Sherlock has become a large figurehead in today’s popular culture. It’s not to say that deerstalker wearing man ever lost his position on the grip of the world, but now with many adaptations, television, films and books, he is predominantly in his eye. The super sleuth is back in our hearts, accumulating a very strong and sturdy fanbase that stretches further than anyone could ever see.
And with any fanbase, especially now with the Tumblr masses and abundance of internet, Holmes’ sexuality has come into play. And boy do people have a lot to say over it. But whether or not you want Sherlock to hook up with John, or Irene Adler, reading back on the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, you’ll find that he is, quite frankly, asexual.
To look at Sherlock Holmes now, in his television shows you may think it is ridiculous to consider Holmes as an asexual. Johnny Lee Miller’s version in Elementary recognises his need for sex, despite finding it repellent, and Benedict Cumberbatch toyed with The Woman Irene Adler. In fact, the BBC role has seen the lead fiercely defend his portrayal as asexual while the show writer says he is resisting his urges. And it is wholly wrong to dismiss this sexuality because you want him to conform to the average because it’s “no fun,” Moffat.
And he often quips to Watson about his disinterest or asexuality. For example;
"Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,"”
With Watson and other characters constantly expressing a lack of sexuality, having made his bed with science and experiments.
“Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes, it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge”
The problem now is that people are too busy reading between the lines to see him as homosexual or that he is hetero simply because the writers are seemingly adapting him that way. That’s wrong, to go through the classic novels and short stories and pick out lines is fine but you simply cannot ignore asexuality. Not just in the Sherlock Holmes canon but in life too. A man without desire can exist and does exist.