Note: Before you label me as a ‘butthurt LGBTQ fan’ (as if such a thing even exists), I’m straight. Because apparently that makes my opinion valid now.
What is queerbaiting?
There’s a pretty wide definition, actually, but the one that’s most relevant here is: it’s when you make very heavy references to queer relationships or even queer characters in your shows, but then you never follow through on these references. It’s done to increase viewership and draw LGBTQ fans in (because of the promise of positive representation). So basically, it’s a marketing technique, but a harmful one.
Why is queerbaiting harmful?
Think of it this way. You’re gay/bi/a lesbian, and people around you aren’t very accepting or are plain homophobic. You see these two men on TV, and you start thinking…wait, it looks like they’re in love. You go online and realize that you’re not the only one reading the show in this way – there are literally thousands of other people interpreting it the same way. So you tell everyone around you, look at these two men. They’re gay and in love, and this is a popular TV show, and it means that my sexuality and my feelings are valid, and there’s nothing wrong with how I feel. Everyone laughs at you and says “Nope, they aren’t in love. You’re delusional.”
You think, okay, let them laugh. When this becomes cannon, they’ll know. The queer subtext is all there, and the writers wouldn’t dare not follow through on it, right? But sadly, the queer subtext remains just that: subtext. And suddenly all the homophobes around you stand validated.
But there’s no gay subtext in BBC Sherlock. It’s just a wishful ship.
Wrong. I’m not saying that everyone has to ship Johnlock, but no matter what you ship, you can’t deny the gay subtext in this show. People have written thousands of words worth of meta about it – and it all makes perfect sense. (I believe @inevitably-johnlocked has a master list – or she can link you to one). There are videos decoding all the gay subtext – let’s take the example of TJLC Explained – 48 videos, and they add up to a total time of 37 hours, 49 minutes and 41 seconds – each one decoding a different aspect of the gay subtext in BBC Sherlock. Apart from the TJLC Explained series, there are a lot of other videos doing the same thing. Sure, a small number of such videos and meta are a little far-fetched, but the majority of them are well-referenced, well-written, and properly decode the various literary tropes used by BBC Sherlock. (Like, seriously, kudos to this fandom for being the absolute best meta-writers I have ever seen. You could turn half of these metas in as proper college essays.)
But the writers and BBC have said that there is no gay subtext.
The problem isn’t even so much with Johnlock not becoming cannon – it’s with the way Mofftiss and BBC have responded to being called out for their bullshit. Yes, they did a complete 180 around the time of season 4, saying “that is not the story we want to tell” and “it has never been implied that John and Sherlock are in love”. When so many people, literally thousands, are reading your show the exact same way, it’s because you put the subtext in there. Saying anything else is an insult to our intelligence – and again, it’s blatant queerbaiting and feeding heteronormativity and straight culture.
*yawn* Heteronormativity and straight culture are myths.
In His Last Vow, if Sherlock had come back to life for Molly or Irene Adler, everyone would insist that he’s in love with them. There would be no question about it. He came back to life for John, but him and John are eternal bros, right?
That, my friend, is heteronormativity right there.
Basically, you’re bitter that your ship didn’t become canon.
LOL. Read above^ you think anyone would put in this much effort just because ‘their ship didn’t become canon’? The Johnlock community is literally comprised of people of all ages, sexualities, nationalities, and genders. So honestly, pegging us as ‘horny teenage fangirls’ – bit ridiculous. We aren’t waving flags and going around yelling “It’s gay because they looked at each other!”, we’re actually ANALYZING and DECODING the show. Before you label us, go read some meta, then tell us we’re still delusional for believing Johnlock could be real.
Besides, I don’t see such an uproar happening about hetero ships. You know why? Because they have representation, whereas LGBTQ representation in media is still severely lacking.
But artists have the right to do what they want with their art.
Of course they do, but if my art offended an entire sect of society, I think I’d at least apologize, instead of blatantly denying everything and insulting the people who called me out for my bullshit.
Youtube’s new restricted mode takes away half of the official Sherlock youtube content. You know, the restricted mode that filters out LBGT content? Yeah, well, if Sherlock wasn’t intended to be gay, then why is youtube flagging them at all?
The problem with queerbaiting is not just that it’s wrong to bait LGBT people into watching your show so you make more money. It’s much, much worse than that.
When you put gay subtext into a movie but especially a tv show that goes on for years there will be LGBT people who insist that character A is gay or that characters B and C are in love. These LGBT people, full of hope and enthusiasm, will tell their family and friends and co-workers about these characters and their relationships and what they expect to happen. Most of us did that. We told others what we thought was going to happen to John and Sherlock, how they were in love, how they were in the closet, how they would be free after 130 years. And how many of our friends and and family and co-workers reacted skeptically or even negatively? Most of them, in some cases. Certainly too many.
By baiting and teasing a possible gay relationship again and again and then not following through, the writers not only didn’t represent LGBT people, they actively told all the people who didn’t believe us THAT THEY WERE RIGHT. They were right to think that John and Sherlock are just friends. They were right to think that representation isn’t important. They were right to think that friendship is purer than a romantic relationship. They were right to think that gay relationships shouldn’t be on tv anyway.
Queerbaiting makes thousands of homophobes feel validated.
I heard from people who’s own homophobic, adult family members openly mocked them for being stupid after this, so… Anything that subjects queer people (especially queer kids who maybe don’t have the power to leave less than ideal or even dangerous situations) to this kind of abuse is not okay with me.
If you’re not going to go there with two characters, then don’t load your series with common queer coding and romantic tropes, don’t direct your actors, and choose takes that further perpetuates the idea that the show we are watching is a romance. You can’t do that, especially on a show that has long hiatuses, and a very committed fan base, and not expect your audience to pick up on that, and form certain assumptions and expectations.
Also, anyone out there who is laughing at hurting queer people right now, who is victim blaming and saying it is their fault for seeing what was there and expecting and hoping for representation, while simultaneously defending these writers as blameless needs to check themselves.
Queerbaiting validates homophobes has got to be our rallying cry for representation. while LGBT ppl deserve to see ourselves reflected in mainstream fictional media, it’s equally as important for non-LGBT ppl to see!
esp in places where folks might not actually know any LGBT ppl- media is the only chance they have to understand us. it’s why representation matters. we deserve more than only villains being queer-coded. we deserve more than to only be the butt of jokes. we deserve to be shown as the humans we are.
@racheltalalay I wish the creators would listen to this and give some answers or explain themselves as well as you do about your role in T6T…
We don’t deserve being blocked by Mark in Twitter just for asking questions, being blocked by @SherlockedTheEvent in Twitter just for criticising, we didn’t deserve the BBC denial as reply to complaints which was totally uncalled for.
They’re smart enough to understand and expect our reaction, but they won’t ever acknowledge it because they know they failed and it’s wrong.
I’m hashing out an idea I had this morning on my way to work:
So, at the moment, the showrunners remain largely silent about the backlash that they know is happening and have apparently even anticipated; there’s been no announcement about a fifth series happening or not; there have been winks and hints from Moffat and the Sherlock YouTube channel guy about a fourth episode and plenty of reasons to believe one exists, but nothing concrete has emerged so far, even though the production team is still releasing behind-the-scenes stuff to social media; and we may have an ARG on our hands. We are definitely in a holding pattern, but we have no idea how long this could go on. It is possible that TPTB could be facing the public and talking about their “brilliant” S4 finale before we get anything else.
They are professionals at bullshitting and at keeping secrets, and Moffat and Sue have got the balls to show up at a manga signing, so I’m not convinced that they “have” to reveal something by the time, say, Radio Times Fest rolls around, lest they face hordes of disappointed fans. The disappointed fans (which includes ex-TJLCers, disgruntled casuals like Tammie and Cathy and Susan from the Masterpiece Facebook page, and people like us who think TFP is fake) don’t even want to spend money on the S4 DVD, much less on buying tickets to an event. When it comes to the latter, I think we should.
People in this fandom frequently tell me that I word good, so the idea I had was to put that to some use (apart from writing meta and going off on antis) by compiling a list of trickily worded questions that TJLCers could ask at public Q&A events in an effort to make the showrunners respond with either panicked bullshitting or sincere defensiveness. You know how we always cringe when people start asking questions at public Q&As, and how we all have questions that we wish would get asked, but don’t? Why not create an organized resource so that TJLC questions do get asked? Remember that brilliant “Are we ever going to see Mrs. Turner’s married ones?” question that made them sweat? That’s the idea. Or remember how that one person at Comic Con got that long, eloquent answer out of Moffat about representation of gay characters by asking a question that was basically pointed criticism dressed up as a question? I’m not suggesting that we make Johnlock front and center in our questioning, as that person sort of did, but instead dress up the S4 “backlash” as panel questions. I think it could be useful to have a pre-planned and organized list of community-sourced questions that are not “Why didn’t you make John and Sherlock gay?” or “Is X, Y, or Z going to happen in series 5?” or “What ice cream flavor would series 5 be if it were an ice cream flavor?” but instead “I thought it was interesting how you chose to include A, B, and C in The Final Problem. What went into your decision to write those things into the show in that way? In a previous statement, you said X about them, which differs a lot from what you ultimately chose to do with them.”
I’d create this with, and solicit suggestions, review, and feedback from, trusted and established members of the community – and most importantly, I wouldn’t share it publicly. I’d create a private document away from Tumblr to which I would grant people access once I’d verified that they were legit fandom members with an established fandom presence and with plans to attend Radio Times Fest, or Sherlocked Con, or what have you. That wouldn’t completely prevent the showrunners from being aware of fandom’s criticisms/questions and having prepared responses ready to go, but it would at least protect the element of surprise in terms of the actual questions they’d face. No one would be obligated to ask the questions on the list, but they would be there as a resource for people who really want to ask a question about, for example, obvious visual TAB/TFP parallels in such a way as to make the showrunners aware of what we think/know and require them to either engage with what we think/know or else do some serious Bullshit Improv which could be equally revealing. Previously I would have said “we shouldn’t dig too deep with our panel questions, we don’t want to force them to lie to protect spoilers” but I think in this post-TFP, insane new world, we should apply some fire to their feet about the fakeness of the episode.
Thoughts, positive or negative? Good idea? Bad idea? Is this something people would be interested in? Is there an obvious flaw that I haven’t thought of?
I think this is an excellent idea! However, the questions definitely have to be crafted carefully, I think the act of seeing them have to think of an answer is more telling than the answer itself. So anything that would force them to answer a question that doesn’t necessarily put them in a corner, a “I’m calling you out” kind of question, but more of a “the truthful answer to this is obvious to you but it is also obvious to us that the truth would spoil everything, so have fun trying to make this work,” is an approach that would be very fun.
Agreed! They’d have to be questions that would seem normal to the casual viewer, but are really prompting for answers about something that a casual viewer would not necessarily care/know about. Something backhanded in a way like “I like the ‘Adventure of the Three Garridebs’ reference you put in TFP, what inspired you to feature that story plot more heavily than other canon stories?” Only true TJLCers and Holmes fans would know they fucked it up.
This is my idea exactly. Arm people with questions that don’t come off as “I’m calling you out” questions, but instead sort of trip them up with the details of S4 – all those elephants in the room and unfired rifles hanging on the wall. Enough of the “okaaaay, but is Moriarty REALLY dead?” stuff. I want people asking them serious-sounding questions about the thought processes behind their adaptation of The Adventure of the Three Garridebs and what their inspiration was for turning Sherrinford into an island prison and stuff like that. Don’t attack them, just make them defend their choices (or try to defend them). Watch how they react. Get people asking them hard questions instead of asking them to weigh in on whether John will get a dog.
If we’re right about the show self-Reichenbaching, then it’s time for us to ask hard questions. They joked about calling an episode “Backlash.” Let’s make sure that the portion of the backlash that they get directly confronted with reflects the cleverness and observational skills of this fandom. Even if someone is angry with them about queerbaiting and attributes TFP’s badness to the degree to which they no-homoed the relationship between John and Sherlock, surely it would be more satisfying to ask questions that highlight the show-killing consequences of the apparent queerbaiting than to just have YET ANOTHER round of “look, we said multiple times that we were never going to do that,” etc.
For christ sake if he’s gay, which he is, he’s always been gay. He’s as gay in A Study in Pink as he is in His Last Vow. As if any half-decent writer would go into an adaptation like this unsure of such a thing, let alone a fucking gay one who has not the privilege of taking sexuality for granted in the first place. I can’t be arsed reading Moran’s tripe so I don’t know the context but it looks dodgy as fuck, as with everything any of them have ever said on the matter. One minute they’re just saying he’s not gay, then they’re saying they never discussed his sexuality then they’re saying they have long discussions about his sexual past and Moffat and Benedict be all like “Sherlock is in love with Irene it’s obvious” and then Mark be all like “Sherlock had no romantic interest in Irene whatsoever” and Moffat’s all like ”He finds no women attractive” I mean…they are trolling. When the subject is pried they troll the fuck out of the priers. They’re a bunch of trolls. A bunch of gleeful, lying trolls.
What I find particularly amusing actually is how in gods name people who read him as straight make a single tiny jot of sense out of Molly, Irene and Janine’s character arcs so far in the show, especially if you think any or all of them are a romantic arc. You either think the people making this show are the most heterosexist arseholes alive or you’re just not paying attention [which is fine]. If you think he’s in love with Molly or Irene, how do you make sense of Janine? Not only the way he treats her in the show, but like, her inclusion in the show full stop. When there is the very popular option of Molly already there as the romantic interest and this would have been an A++++++ opportunity to develop that interest, in which case why Janine? If the intention was to build towards eventual romance or even just build tension between Sherlock and Molly it makes literally NO sense from a storytelling perspective or frankly from any [hetero] perspective.
And that’s because none of those three women are involved in the story as romantic interests for Sherlock. All they ever do in the romance area is highlight just how fucking GAY he is.
All they ever do in the romance area is highlight just how fucking GAY he is.
Here is a very, very old post that I’m reblogging. This called out Mofftiss on their nonsense back in S3…
“You either think the people making this show are the most heterosexist arseholes alive or you’re just not paying attention [which is fine]. “
I wish straight people knew how heartbreaking queerbaiting actually is for us. Like, you’re not just teasing a relationship. You’re dangling equal representation in front of our faces, being treated like human beings in front of our faces, with amazing and varied characters whose storylines are more than how straight people kill us (bullying) disease kills us (hiv scare) or we kill ourselves due to the tragedy of our story.
You dangle it and go “am I gonna? Am I gonna? ….Lol no, a show with gay lead characters?! No one would *ever* watch that!” and don’t see why it hurts us.
I don’t want to get involved in the drama but I just want to say that there were So Many Issues with s4 and 99% of them have nothing to do with johnlock, so please don’t reduce the entire argument to that just because you don’t ship it.
People have legitimate, reasonable issues with this series that merit discussion and to throw the “you just wanted them to be together” argument in our faces is to ignore all of that in favour of blind faith in the show.
One big reason why complaints by Johnlockers get reduced to their ship is because in all of their complaints about this season, not one of them is about the treatment of the women on the show. In my opinion, it delegitimizes your argument if you’ll complain about everything from Mycroft’s personality changes to the throwaway use of the Garrideb brothers but don’t mention anything about
Mary being killed for genuinely no reason other than to create tension between Sherlock and John
Not actually showing the grief over her death for anyone other than Sherlock and John (I know at the end of the day this show is about these two men but this was a great opportunity to show them that the world they live in doesn’t actually revolve around them by showing the grief of Molly Hooper or Mrs. Hudson.)
Having Mary, never once, mention her child in those stupid fucking DVDs. Everything about her character post-death was to bring Sherlock and John back to being bffs.
What was the point of having Rosie exist at all? Just to make Mary’s death sadder? John barely spent any time with that child and there wasn’t even the casual explanation of “It’s just too hard to look at her. I keep seeing Mary and remembering that I failed her….” blah blah blah psychology and grief.
Molly. Fucking. Hooper. Has done literally everything in the world for both Sherlock and John. Helped save Sherlock’s life. Has been there for him through multiple relapses where he puts his life (again, of the man she canonically loves) at stake for a game/case/experiment. But she’s always there. For John she’s also become a close enough friend to warrant being a godmother to his daughter, and probably is the one to babysit her the most while John does his brooding. And what is she reduced to? A very painful and humiliating scene that was almost a lot worse. Then utterly dismissive and outright shitty comments by Moffat about the emotional impact that scene had on that character.
There was no bridge between the ILY scene and the end of TFP when she prances into 221B, beaming?????
Mummy Holmes was in like two scenes and less than three lines to express the loss, confusion, anger, heartbreak, and betrayal over what happened with Eurus. It was most definitely not enough.
Two of the three villains this season were women.
No Sally. No Anthea. No Irene.
Just Mary (fridged) Molly (devastated) and Mrs. Hudson (practically a walking joke)
Frankly, if the complaints are longer than three paragraphs and don’t include even a mention about Mary or Molly, I straight up won’t read it. Because I feel like that was a major problem in s4. Not the biggest, by any stretch of the imagination, but they absolutely deserve to be acknowledged amongst the complaints.
I appreciate your point @mydarlingsarah (it won’t let me tag you, sry), but these are things that get discussed and complained about in the Johnlock fandom. These things have to be acknowledged, because this season was so misogynistic and still there are people telling me I should “stop whining about two fictional character not making out on screen”. Of course I’m dissapointed because I have been queerbaited, but what I find far more distressing is the answer of some people to my valid critique. As if we should accept everything TPTB do and support them no matter what just because we are in a fandom. There has to be critique! So I agree with all of your points of the horrible treatment of women in the show except for one: that we Johnlockers would get reduced to our ship because we wouldn’t voice that criticism. Many beside me did. And all too often there are responses we should stop whining. Sometimes remarks that we should accept that Sherl0lly is canon…? And while I accept other ships (I 100% think Sherlock is portrayed as a gay man, but they left it ambiguous, so think what you wanna think) I am shocked by the way a few Sherl0lly shippers ignore the bad treatment of Molly just to see their ship as canon. Don’t get me started on how the Mary’s story arc was reduced to… whatever the hell that was. I have voiced serious complaints about s4 besides the queerbaiting: – The horrible misogyny. My points were mostly about Mary and Molly but your arguments are very good. – The way they portrayed the violent outburst of John towards Sherlock. It was accepted because of Sherlock’s behaviour and never resolved. It showed that you should accept violence if you think you deserve it and that is such a horribly wrong and destructive message. Actually this was shown again by Sherlock forgiving Eurus. You do not have to accept and forgive the violence that was directed towards you to be conaidered “a good man”. It just made me sick. – The fact that they had explicitely queer villains without explicitely queer heros to balance it out. If just the bad people in your story are queer (oh btw, they actually connetcted Eurus’ queerness to rape.. nice touch) the message you send is pretty clear. – The way they portrayed mentall illness. Just what exactly did they want to show through Eurus? I don’t understand her character the slightest… what illness should she have to get mental superpowers? Why would she get imprisoned like a mad women in the victorian era? Sure, show mentally ill people as something dangerous and inhuman, what could possibly go wrong?
And still the only answer the BBC complaints team sent was about queerbaiting. It was terribly disrespectful. And still I see people being smug about this. And still I see people saying that the ones complaining are embarassing. That they’d put shame on fandom.
This is not a problem of Johnlockers not reacting to the misogyny. This is a problem of people reducing the criticism of Johnlockers to their dissapointment of being queerbaited.
john and sherlock wedged between two kissing scenes in the romance bit of that pure drama trailer makes me wanna book a flight to london and idk light trash cans on fie probably
Sherlock Fandom Archive 