Soyeahso just said the MOST interesting thing to me: “”
This was a helpful line of questioning for me, because I’m finishing up a meta that reads Sherlock as asexual, which has ramifications I’ve not thought through carefully before. For instance, I think celibate Sherlock makes sense with the vicar get-up, but…wait, here’s how I’m trying to say it in the meta: “‘Jim Moriarty sends his love’—to Sherlock, most obviously. The mention of Moriarty’s name seems to start the deductive cascade in him that ends with his incaught breath as he realizes Irene’s secret. Moriarty calls him virgin—but was he tempting Irene with that? Knowing it would bring her in, and down? Maybe Jim doesn’t like anyone near his Sherlock. But he may have made a serious mistake, for ‘virgin’ implies someone whose status is determined by whether or not they have sex, with the assumption being that sex is inevitable. But an asexual—well, he’s outside the economy of erotic desire, free of it, in a way.”
Does that make any sense? Probably not. I have lost the ability to brain. Lil’ help?
“‘Virgin’ implies someone whose status is determined […]. with the assumption being that sex is inevitable. But an asexual […] is outside the economy of erotic desire, free of it, in a way.” Let me say, that is one brilliant observation. Allow me to ramble on a bit:
Why would Moriarty call Sherlock a virgin? What is his goal? Does he have proof? To me, it tastes of contempt, it wants to provocate. Does he want to taunt Sherlock with it? Trigger something rash? Then again, he doesn’t say it to his face, Moriarty says it to Irene. Now, what if he wants to trigger Irene, not Sherlock? What if Moriarty wants Irene (the dominatrix who knows what everyone likes) to want Sherlock, to ‘convert’ this virgin (which she can’t) and become fascinated by him to the point of infatuation?
(I am aware that this view of Irene is problematic, but it does seem in line with the way she is portrayed.)
From the moment Sherlock steps in her house, she is working on him: presenting herself naked, “brainy is the new sexy”, “right here right now in this table twice”, “let’s have dinner”, etc. He is fascinated, but doesn’t budge. Is that asexuality? Celibacy? Something else? I don’t know.
But the moment Irene says “Moriarty sends his love”, it starts indeed a deductive cascade; I think he realises then that Moriarty is trying to seduce him by proxy. And in that moment, he isn’t fascinated by Irene anymore; he butchers her down. Because she is associated with Moriarty. Apparently he can’t allow that.
Oh, *nice*.
Hmmm.
I like that observation about asexuality and virginity. But I think that you’re paying attention to the wrong person.
‘Virginity’ is not about Sherlock. It’s about the people who perceive and interpret Sherlock.
Because you know who cares about virgins? People who want to fuck virgins. Whether Sherlock is asexual or celibate, he pretty clearly doesn’t CARE (he snaps at Mycroft about sex not alarming him, but there’s an excellent chance that that’s just because it’s Mycroft—and also there’s a perfectly good chance that Sherlock is telling the truth; I’m not sure why everybody automatically interprets his defensiveness as meaning that he’s lying). He doesn’t spend any time that we ever see attempting to display his physical masculinity or sexual prowess. He never obsesses over girlfriends or getting laid. And I HIGHLY doubt he has ever spent any time, the way some of us on Tumblr have, analyzing personal and sociological contexts of ‘virginity’ and just how much sex somebody needs to have not had in order to be considered one.
Irene and Moriarty are the ones who are telling us about themselves by labeling Sherlock a ‘virgin.’ ’Brainy’ = ‘Sexy’ is their analogy, not Sherlock’s. Sherlock plays Irene’s game because that’s the gameboard she chose. If she went after him via games of chess, poker, or an attempt at enflaming Sherlock’s parental instincts, do you think Sherlock would have chosen any differently in terms of whether he stepped up and tried to match and beat her at her own game?
Moriarty chose to set her on Sherlock—and we can figure that it was his choice, because Irene called him for help at turning her blackmail material into wealth; HE’S the one who comes up with the plans—because HE thinks Sherlock can be defeated through his shaky, ‘virginal’ understanding of sex.
TL; DR: Sherlock’s actual virginity, or lack thereof, or participation or lack thereof in the economy of sexual desire, has nothing to do with somebody else’s labeling of him as ‘virgin.’ It’s a mistake to conflate Moriarty’s or Irene’s perceptions of him with that of the narrative.
And in terms of asexuality, virginity and asexuality don’t have anything to do with each other. Asexuals are perfectly capable of having sex, and may have good reasons for doing so (possibly including sheer curiosity). They just don’t feel that impulse of physical attraction that makes them say, “I would like to bang that person.”
The REAL reason Sherlock reads as potentially asexual is because he never shows any definite physical attraction toward anyone on the show. We can’t trust how he behaves with Irene, because he’s deliberately engaging with her (and asexuals are also perfectly capable of seduction; you don’t have to ACTUALLY be attracted to somebody to make them believe you are). But what we do definitely see—with John as well as Irene (and perhaps Moriarty)—is an intellectual attraction. He is definitely fascinated with them; he wants to know them, wants to know how they think and what they’re up to, wants them to be focused on him.
And THAT is a hallmark of asexual attraction (which is not confined to asexuals, by the way; have YOU never felt an intellectual attraction to someone, or had a ‘bromance’? Congratulations, you know what asexual attraction feels like!). The definite demonstration of Sherlock feeling that intellectual, emotional attraction, more than once and at varying intensities, along with no definite demonstration of Sherlock feeling physical attraction, makes it very reasonable to read him as asexual.