It’s interesting. Also, it’s got such a huge female following. The original [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] stories had a huge female following, which I’d never forgotten, and that’s because the Victorian ladies liked the way Sherlock looked. (Laughs.) So I thought, use this massively exciting, rather handsome man who could see right through your heart and have no interest … of course, he’s going to be a sex god! I think we pitched that character right. I think our female fanbase all believe that they’ll be the one to melt that glacier. They’re all wrong, nothing will melt that glacier.
The Hollywood Reporter Interviews Steven Moffat, 1/1/2014
I’m sorry, the answer you have provided does not compute. Could you mean:
“young women love a thrilling detective show as much as men do”
or
“young women enjoy the (explicitly homoerotic and) incredibly dynamic friendship of a person and his best friend, and how it grows over time”
or
“young women appreciate the visual and mental stimulation of good television programming”
You can also try “young women are not limited exclusively to liking things because they find someone physically appealing,” “young women as a whole do not want to be the one to ‘fix’ an emotionally unavailable sociopathic man, and it is damaging to assume that having those qualities makes someone a ‘sex god’,” or “young women do not imagine themselves with Sherlock, moron, do you even know your fanbase, every square inch of it is covered in Johnlock because women appreciate the interplay between those two characters, not everyone is a goddamned Mary Sue like you, god damn it.”
Please try again.
(via thewolf3)
tbh i think there’s a fair amount of projection going on here. i suspect that steven moffat is actually describing HIS OWN attitude towards female characters, in that his favourite type of female character is one that he’s attracted to. which is why he churns out so many formulaic perky/sexy/feisty ladies for doctor who and sherlock: his one criteria for “appealing female character” is “i think men [like me] would want to bone her”. i mean, he’s literally stated that he only became truly enthusiastic about hiring karen gillan for amy pond when he realised that she was tall and beautiful rather than “dumpy”.
steven moffat assumes that ~all of womankind~ are the same way about male characters as he is about women, so OF COURSE it makes sense that if a male character is popular with female viewers, it must be thanks to a bunch of “attractive” traits that he’s basically just pulled out of his ass to answer interview questions like this. i mean, my god. most “”women”” do not watch sherlock because they think sherlock is a “sex god” who they want to ~tame, they watch it because it’s an entertaining show, the john/sherlock relationship is compelling, and it’s fucking SHERLOCK HOLMES. also, the above commenter is totally right about johnlock. the lack of mary sue fanfic in sherlock fandom speaks for itself. female fans are not projecting themselves into a romance with sherlock — they are interested in THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHERLOCK AND JOHN, be it romantic or platonic.
(via hellotailor)
everything that really needs to be said about this fucking horrific quote has already been said by the people above basically, but oh my GOD
my first reaction was just not to understand how he can possibly go through life interacting with women and not realize that they are you know, people, but that second bit of commentary sheds a new light. maybe it’s more that he just expects women to care about the same things in men that he cares about in women. it’s like he’s projecting his own priorities when it comes to women onto all men, and then assuming that the mirror/equivalent priorities also apply to all women. that’s some next level narcissism, isn’t it?
not only is there no significant portion of the female sherlock fandom focusing on the idea of themselves with sherlock (as pointed out, the almost total lack of sherlock/reader fanfiction is EXPLICIT testament to that), there actually IS something that the majority of the female sherlock fandom is focusing their attention on, which is obviously the elephant in the room here. it’s like moffat WANTED or EXPECTED this to be what enticed and captivated women about his show, and when it turned out to be the gay relationship he created but won’t admit to, he just decided to ignore reality and pretend that his prediction had occurred.
and can we talk about the fact that moffat says this shit as he himself is in the process of holding a narrative blowtorch to the glacier that is sherlock’s heart right in front of our eyes?
(via graceebooks)