this show is worth watching for Shaw's part. He is absolutely perfect as the completely ungracious servant and I love him in it.

I have no criticism of Shaw but I do have a criticism of the show, which I'm not sure is a criticism of Conan Doyle of the production. It's the coronet. I read on Wikipedia that the £50,000 loan in the 1890s equates to about £7,000,000 today, and the coronet is described as being worth twice the value of the loan. In reality lords' robes and coronets frequently come up for sale at auction and only cost a couple of thousand quid. On the other hand, despite the coronet supposedly being so valuable, the actors all handle it as if it is a prop. It doesn't at all give an appearance of weight of gravity. So perhaps there's both a plot issue and the handling of the coronet in the production is wrong.

Otherwise, this is an excellent adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes story, with an excellent minor role for Denis Shaw.

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Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[butchdetective]

made a flag for my gender. its called pepper gender (hard G) and anyone can feel free to use it

the background is me falling onto my face and represents cringe. foodboy screencap represents despair in an objectively silly situation. master of the horse represents the horse master. little dancing man represents quirked up white boy w a little bit of swag busting it down sexual style. my girlfriends cat oscar represents meow. masterbation is a sin represents funny images on my phone. the picture of me with an awesome hat represents awesome hats. Sherlock holmes. little stick guys represent friendship and the explosions represent believing in yourself and having fun