He wanted to write detective stories not straight up romances - but that doesn´t mean that his work was entirely deprived of such content. I wanted to only point out that the relationships between people were more insinuated than downright described in his books. 

It turns out we had a grand total of three topics all discussing Sherlock's sexuality...so I have now merged them into one.

Ok, so here's my headcanon:

I love Johnlock, but for me that was never about the sex first and foremost. It was about that special one, the connection, the closeness, the friendship. Everything comes in it's own time in it's own natural pace.

Irene was a bit "forced" because of Irene's use of sexuality as her weapon, it was something Sherlock wasn't prepared for. But I feel an uneasiness and a loss-for-words that happens a few time with Sherlock when Irene is being her sexual self:

- He completely loses his train of thought and disguise when she comes in naked
- He is silent for several seconds after her "I will have you beg for mercy twice"-comment
- He seems insecure a few seconds when he is alone with Irene and he thinks John is still there (and his comment about "It's not the end of the world, it's just Mrs Hudson" isn't exactly Casanova style).

So, from Molly we know that he can easily brush past and ignore an infautation if he doesn't feel the same without a shred of insecurity. He can even use it to his own advantage when he wants to, playing on his charm to get what he wants.

But compare his secure use of own charm towards Molly with his silence and insecurity towards Irene. He is at loss for words, silent and insecure more than once (see my list above). If he wasn't attracted to women at all, he would care as little about Irene's advances as he did for Molly's.

That is why I believe that he was sexually affected by Irene, probably against his own wishes. I believe he didn't know how to handle her forwardness, and he was too affected to be his aloof self. 

Last edited by Vhanja (March 31, 2015 10:10 pm)

I think there did used to be some disapproval of sex - I remember reading an old book that warned against masturbation and saw it as physically and mentally debilitating.   And there was the old Christian idea that marriage was a means of avoiding sinning by providing an outlet for desire - but the ideal was the to have the self-control to avoid that desire altogether.   So the idea was there (and I don't think ACD is supporting it - but perhaps Sherlock's abstinence made more sense in those times). 

ACD doesn't talk about sex directly, but the passage in A Scandal in Bohemia does seem to be about sexual/romantic love.   After all, Sherlock has no qualms about feeling love within a friendship (and publicly declares it in TSOT). 

I think that when Sherlock sees Irene naked he's put off guard because she IS wearing a disguise and is playing him at his own game.   I think the falls for the cleverness of it.   (Although, I have to say, I find it hard to believe that he couldn't read anything from her when she was naked.   Nothing at all?  He gets quite a few deductions on Mary who is also "in disguise", including an appendix scar!).   He tried to attract her attention away from John.   And John notices it when he makes the comment about baby names.   I actually see a lot of chemistry in the "Sherlocked" scene - Sherlock isn't as cool as he's trying to be. 

But I think he does manage to keep some control, and I'm not sure that he would have had sex with Irene, knowing that it would put him at a disadvantage (even though I know Benedict says different!).  


 

SusiGo wrote:

But we all know how Mr Darcy's story ended. 

Indeed! Wedding with his loving one, was it?
 

Liberty wrote:

I think there did used to be some disapproval of sex - I remember reading an old book that warned against masturbation and saw it as physically and mentally debilitating.   And there was the old Christian idea that marriage was a means of avoiding sinning by providing an outlet for desire - but the ideal was the to have the self-control to avoid that desire altogether.   So the idea was there (and I don't think ACD is supporting it - but perhaps Sherlock's abstinence made more sense in those times).
 

I´m in no way expert on Victorian Era, but if I remember correctly, only young women from "good, respectable" families were expected to be chaste, because it was believed it is improper for them to have sexual urges. Men, on the other hand, were encouraged to sleep around as much as possible - they were supposed to get it "out of their system" before they settle down and start their own families.

Anyway, what I wanted to point out is the fact that Sherlock was hardly openly commenting his sex life in canon stories. That would be very outrageous at that time (I remember that even the use of the word "bloody" in GB Shaw´s Pygmalion caused a scandal in later, Edwardian times - the open words about sex would be considered much more scandalous and obscene).

Plus, in the stories, Sherlock often comments that he also abstains from food and sleep - but we know that he still sleeps and eats sometimes, don´t we?
 

The book that I read that said masturbation would cause physical and mental problems was actually aimed at men! 

There's a nice summary here .. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/sex-and-sexuality-19th-century/

In line with the physiological idea of the body as a closed system of energy, male sexual 'expenditure' and especially 'excess' (spermatorrhea) were said to cause enfeeblement. Thus it was seriously held, for example, that sexual appetite was incompatible with mental distinction and that procreation impaired artistic genius. Men were vigorously counselled to conserve vital health by avoiding fornication, masturbation and nocturnal emissions (for which a variety of devices were invented) and by rationing sex within marriage.

That does seem to make Sherlock's view seem more in keeping with Victorian times than ours.  (I know ACD isn't mentioning sex directly, but again that was in keeping with the time).  I suppose you could take that Sherlock was having sex with people, but just avoiding love and that would still be compatible with what's in the books - that's true.   But I kind of like the idea of him avoiding the whole thing, repressing it.  And as per that quote above, I think it's in keeping with the thinking of the time - even if it doesn't fit well at all with the thinking of our time. 
 

No, but I think the above attitude (that sex is physically and mentally deblitating) has died out in the UK*, whereas porn and erotica certainly hasn't!

(*Edit: well, maybe not completely.  I've heard of sportspeople being advised to avoid sex before major sporting events).

Last edited by Liberty (April 1, 2015 6:56 pm)

Well, the Austrian writer Stephan Zweig, a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes, has written a thourough description of sexual mores prevalent in that era in his book "The World of Yesterday", in chapter called "Eros Matutinus" (Early Eros/Eros of Morning). You can read it in English on Google Books:

https://books.google.sk/books?id=4f-B09t2lngC&pg=PT33&lpg=PT33&dq=stefan+zweig+eros+matutinus&source=bl&ots=ML0KiBx2yL&sig=OiA0MiDd-vfDrdgg-eaOBUhBvjk&hl=sk&sa=X&ei=aFAcVc-tGcrdUcbug6gJ&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=stefan%20zweig%20eros%20matutinus&f=false

or, for the German speakers, the text in original language is also available:

http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/die-welt-von-gestern-6858/5

He describes Central Europe, but I doubt London was so different at that time. And I must say, "ascetic" is the last word I would use for people living in that age. 

NatureNoHumansNo wrote:

 We walk into that one all the time,” Moffat tells EW. “It’s a funny thing when a character for over 100 years has been saying, ‘I don’t do that at all.’ He’s been saying it over 100 years! He’s not interested in [sex]. He’s willfully staying away from that to keep his brain pure—a Victorian belief, that. But everyone wants to believe he’s gay. He’s not gay. He’s not straight. And Doctor Watson is very clear that he prefers women. People want to fantasize about it. It’s fine. But it’s not in the show.

 

This reminds me that I haven't quoted the list with Moffat lies for a long time. I shall go and search for it.