BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Sherlock’s Sexuality: An In-Depth Contemplation and Study

Vhanja · April 4, 2015 10:00 am

Oh, absolutely, you can of course have sex without emotions attached.

The comment about "talking to a woman" I always took as a jab against Mycroft probably not being able to have any kind of flirtious conversation with a woman, or talk to them at all outside what would be deemed strictly necessary. Sherlock has shown to both be able to have a relaxed conversation with women (Janine at the wedding) and even (fake) flirt with them as well (again: Janine).

I don't know, it could of course be that Mycroft simply buys sex as a service whenever the needs arises. Could very well happen. I have just always viewed Mycroft as, to put it a bit simple, a more extreme version of Sherlock in every way. For instance, I don't think Irene would have succeeded with her flirtous game towards Mycroft as she did with Sherlock.

Liberty · April 4, 2015 12:37 pm

No, I don't think she would have done (even if she'd been male - I tend to think of Mycroft as gay, although he doesn't need to be). He does seem more "advanced" in his detachment from the human race than Sherlock is. He was also surpised that Irene could manipulate Sherlock - so expected Sherlock to have more control.

But we know Mycroft has emotional depth too ("your loss would break me heart") but just suppresses it even better than Sherlock. I do have a bit of a craving to see him tested in that way, and if he's having sex, the opportunity is there for him to fall for somebody (I don't REALLY want him to, any more than I want Sherlock to, because I like them both repressed - it's just something to think about).

I do think that perhaps Sherlock avoided full sex with Janine because he was worried that HE would get emotionally involved.

tonnaree · April 4, 2015 3:03 pm

I can see Mycroft using "professional services" to take care of his bodily needs. He would see it as satisfing and efficient. And of course he would have the money to hire only the best.

Just my own personal headcanon.

ukaunz · April 4, 2015 9:58 pm

I personally get the feeling Sherlock wouldn't go as far as having sex with Janine because that would be his limit of taking advantage of her for a case. I don't think he would be worried abut getting emotionally involved himself, but it would take the deception to a higher level of awfulness. He has some sort of moral code, surely?

Lola Red · April 4, 2015 11:06 pm

II cannot bring myself to quite believe that. True, for someone who values virginity until marriage, sex would have made the betrayal even worse, but from what we see from Janine, she does not seem to fall in that group. In fact she is hitting quite aggressively on Sherlock during the wedding at the beginning (and she seemed more than interested in the other gentlemen present, too). She even laments the fact that she never got to have sex with Sherlock after she knows of his betrayal. So I think the not having sex in that relationship was something that Sherlock did very much for his own benefit, not for Janine’s.

Mela · April 4, 2015 11:32 pm

Lola Red wrote:
Yes, this is what I meant. Sherlock is very emotional, but chooses (or at least tries) to not express part of his emotions to not endanger his work. Similarly he is a sexual person, but chooses to not express the part of his sexuality that would involve another person. I think both are done to minimise the effect the outside world can have on his mind.

I completely agree with you. This reminds me that in the episode "the last vow" when Magnussen looked at Sherlock through his glasses he saw so many pressure points

I think that this is a demonstration that he actually cares about so many people and things but he constantly tries to hide it, and that's what happen also for the sex question. He curbs everything that could possibly let him emotionally involved in order to not compromise his mind.

But...... as Vhanja said:

Vhanja wrote:
I certainly wouldn't mind seeing him lose control...

tonnaree · April 5, 2015 12:55 am

*sing to Sherlock*

Let it go
Let it go
don't hold it back anymore.........................

Liberty · April 5, 2015 2:14 am

I'd love to see it too, but then he wouldn't be Sherlock .

I wouldn't say that Janine hits on Sherlock "aggressively" - it looks like good-natured flirting to me, with somebody she assumes is not available. (They both plot to fix her up with somebody else, and Janine doesn't fall for the flower-throwing). But I agree that it's interesting that Janine regrets the lack of sex even after the betrayal, rather than thinking "well, thank goodness it didn't go that far". I have wondered if Sherlock was protecting Janine or protecting himself, and this makes me think it was the latter. Although I also agree that he has some sort of moral code, and wouldn't necessarily have gone any farther than he needed to go. I think I just like the volcano idea of him always trying to contain his own feelings.

ukaunz · April 5, 2015 4:57 am

If he withholds himself from emotions and sex - does he see them as going together? Sex = emotional involvement? So if he didn't have sex with Janine because he didn't want to get emotionally involved with her - maybe he also thought it would be the same for Janine, that she would have been more emotionally involved with Sherlock if they had had sex. Perhaps that is why it would have been a bigger betrayal (in his mind) if they had slept with each other.

Sorry, I'm trying to articulate what I mean but I'm not very good at it. Maybe it just comes back to Sherlock abstaining from sex because it is a drain on his mental/physical alertness. But that thought just makes me go around in circles in my head...

Schmiezi · April 5, 2015 6:19 am

Maybe he just knew that a woman would not turn him on enough to have sex with her.

Liberty · April 5, 2015 7:57 am

Even if he wasn't attracted to women at all, he could fantasise (lots of gay men have had sex with women and fathered children) so I don't think that's it.   It's acting, it's work - something he's good at.   And they do make Janine look rather gorgeous - if he was attracted to women at all, I think he could find her attractive.

@ Ukaunz I think I know what you mean.   I do think it would have been a bigger betrayal, and that he might have wanted to avoid that unneccessary pain ... but Janine doesn't agree.    The fact that Janine wuld have liked to have sex with him anyway, makes me think that she suspected that HE was attracted to HER, even though she knew the purpose was Sherlock's work. Why would she want to have sex with somebody who wasn't attracted to her?

Yes, it could be just that he was abstaining to protect his mind ... he was categorising this as work, though, so I think he could have done it anyway.   But he chose not to.

Lola Red · April 5, 2015 8:31 am

Liberty wrote:
I wouldn't say that Janine hits on Sherlock "aggressively" - it looks like good-natured flirting to me, with somebody she assumes is not available.

I did not mean that in a bad way, just that she seems like she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go for it.

Liberty wrote:
Why would she want to have sex with somebody who wasn't attracted to her?

Well, Sherlock is a very, very handsome man...

Janinie does not even seem overly shocked by what he does to her. Sure, she takes her revenge, but she does not seem too surprised. Her whole demeanour speaks more of “you could have at least made this more fun for me”.

nakahara · April 5, 2015 9:19 am

There´s one thing that haven´t been considered here yet: both Mycroft and Sherlock can read people from the tiniest details and notice too much of those details at once. Which means that they notice the minutiae of sexual lives of others every day, every minute (for example, when Molly boast that she has lots of sex with Tom, I´m sure Sherlock "noticed" the fact already). On top of it, Sherlock probably meets with most banal or most brutal examples of sexual relations through his cases or when clients ask him for help - he has probably seen sexual lives of others mostly from "cheating, abuse, lies, reason for murder" angle. All this would not exactly endear him to the idea of having sexual relations himself. He would probably find it all to be disgusting and annoying.

SusiGo · January 12, 2018 10:51 pm

I cannot believe that I never saw this before:

http://hawksmoor17.tumblr.com/post/169631836681/incurablylazydevil-sherlock-anatomy-of-a-hit

This is Ben Stephenson, former BBC head of drama, talking. So Sherlock was deemed gay because of his use of the riding crop. And then Mofftiss decided to keep this in not just in ASiP but also in TAB.

Vhanja · January 13, 2018 7:41 am

Hahaha, the riding crop makes him gay? People, sometimes...

besleybean · January 13, 2018 7:58 am

I know.
What?
Don't get that at all.
Lots of men ride horses...chortle.
I mean, we know why he used the crop and it's Canon isn't it?

Liberty · January 13, 2018 8:28 am

I don't know whether to laugh or be disturbed that people saw his beating a dead body as part of his sexuality! But maybe it's just because riding crops are more commonly seen as sex toys these days. Perhaps not so much in ACD's day. (I'm assuming people would have thought he was straight if it was a woman's body? Never mind the issues of consent, necrophilia, etc!)

What's this from? Is there a link to the whole panel - it looks good!

Last edited by Liberty (January 13, 2018 8:30 am)

besleybean · January 13, 2018 11:01 am

Indeed, context may be everything.

Vhanja · January 13, 2018 5:52 pm

I do understand a riding crop being more in a sexual context these days, I still don't see why that would make him gay. BDSM is not a gay thing.

Again: People, sometimes...

Yitzock · January 13, 2018 8:50 pm

Maybe the people in the test audience associated expressions of sexuality (and "kinks"/BDSM) with gayness/queerness? Beats me. (no pun intended!)
I agree with it being seen as possibly sexual, but specifically gay I don't see.