(ugh, just typed out a huge reply and then lost it...let's see if I can recreate it...)
If I ever want to have a discussion like this, I don't think I can make it as clear.
Thanks! I didn't think I was very clear, because I was in angry!rant mode - so yeah...thanks for saying I was!
This might be digressing a little, but I'm also not sure why he couldn't be attracted to her just because. Be it for her brains, her body, whatever. Some of those objections and reactions are because the painted Sherlock to be asexual, and that he is above all things sexual.
It's true, fandom has largely painted Sherlock as an asexual because of his statement that only the mind mattered and "the rest is transport" - but we don't actually know whether that means he's asexual or not. John and Mrs. Hudson don't even know. It could be that Sherlock WANTS to be asexual, because he believes sex to be beneath him - but wanting to be something and actually being something are two different things. The truth of the matter is that we won't ever know Sherlock's "heart" unless he himself tells us - after all, not even MYCROFT knows. So yeah, there IS a possibility that Sherlock is attracted to Irene...we shall never know, unless Sherlock tell us.
Where the difference between sexual/romantic attraction and intellectual/other attraction is important is when we look at Irene. This is what Irene's conversation with John is about in the empty power station - the fact that sexual orientation has nothing to do with her (or John's) "infatuation" (or love) for Sherlock. John is obviously a heterosexual - he dates girls, he SAYS he's not gay...yet the most important relationship in his life, the other half to the "couple" that he is in, is Sherlock. John might not want to have sex with Sherlock, but he IS in love with him.
Where the viewers of the show seem to have fallen down in their comprehension is the fact that love does not equal sex.
Back to Sherlock's asexuality though...it kind of annoys me that there's this belief that if you are intelligent, it means that sex is "beneath you" (and this is completely off topic...though, I think it's also one of the reasons why people are up in arms about Irene being in a sexual profession). Sex doesn't make you stupid. It's this whole sex-shaming culture we still have going. There is nothing horrible, bad, or barbarian about sex. Intelligent people want sex too, and it doesn't make them less intelligent if they have it. So, yeah, people assume Sherlock is asexual because he's smart...and Spock only had sex every 7 years, because he was smart...but damn it, if they were REALLY smart, they'd realize how goddamn awesome orgasms are.
no subject
If I ever want to have a discussion like this, I don't think I can make it as clear.
Thanks! I didn't think I was very clear, because I was in angry!rant mode - so yeah...thanks for saying I was!
This might be digressing a little, but I'm also not sure why he couldn't be attracted to her just because. Be it for her brains, her body, whatever. Some of those objections and reactions are because the painted Sherlock to be asexual, and that he is above all things sexual.
It's true, fandom has largely painted Sherlock as an asexual because of his statement that only the mind mattered and "the rest is transport" - but we don't actually know whether that means he's asexual or not. John and Mrs. Hudson don't even know. It could be that Sherlock WANTS to be asexual, because he believes sex to be beneath him - but wanting to be something and actually being something are two different things. The truth of the matter is that we won't ever know Sherlock's "heart" unless he himself tells us - after all, not even MYCROFT knows. So yeah, there IS a possibility that Sherlock is attracted to Irene...we shall never know, unless Sherlock tell us.
Where the difference between sexual/romantic attraction and intellectual/other attraction is important is when we look at Irene. This is what Irene's conversation with John is about in the empty power station - the fact that sexual orientation has nothing to do with her (or John's) "infatuation" (or love) for Sherlock. John is obviously a heterosexual - he dates girls, he SAYS he's not gay...yet the most important relationship in his life, the other half to the "couple" that he is in, is Sherlock. John might not want to have sex with Sherlock, but he IS in love with him.
Where the viewers of the show seem to have fallen down in their comprehension is the fact that love does not equal sex.
Back to Sherlock's asexuality though...it kind of annoys me that there's this belief that if you are intelligent, it means that sex is "beneath you" (and this is completely off topic...though, I think it's also one of the reasons why people are up in arms about Irene being in a sexual profession). Sex doesn't make you stupid. It's this whole sex-shaming culture we still have going. There is nothing horrible, bad, or barbarian about sex. Intelligent people want sex too, and it doesn't make them less intelligent if they have it. So, yeah, people assume Sherlock is asexual because he's smart...and Spock only had sex every 7 years, because he was smart...but damn it, if they were REALLY smart, they'd realize how goddamn awesome orgasms are.