A massive part of the Sherlock special was literally about women’s struggles

 (Sherlock meta by bassfanimation and thecutteralicia)

bassfanimation:

[...] This was so beautifully done, I am having a hard time actually forming coherent thoughts. I want to write so much but my fingers are just wanting to type animal noises…

The symbolism. Just. All of it together was about women being invisible. 

Molly Hooper appearing as a man has nothing to do with J-lock, it has everything to do with her gender and profession during that era. If she was in fact cross dressing, it means she HAD to do it for fear of repercussions, such as losing her job. If she was not cross dressing, and it was Sherlock seeing her as a man, it means he was effectively ignoring her femininity, denying her that identity. Do you guys even know what that means? Women who do certain jobs being seen as less than feminine? This has zero to do with shipping, good gracious please open your eyes and join in this beautiful conversation.

The Bride herself, she was shrouded, faceless. The congregation of women, covered, faceless. Mrs. Hudson, not being allowed to speak, to be heard. Mary being told to stay out of the way, to go home, ignored. John’s housekeeper being spoken down to, it all pointed in the direction of women being ignored, unseen, undependable, unintelligent.

At the end, when Molly and Sherlock address each other, “Holmes”, and “Hooper”, there was such an acknowledgement and respect there. It was a show of “Here I am, look at me, Sherlock”. And he did. He looked upon her face, her feminine face, her hair, and her dress, and he SAW her. That’s all she wanted. That’s what so many of us want. To be seen, respected, heard, allowed to BE, allowed to DO. Sherlock saw, and he acknowledged his wrongdoing towards her, and Janine, and Mary, and any other women he’s used or ignored.

Sherlock Holmes was held accountable for his poor behavior towards the women in his life. He acknowledged how he was blind to them, cold to their emotions, how he used them. He didn’t deflect blame, or whine, or point a finger, he simply knew he’d done wrong and that it was time to end that behavior. Good God I just can’t clap enough.

Please give this episode the respect it deserves. Can we drop shipping for just a moment and appreciate how important it is that the writers of our favorite show are acknowledging how much we, as women, want to be seen and heard? They’re saying they agree. We should be seen and heard, and treated as equals. I think that’s damn fine.

thecutteralicia:

Something which I really liked in this episode is also something that, from comments, seems to have flown over the head of some of my fellow American feminist Sherlockians. I’ve seen commentary basically taking issue with the suffragettes for being “violent” or “vengeful.” But a crucial part of the history of women’s right in the U.K. are the militant activists of the early 20th century, most notably the Women’s Social and Political Union.

While the early American suffragettes have the popular image of passive and nonviolent resistance, some contemporary leading British suffragettes took the view that nonviolent resistance had failed to provoke a change in the movement (note that the same debate about protest methods would later flare up in the American civil rights movement of the mid-century). Those British suffragettes began a campaign to meet male violence with violence via acts of vandalism, arson and bombings.

The most obvious parallel to Emilia Ricoletti, I thought, was British suffragette Emily WIlding Davison. Emilia’s flashy, publicly staged suicide (with the aid of her underground women’s group) recalled Davison’s publicly staged “suicide,” when she was killed after stepping in front of the king’s horse on the track at the Epsom Derby in 1913. While many people now contend that she was actually just trying to tie a “Votes for Women” banner on the horse and was accidentally hit, at the time the public and media thought Davison had deliberately committed a grand suicide in front of (newly modern) news cameras to sacrifice herself for the cause.