mallamun:

mochi-and-tea:

mallamun:

[This post contains one mild, general Sign of Three spoiler beneath the cut. It’s otherwise spoiler-free.]

The release of the first two episodes is causing renewed fervor in all areas of the fandom, including the shippers. Especially the shippers, as always.

Flat out: when I first watched Study in Pink, I thought I was looking at a canonically gay Holmes. It soon turned out to be more complicated than that, but I continued to hold onto strong emotions about those two. That what I see on-screen is two people falling in love—whether they realize it or not, whether it’s sexual or not. I’ve often told myself, “Even if the writers don’t intend it that way, I can still enjoy it that way.”

After all, as a queer person… there are paltry pickings for representative romances. But representation aside, even: what a beautiful dynamic, don’t you think?

I was content to enjoy that thought over in my own little corner.

But now, something’s changed.

And I look around and realize that I’m steeping in homophobia.

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This is so true. And I’m ashamed, because I remember a year or two back, this was exactly my attitude.

I was talking about Sherlock with a friend, back then (this was before I watched the series), and I remember discussing the Holmes/Watson relationship with her. All I’d seen from the BBC show were various pictures of Sherlock and John in strange poses at crime scenes. I was however, aware that ACD certainly hadn’t written intentional romance in his books, and yet there was a lot of Johnlock fics out there.

I remember bringing up the fact there was so much gay fanfiction for Sherlock, and laughing at it a little. Wow, so much of it, people can be a little crazy huh?

She was a big Johnlock shipper. She just stared at me and went, well I ship it. I didn’t really understand why she looked so shocked, I thought it was just because she shipped them very intensely.

No, this wasn’t intentionally mean spirited. No, I’m not homophobic, or I’d like to hope I’m not. But, I just didn’t realise then that this was passive-aggressively homophobic.

Really, if John was replaced with a female, and they did all exactly the same things as the show (I’ve seen it now), we would all unmistakeably go, they’re going to be a couple. So obvious. From the first episode, from the first bloody twenty minutes, yep. Look at all those undertones, those long drawn out gazes even domestically. People would not laugh this pairing off as just a joke, they’d be expecting this romance (rightfully, according to them).

Put two males in that situation (or two females), and suddenly everyone’s going wow, epic friendship. Romance? Don’t be silly, they’re good friends, don’t mistake it. Cute that you want it though.

This is what media encourages. It’s a good joke, isn’t it, hilarious to watch. But it’s not actually going to happen, we all know that.

What I’m trying to say? That even though we pat ourselves on the back for being liberal, for being able to talk about LGBTQ issues openly now, media (and other unconscious actions) still perpetuate a certain dismissive stigma against these relationships. It’s not blatantly homophobic (at least, until you take in how often this occurs in media), but it’s there, and it continues to encourage this attitude.

Reblogging for this beautiful additional commentary. Thank you.

I’m having an experience as a Queer person right now.