The Case of John Watson’s Sexuality
This is not being discussed nearly enough for me. :) (Edit: Crossposted here.)
(First off, sorry for scaring people with my speculative His Last Vow fears in the last post. I’ve since stopped freaking out and see lots of valid possibilities of having a moving cliffhanger without killing anybody. So let’s just get through this little wait until Sunday. *breathes into a bag*)
I’ve come to the opinion that this series may actually be a long-form exploration of John Watson’s sexual awakening. Yes, you read that right, for all this talk of virgins and and “How would you know?” and “We’re having a lot of sex” to Sherlock, the show is not so much about Sherlock’s acceptance of his own sexuality as John’s.
I think for many people, the line that sold them on Sherlock as a show is when John and Sherlock are at Angelo’s and John says, “It’s fine. It’s all fine,” referring to Sherlock’s sexuality. How refreshing on television, that a man should (1) talk about this with another man at all, and (2) be so open, honest, and accepting about his new acquaintance’s unspecified preferences. But in light of other evidence, I think that what John was actually saying there was “It’s fine. It’s all fine-for you, though maybe not for me.” Because just one scene prior to that moment, John objects to Angelo putting a candle on the table because of what? Yup, appearances.
I really, honestly don’t see that John’s repeated protestations that “Sherlock’s not my boyfriend, I’m not gay, we’re not going on dates, we’re not lovers...” is the writers using their platform to scold fandom Johnlock shippers. I know a lot of people see it that way, but I think that’s a wild underestimation of this show’s quality and actually quite a petty and cruel thing to do for writers who genuinely appear to love their fandom (I still read The Empty Hearse, and indeed every episode, as a love letter to fandom and admit to being baffled by those who don’t). Instead, in my opinion, John’s protestations are a repeated and consistent characterization of John Watson as a man who is constrained, sexually as well as in many other respects (except his choice of jumpers, clearly), by societal expectations and pressures. Just like many other men, particularly ones associated with the military. And to the detriment of his own happiness.
Take this scene from Reichenbach, for example, as a perfect illustration ( transcript from the brilliant arianedevere):
SHERLOCK: I don’t care what people think.
JOHN: You’d care if they thought you were stupid, or wrong.
SHERLOCK: No, that would just make them stupid or wrong.
JOHN: Sherlock, I don’t want the world believing you’re ...
SHERLOCK: That I am what?
JOHN: A fraud.
They’re both being honest here. Whereas the only opinions of himself Sherlock cares about are those of people he loves (John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, maybe even Mycroft-subconsciously, of course) or admires (Moriarty), John himself is continually frustrated by how the world sees both of them. Note that John seems fine with all the press they’ve been receiving...until the press calls him a “confirmed bachelor” (i.e. gay).
And of course Sherlock’s right because why should he care about the opinions of people he doesn’t like or even know? But John’s also right because the answer is that people can be cruel and can make your life miserable. I bet during those two years post-Reichenbach, John placed a lot of blame on the press for what he thought was Sherlock committing suicide, and that unfortunately strengthened John’s belief that defying societal pressures and expectations can be dangerous and life-destroying.
Throughout the show, Sherlock’s position on his own sexuality hasn’t really changed: he may have a sex drive, but for the time being, at least, he’s choosing not to act upon it, despite having ample opportunities. I’d like to put forth the theory that this is because he’s slowly become more and more desperately in love with John, and John is too busy dealing with his own sexuality to be ready for Sherlock (and maybe Sherlock wasn’t ready either).
Frequently in the show, John gets offended on Sherlock’s behalf, but John so rarely gets offended on his own behalf. Basically only when his sexuality is called into question. And then it doesn’t take him long to become almost suspiciously defensive. Even when talking to Mrs. Hudson in The Empty Hearse when he still thinks Sherlock is dead, John jumps pretty quickly to yelling out that he’s not gay. But it’s so bad with John that he really hurts Sherlock by jumping in and unnecessarily defending his not-gayness in The Blind Banker (“This is my friend, John Watson.” Sebastian is surprised Sherlock has a friend. John misinterprets this as yet another person questioning his sexuality and corrects Sherlock by saying, “Colleague.” Not because they’re not friends but because they’re not boyfriends.) Maybe John gets offended only because it seems to happen a lot, people jumping to the wrong conclusion about his relationship with Sherlock, but I think there’s something more there.
In The Sign of Three, John moves Sherlock deeply enough to blue-screen him for a “scary” amount of time, simply by telling him that he loves him and that Sherlock is his best friend. That’s how intense this relationship is.
And then there’s the stag night. When they get drunk and John’s inhibitions are lowered, John gets so much more physically intimate with Sherlock, propping his feet on Sherlock’s chair, even putting his hand on Sherlock’s knee and saying with a shrug, “I don’t mind.” Now, there are lots of different ways of interpreting that line, and to me it’s so off-the-cuff, as well as Sherlock’s reaction, that it even seems improvised by Martin Freeman (as well as Benedict’s almost-response)-but they did make the decision to have and keep it in the show, so there it is now.
The way I interpret it is: this is how John really feels about Sherlock. He can’t touch Sherlock in such a frankly sexual way when sober or in public because he’s afraid his actions will be misconstrued as him being gay. And he’s not; he sexually desires women; he’s marrying a woman. But that doesn’t mean that if everyone consents, they can’t all be happy together in an unconventional relationship. And to me, this scene suggests that underneath John’s knee-jerk reflex of not being able to picture himself as being intimate in any way with a man, even Sherlock, John does actually want that on some level.
When Tessa comes to visit and Sherlock and John are on the couch together, still drunk, Sherlock has continued this trend of being more physically intimate with his arm resting behind John on the couch, and then as Tessa talks, Sherlock removes it looking a bit like, “Don’t get too intimate; you know how it makes John uncomfortable [when sober].” Sherlock’s actually very indulgent about John’s hangups in this episode, even when they hurt both of them.
So this is where we are now with John and Sherlock’s relationship. Check out this scene at the wedding reception. Mary basically asks Sherlock to dance as a threesome, John shuts it down because of external pressures and labels instead of what he actually wants (“We can’t all three dance; there are limits”), and Sherlock instantly goes along with John even though, you know, Sherlock loves to dance...because he doesn’t want John to be uncomfortable at his own wedding. I get a sense of resignation from Sherlock there, like, “Oh, right, John, I forgot you were like this.” But this scene makes it clear to me that Sherlock is never going to push John out of his comfort zone when it comes to this; he’s going to suffer in silence for as long as he has to.
We can speculate about why John is like this, other than the fact that he’s a man living in a heteronormative society and has lots of preconceived notions about what men and women do. That was made pretty clear in John’s reasoning that the Mayfly Man just wants sex because he’s a man and that’s what men do. (Whereas badass Best Man Sherlock’s over here Youtubing how to fold serviettes and correcting John that the bridesmaids will be wearing lilac; how’s that for challenging gender norms, John?) We could speculate that as a child, perhaps John’s parents were homophobic and harsh to Harry for being gay, which may have contributed to her alcohol problem, and ever since, John has been subconsciously scared of even acknowledging that he might have some of those desires in himself. I don’t know, and the reason doesn’t matter as much as the result, which is that John is holding himself back from what he really seems to want romantically: full, equal relationships with both Mary and Sherlock.
I truly believe that Mary, at least, is up for a threesome or perhaps even a full polyamorous relationship. Her presence in the series has so far been great at pushing the boys together physically (she encouraged them to meet up in The Empty Hearse and to go on a case and to hug at the wedding!) and emotionally, helping them talk about their feelings to each other, helping them move past what could have been an immovable object: John’s anger at Sherlock over Reichenbach. She flat out told Sherlock she would help him to get back to normalcy with John. And why? Because she can see that Sherlock is good for John. She can see, just as we and everyone else in the show can, how much these men love each other. That relationship could so easily go from intense friendship to romance. And I believe that if John can get over his societally-induced hangups and dig deeper into himself, all three of them could be happier.
In summation, I think that we should trust the person whose job it is to analyze people’s sexual preferences, Irene, when she tells John that while they’re both not usually interested in men, it’s clear they both are interested in Sherlock. How the show will handle this, though, is a different question. But I don’t think we as fans should automatically condemn it as gay-baiting or automatically assume that the writers hate us, as to me it seems like a major arc in the show is an exploration of a person slowly coming to terms with giving himself permission to apply his “It’s all fine” motto to himself and figuring out what he really wants from life, apart from societal expectations. John’s already helped Sherlock to come to the realization that it’s okay to be different; now it’s John’s turn to apply his own teachings. Something is happening here. One of the very best things about this show is that John Watson is just as much of a complex character as Sherlock Holmes. Give him time. So far every time I’ve trusted this show, I’ve been rewarded handsomely, so I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt this time as well.
In other words, IS IT SUNDAY YET???
(First off, sorry for scaring people with my speculative His Last Vow fears in the last post. I’ve since stopped freaking out and see lots of valid possibilities of having a moving cliffhanger without killing anybody. So let’s just get through this little wait until Sunday. *breathes into a bag*)
I’ve come to the opinion that this series may actually be a long-form exploration of John Watson’s sexual awakening. Yes, you read that right, for all this talk of virgins and and “How would you know?” and “We’re having a lot of sex” to Sherlock, the show is not so much about Sherlock’s acceptance of his own sexuality as John’s.
I think for many people, the line that sold them on Sherlock as a show is when John and Sherlock are at Angelo’s and John says, “It’s fine. It’s all fine,” referring to Sherlock’s sexuality. How refreshing on television, that a man should (1) talk about this with another man at all, and (2) be so open, honest, and accepting about his new acquaintance’s unspecified preferences. But in light of other evidence, I think that what John was actually saying there was “It’s fine. It’s all fine-for you, though maybe not for me.” Because just one scene prior to that moment, John objects to Angelo putting a candle on the table because of what? Yup, appearances.
I really, honestly don’t see that John’s repeated protestations that “Sherlock’s not my boyfriend, I’m not gay, we’re not going on dates, we’re not lovers...” is the writers using their platform to scold fandom Johnlock shippers. I know a lot of people see it that way, but I think that’s a wild underestimation of this show’s quality and actually quite a petty and cruel thing to do for writers who genuinely appear to love their fandom (I still read The Empty Hearse, and indeed every episode, as a love letter to fandom and admit to being baffled by those who don’t). Instead, in my opinion, John’s protestations are a repeated and consistent characterization of John Watson as a man who is constrained, sexually as well as in many other respects (except his choice of jumpers, clearly), by societal expectations and pressures. Just like many other men, particularly ones associated with the military. And to the detriment of his own happiness.
Take this scene from Reichenbach, for example, as a perfect illustration ( transcript from the brilliant arianedevere):
SHERLOCK: I don’t care what people think.
JOHN: You’d care if they thought you were stupid, or wrong.
SHERLOCK: No, that would just make them stupid or wrong.
JOHN: Sherlock, I don’t want the world believing you’re ...
SHERLOCK: That I am what?
JOHN: A fraud.
They’re both being honest here. Whereas the only opinions of himself Sherlock cares about are those of people he loves (John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, maybe even Mycroft-subconsciously, of course) or admires (Moriarty), John himself is continually frustrated by how the world sees both of them. Note that John seems fine with all the press they’ve been receiving...until the press calls him a “confirmed bachelor” (i.e. gay).
And of course Sherlock’s right because why should he care about the opinions of people he doesn’t like or even know? But John’s also right because the answer is that people can be cruel and can make your life miserable. I bet during those two years post-Reichenbach, John placed a lot of blame on the press for what he thought was Sherlock committing suicide, and that unfortunately strengthened John’s belief that defying societal pressures and expectations can be dangerous and life-destroying.
Throughout the show, Sherlock’s position on his own sexuality hasn’t really changed: he may have a sex drive, but for the time being, at least, he’s choosing not to act upon it, despite having ample opportunities. I’d like to put forth the theory that this is because he’s slowly become more and more desperately in love with John, and John is too busy dealing with his own sexuality to be ready for Sherlock (and maybe Sherlock wasn’t ready either).
Frequently in the show, John gets offended on Sherlock’s behalf, but John so rarely gets offended on his own behalf. Basically only when his sexuality is called into question. And then it doesn’t take him long to become almost suspiciously defensive. Even when talking to Mrs. Hudson in The Empty Hearse when he still thinks Sherlock is dead, John jumps pretty quickly to yelling out that he’s not gay. But it’s so bad with John that he really hurts Sherlock by jumping in and unnecessarily defending his not-gayness in The Blind Banker (“This is my friend, John Watson.” Sebastian is surprised Sherlock has a friend. John misinterprets this as yet another person questioning his sexuality and corrects Sherlock by saying, “Colleague.” Not because they’re not friends but because they’re not boyfriends.) Maybe John gets offended only because it seems to happen a lot, people jumping to the wrong conclusion about his relationship with Sherlock, but I think there’s something more there.
In The Sign of Three, John moves Sherlock deeply enough to blue-screen him for a “scary” amount of time, simply by telling him that he loves him and that Sherlock is his best friend. That’s how intense this relationship is.
And then there’s the stag night. When they get drunk and John’s inhibitions are lowered, John gets so much more physically intimate with Sherlock, propping his feet on Sherlock’s chair, even putting his hand on Sherlock’s knee and saying with a shrug, “I don’t mind.” Now, there are lots of different ways of interpreting that line, and to me it’s so off-the-cuff, as well as Sherlock’s reaction, that it even seems improvised by Martin Freeman (as well as Benedict’s almost-response)-but they did make the decision to have and keep it in the show, so there it is now.
The way I interpret it is: this is how John really feels about Sherlock. He can’t touch Sherlock in such a frankly sexual way when sober or in public because he’s afraid his actions will be misconstrued as him being gay. And he’s not; he sexually desires women; he’s marrying a woman. But that doesn’t mean that if everyone consents, they can’t all be happy together in an unconventional relationship. And to me, this scene suggests that underneath John’s knee-jerk reflex of not being able to picture himself as being intimate in any way with a man, even Sherlock, John does actually want that on some level.
When Tessa comes to visit and Sherlock and John are on the couch together, still drunk, Sherlock has continued this trend of being more physically intimate with his arm resting behind John on the couch, and then as Tessa talks, Sherlock removes it looking a bit like, “Don’t get too intimate; you know how it makes John uncomfortable [when sober].” Sherlock’s actually very indulgent about John’s hangups in this episode, even when they hurt both of them.
So this is where we are now with John and Sherlock’s relationship. Check out this scene at the wedding reception. Mary basically asks Sherlock to dance as a threesome, John shuts it down because of external pressures and labels instead of what he actually wants (“We can’t all three dance; there are limits”), and Sherlock instantly goes along with John even though, you know, Sherlock loves to dance...because he doesn’t want John to be uncomfortable at his own wedding. I get a sense of resignation from Sherlock there, like, “Oh, right, John, I forgot you were like this.” But this scene makes it clear to me that Sherlock is never going to push John out of his comfort zone when it comes to this; he’s going to suffer in silence for as long as he has to.
We can speculate about why John is like this, other than the fact that he’s a man living in a heteronormative society and has lots of preconceived notions about what men and women do. That was made pretty clear in John’s reasoning that the Mayfly Man just wants sex because he’s a man and that’s what men do. (Whereas badass Best Man Sherlock’s over here Youtubing how to fold serviettes and correcting John that the bridesmaids will be wearing lilac; how’s that for challenging gender norms, John?) We could speculate that as a child, perhaps John’s parents were homophobic and harsh to Harry for being gay, which may have contributed to her alcohol problem, and ever since, John has been subconsciously scared of even acknowledging that he might have some of those desires in himself. I don’t know, and the reason doesn’t matter as much as the result, which is that John is holding himself back from what he really seems to want romantically: full, equal relationships with both Mary and Sherlock.
I truly believe that Mary, at least, is up for a threesome or perhaps even a full polyamorous relationship. Her presence in the series has so far been great at pushing the boys together physically (she encouraged them to meet up in The Empty Hearse and to go on a case and to hug at the wedding!) and emotionally, helping them talk about their feelings to each other, helping them move past what could have been an immovable object: John’s anger at Sherlock over Reichenbach. She flat out told Sherlock she would help him to get back to normalcy with John. And why? Because she can see that Sherlock is good for John. She can see, just as we and everyone else in the show can, how much these men love each other. That relationship could so easily go from intense friendship to romance. And I believe that if John can get over his societally-induced hangups and dig deeper into himself, all three of them could be happier.
In summation, I think that we should trust the person whose job it is to analyze people’s sexual preferences, Irene, when she tells John that while they’re both not usually interested in men, it’s clear they both are interested in Sherlock. How the show will handle this, though, is a different question. But I don’t think we as fans should automatically condemn it as gay-baiting or automatically assume that the writers hate us, as to me it seems like a major arc in the show is an exploration of a person slowly coming to terms with giving himself permission to apply his “It’s all fine” motto to himself and figuring out what he really wants from life, apart from societal expectations. John’s already helped Sherlock to come to the realization that it’s okay to be different; now it’s John’s turn to apply his own teachings. Something is happening here. One of the very best things about this show is that John Watson is just as much of a complex character as Sherlock Holmes. Give him time. So far every time I’ve trusted this show, I’ve been rewarded handsomely, so I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt this time as well.
In other words, IS IT SUNDAY YET???