This is something that bothers me a lot so I’m just going to rant about it now.
When John meets Sherlock for the first time, he somewhere in his late 30s or early 40s (I dont know his age, sorry). He has spent years in the army, with lots of men. My point? He’s not some teenager or someone in his youth, with little sexual experience when he meets Sherlock. He must have dated women before going to the army. And being surrounded by men, he must’ve known if he was attracted to them or not. In other words, he has spent enough time in the presence of both genders to know what he ‘likes.’
He has control over his emotions, he isn’t the kind of person who’d just say anything that comes to his mind when emotional. Like, when he’s with Ella after the Fall, though overwhelmed by grief, he keeps a tight lid on what he wants to say. Conclusion: He thinks before he speaks, no matter what the circumstances. If he’s about to say something he doesn’t want to, he stops himself immediately no matter how emotional the situation. Its like he’s trained himself to do it.
Whenever anything about his relationship with Sherlock is implied, he’s always either said: “I’m not gay”, “We’re not a couple”, “I’m not his date” and so on and so forth. In TEH, he tells Mrs. Hudson that he’s not gay and that Sherlock wasn’t his boyfriend, after she assumes that John’s getting married to a man. At Battersea, he’s really angry at Irene and yet he only says this when Irene asks if he’s jealous: “We’re not a couple.” And then “Who the hell knows about Sherlock Holmes, but if anyone out there still cares, I’m not actually gay.” (Excuse me if the dialogue isn’t entirely accurate, I’m writing it from memory.)
Now, again, he has already spent years in the army, surrounded by men AND dated women. There is no doubt that he knows what his sexual preferences are. Its impossible to not know if you’re someone like John who’s spent so much time around different kinds of people. Him saying that people have girlfriends AND boyfriends, and then “it’s all fine” clearly says that he knows about all of this stuff.
So he knows that, when he says “I’m not gay”, it’s not the same as “I’m straight.” Never, ever, throughout the show will you see him saying that he’s straight. He knows that if he says that he’s straight, it implies that he only likes women, if he says he’s gay, it means he only likes men. If he says that he’s not gay (doesn’t only like men), and then doesn’t say that he’s straight either (doesn’t only like women), put two and two together and you get a very self-aware, bisexual John Watson, who knows what he likes.
He says he’s not gay when people assume his sexuality. At Battersea, Irene talks about John’s sexuality with such certainty which makes him angry so he says that he isn’t gay and so she shouldn’t assume his feelings towards Sherlock. In TEH, Mrs Hudson thinks that he’s with a man, again assuming John’s sexuality, which makes him angry and he again says that he’s not gay. He doesn’t deny his attraction to Sherlock, not once, he just says he’s not gay so that people will stop assuming his sexuality, which, understandably, would be infuriating.
We all agree that at Angelos, John was trying to flirt with Sherlock and find out about his sexuality. Even Sherlock thought he was flirting. John’s whole body language screams that he’s interested in Sherlock. Again, THAT IS NOT HOW A PERSON WHO ISNT AWARE OF HIS SEXUALITY ACTS. John flirts with Sherlock as if it’s no big deal. So for him, flirting with men, is normal. Which means he is interested in men that way and he knows it. He’s embraced it.
He calls Henry (THoB) a normal looking bloke, which isn’t something many straight men would do. Do I need to even talk about James Sholto? And then John even flirts with one of Magnussen’s men who finds the tyre lever with John: “Doesn’t mean I’m not excited to see you.” (HLV) The makers of the show put all this for some reason. They want to show John interacting with men this way to drive home the point that while he’s not gay, he’s not straight either.
The point of this whole thing is to ask everyone to please stop treating John as Sherlock-sexual, to stop acting like John has had some weird sexual crisis after meeting Sherlock. I’ve read it in so many places and it’s funny sometimes, but then most times it isn’t.
John Watson, while not as intelligent as Sherlock, is very smart and self aware. He knew he was attracted to men before he met Sherlock. Sherlock, though the love of his life, didn’t cause a great sexual awakening in John, nor is he John’s exception. If you think John doesn’t know about his sexual preferences, about what his “I’m not gay” statements and his failure to deny any of his feelings for Sherlock imply then you are giving him much less credit than is due.
Yeah it’s one thing if people wanna explore the idea of John having a sexual awakening from Sherlock in fanfic or something, because it’s fanfic and anything is allowed. But yes I agree - it’s important to remember what we’re actually shown about John. And what we’re shown is a man who is already very much aware that he’s attracted to men, and Sherlock is not just an exception.
mmhmm!