I’m a multishipper, and I love all the characters in Sherlock, including the women. Which means that I read a metric shit-ton of fanfic, of all ships. And Johnlock is the only pairing that tears down, disparages, and ridicules any of the characters on the show – and all of those characters are women.
When I’m reading a Johnlock fic for the first time and Molly or Mary are introduced, I hold my breath: is she gonna be a prop? A punchline? Is Sherlock going to be disgusted by her sycophantic infatuation? Is John going to despise her to his very core because she’s a murdering bitch? At every mention of her throughout the story, I read with tension because I’m never confident about how she’s going to be treated.
That really sucks.
It sucks even more for readers who want to give Johnlock a try, but who also love the women, and don’t want to read that sort of bullshit in their entertainment. Over the years I’ve seen several posts from people who honestly gave Johnlock a try, only to be repulsed by how viciously the women are portrayed.
Which really sucks, because there are so many amazing Johnlock fics, and series, and writers, who shouldn’t be losing out on readers because of this ugliness. And readers who are missing out on some of the best writing in the fandom because they don’t want to come across it.
So this blog will try to address that. I will be posting recommendations for Femfirmative-Johnlock* fanfics, for anyone who wants to read Johnlock without the misogyny or violence towards women. These are Johnlock fics that are “safe” for those who love the
ladies in Sherlock.
What does it mean to be a Femfirmative-Johnlock Fic?
Johnlock is the primary pairing (duh)
Female characters are present in the narrative in an active way
Female characters have canon or reasonable personalities
(Mary is not Eeeville; Molly is not pathetic and weak)
Female characters serve the story, not work as a prop for the ship
Female characters are not punching bags or objects of derision
Fics will be complete, so no rug-pulls will surprise you. Johnlock is the focus and the goal of these fics, not the women, so don’t expect a lady-heavy story. Female characters might figure heavily in the story, or might have only a few scenes throughout. But no matter how much or little they’re in the story, they’re treated as valid and as worthy as the
men.
This won’t be a hate blog. I won’t post links to ugly fics for shaming or any other reason, I won’t review hate-fics (those are easily identified.) I want to connect readers to fics they want to read, not fics to avoid. I’m considering including warning posts, for WIPs that start off Femfirmative but change course in the writing, or for so-called trojan horse fics, but I’m not fully decided on that yet.
I welcome recommendations from others as well: if you’ve read – or written! – a Femfirmative fic, please send me a link! I’ll read it through and post it if it meets the criteria. I’m happy to rec everything from multi-chapters to drabbles. I love finding new fics and new authors, and the more I have to post, the more everyone gets to read. Feel free to spread the word!
I hope I’m able to connect new readers with some of my absolute favorite fics, and find some new fics myself. Happy reading, everyone!
* – props to @mae-jones for the fantastic blog name! You nailed it, babe!
Someone needs to tell the writers of BBC Sherlock that chemists don’t just leave colourful chemicals in Erlenmeyer flasks and beakers lying all over the lab unattended.
None of these chemicals are volatile?
Nobody cleaned and packed away the glassware before leaving?
Or is Sherlock the one making Kool-Aid everywhere?
Not only that, but Redbeard was in fact the ONLY real character in the entire show.
Every other character in Sherlock existed purely in a dog’s imagination. After his owner spent yet another evening sitting inside reading detective stories, Redbeard dreamed of having a different life where his owner was much more adventurous.
Yes, it all seemed to take a tragic turn at the end, but that was because it was the kind of dream where you wake up and learn a lesson about feeling grateful for what you have. Instead of ceasing to exist in a sudden collision of angst and plot twists, Redbeard actually woke up, got a treat, and then was taken to the dog park where he could play with his friend Eurus the Greek Shepherd while their owners sat on a bench reading. (Eurus’ owner only reads about airplanes. You should see that dog’s dreams.)
This theory, of course, explains why the only other dog we saw Sherlock interact with was pretty pathetic at his job. Sorry, Toby, but Redbeard wasn’t going to invent a true rival in his own dream.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty okay with the revelation that we’ve all spent half a decade obsessing about the imaginings of a very creative pup. Good dog, Redbeard.
No mental leaps here! Mr Blue Skull
changed to it’s glowy-text counterpart because….
Yes, that’s right. Aliens
Mofftiss, Sue, Martin, Arwel and everyone else in the cast and crew were abducted by aliens right before filming started for Season 4. But not Ben, the Aliens thought he was cool.
Arwel Wyn Jones was quick to think of a way to show
the audience that something was wrong before being taken away on the ship. “What better way” he thought, “than to
make a prominent art piece on set change so drastically and glow at intermittent
intervals.”
The aliens were smart to abduct them
before filming, but Arwel was smarter. If you watch the glowing, it spells out
Morse code that says “Pink Planet”
That explains why the text from A Study in Scarlet is superimposed on the new Mr. Blue Skull. And Arwel knew that we fans would understand the 57 connection!
57 texts?
Someone go save TPTB! It’ll only take you 114 years with current technology!
*disclaimer* This post was created for #reichencrack. A day in the Sherlock fandom where anything goes, as long as it
doesn’t make sense.
How it works: A random guest from the
audience pulls a topic from a hat and I have 2 minutes (reading time) or less to
explain *audience shouting* THAT THING THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
Why did they promote the leak?
This makes perfect sense if you think
about it. And use a bit of math.
Only the Sherlock Facebook page AND Sue
Vertue said to NOT seek it out. Those are two negatives. Which, if you take
simple properties of math, equals a positive. Meaning, they DID want die-hard
fans to find the Russian dub before it aired on BBC.
TPTB knew that the episode was wacko
regardless, and they wanted to use the subtext of a Russian Dub to really hit
home. Sort of like: “We know that this episode makes no sense. It’s not
supposed to. Here’s a dub in a language that has nothing do to with the global political
climate at all. Just to make sure you really understand that there’s nothing to
understand here.”
*disclaimer* This post was created for
#reichencrack. A day in the Sherlock fandom where anything goes, as long as it
doesn’t make sense.
Reichencrack day is today and unfortunately I won’t be participating with new stuff this year 😢I was super behind with irl work this week because of my longer than expected vacation AND I started another job as well. But I do have some pretty completely true posts from years past that I will be sharing.
@staff if you show me that Benedict Cumberbatch teapot thing again I’m going to walk down to your headquarters and put pebbles in all your shoes and I will not stop putting them back in every time you take them out until you alleviate my suffering
Bring the silliest Sherlock theories and parody metas you can think of. Theories about any episode or topic are welcome, as long as they don’t make sense.
It’s a fandom tradition in its 7th(!) year, and everyone’s invited to take part.
It is currently April 1st in some parts of the world. You have been invited, and warned. 😘
Sherlock Fandom Archive 