the headcanon angel

(Video Source: Jim Moriarty221b. Footage from A Scandal in Belgravia by Steven Moffat.)

Representation of Womyn in BBC One’s Sherlock

Every femayl character in BBC One’s hit series, Sherlock fits into the tropes of “bitch”, “emphasized femayl”, “mother”, and “sex object/love interest”. The main characters of focus in this essay will be Molly Hooper, Mrs Hudson, Sally Donovan, Irene Adler, and Mary Morstan, plus the League of Furies. Their portrayals serve as the show’s representation of womyn for the approximately twelve million viewers of BBC One’s Sherlock. Because characters are incapable of making autonomous decisions, each of these femayl characters will be evaluated based on her portrayal of womyn as depicted by the male writers of Sherlock.

The first femayl character we meet is Molly Hooper, a pathologist in the morgue of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Though she has a college education and a satisfactory job—though she has worked to gain the position she has—though she is a grown, able-bodied, capable womon, her character revolves around the male lead, Sherlock Holmes. The first time we meet her, she asks Holmes out for coffee, and he replies, “Black. Two Sugars. I’ll be upstairs” (Moffat and Gatiss 2010). Although Sherlock’s rejection is crass, it is not until Sherlock comments on Molly’s removal of her lipstick that the androcentric core of the show is revealed:

(Images’ Source: Vladmirsdaughter n.d. Original footage from A Study in Pink by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.)

Keep reading

It’s here! Issue 3 of the Practical Handbook of Bee Culture is now available for download (PDF) and purchase (softcover). 

The theme of this issue is “Experience of Women.” Irene Adler may be considered by Holmes to be “the” woman, but in fact there are a significant number of other interesting and intelligent women in the canon. The articles, poems, art, and fiction in this issue explore some of their experiences, as well as extrapolating to the lives of other contemporary women who might have encountered the Great Detective. We also consider the modern representation of women in Sherlockian adaptations, and how a century of cultural progress and development might have changed them.

The digital version is set up as pay-what-you-want, so you can get it for free (which is completely okay), but if you want to chuck us a few pence for operating costs you can do that easily. A hard copy is available through our on-demand printer.

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Contents and Contributors

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I am so delighted to be a part of this! Flung Over Handlebars really means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy it <3 Looking forward to reading everyone else’s work! <3

Hey so I wrote an essay of sorts on gender changes in adaptations for this edition of the practical handbook!! And I’m really really honored to be included among all these other incredibly talented writers and artists <3 so you should check it out!

@tendergingergirl and @beneathmymindscontrol thought you might be interested!