Thinking and Writing Assignment: Gender Equality in Sherlock and The Abominable Bride

In the latest episode of the hit series, Sherlock, The Abominable Bride, the writers indulge the fans by taking the modern adaptation back to the past.   Later it is revealed that the entire case is actually happening in Sherlock’s mind during a drug overdose.  Thus the episode jumps back and forth from the 1890s to the present.   Besides being a means for entertaining Benedict Cumberbatch fans who want to see him as a classical Sherlock, the juxtaposition between the two time periods present an interesting contrast between cultural ideologies of the two periods.  Specifically, the episode focuses on women’s rights.  Addressing the inequality of the past, and comparing it to the privileges that women enjoy today, it can be argued that the episode professes that today women are treated as equals to men.  However, the truth is that society still has a long ways to go for there to be complete equality among the sexes.

To a certain extent, the episode’s claim that society has accepted women as man’s equal is valid.  After all, it is true that women’s rights have come a long way over the last century.   They have been granted suffrage.  They have entered the professional work force.  In some aspects, they are more respected in home and society.  The episode pinpoints these milestones by showing what conditions were like in the late 19^th century.

In one instance, Sherlock and Watson begin to set out for the case when Mary, Watson’s wife, protests, “And am I just to sit here?”  Watson replies, “Not at all dear.  We will be hungry later.”   In another instance, Watson scolds his maid for being late to serve him breakfast, stating things like, “nobody asked you to be observant,” and “If it wasn’t my wife’s business to deal with the staff, I would talk to you myself.”  These blips of dialogue between the sexes serve well to establish the very strict roles of women in the late eighteen-hundreds.  She was limited to two things – keep house and bear children. Furthermore, the woman would almost never be permitted to speak for herself.  If the husband asked her do something, she was expected to follow with exactness. 

Cut back to the modern day, an exchange between Watson and Mary certifies that conditions are much better.  “I’m taking Mary home.” Watson states.  “You’re what?” Mary replies.  “Mary is taking me home.”  Watson corrects himself.  By juxtaposing old social expectations for women with the modern, it is easy to assume that women have finally received justice.  However, full equality is still not existent, and perhaps in some aspects, women are even less respected.

Another contrast between the modern and the old that the writers use to illustrate their point is that in 1890 women were not allowed to operate in any profession.  When Sherlock and Watson visit the morgue, the same female mortician from the present day episodes, Molly Hooper, is disguised as a man.  Obviously noticing the mortician’s femininity, Watson states, “It is amazing what one has to do to get ahead in a man’s world.”  Are conditions really that much different today?  In today’s world are women treated equally as women, or are they receiving equality because they are acting more like men?  It is true that if a woman pursues a business degree and acquires the position of CEO in some company society may perhaps give her the respect that she deserves.  If that is truly her desire, which often times it is, than the world has moved forward.  But what about the woman who wants to be a full time mom?  Society looks down on such a choice in profession.  It is arguable that it receives no more merit than it did in the 19^th century.  If society is to give the woman full equality, it will not force her to act like a man to achieve it, but it will respect her for her unique differences that make her a powerful contributor to the world.

Another 19^th century injustice that this episode relates is marital abuse.  It is the motivation for the abominable bride to commit murder and it is the cause for the Secret Society for Women’s Rights to unite.  But of course, sexual abuse is still very much prevalent in today’s world.  The writers do not attempt to deny that.  However, they probably do not realize that they are guilty offenders.  Abuse used to only happen in private, but now it is so widespread that it arguably affects every man and woman living in western society.  It happens on the screen, on the side of the road, in books, and magazines – in almost any digital image that includes a woman.  According to Jean Kilbourne, writer of Killing us Softly, “Advertising [and I would add all media] tells women that what’s most important is how they look... However, this flawlessness cannot be achieved.  It’s a look that’s been created through airbrushing, cosmetics, and computer retouching” (https://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/241/studyguide_241.pdf).  With so much focus on unattainable beauty, these images establish a woman as nothing but an object for sexual pleasure.  Even some Sherlock episodes are guilty of sexually objectifying women.  In the episode, A Scandal in Belgravia, Irene Adler appears to Sherlock in her “battledress” – fully nude.  Throughout the episode she uses her sexuality to get what she wants.  In another episode, The Last Vow, Sherlock seduces Janine so that he can penetrate Magnussen's office, helping him with his case.  If media degrades woman to be nothing but sex objects, how can it be considered that women have been granted equality?

For gender equality is to be truly achieved, the world is going to have to do much more than allow woman the right to vote and have professional careers.  It is not enough to simply make them equal under the law.  The entire perception of women in media needs to change.  Moreover society must stop trying to create a singular sex, and respect the unique differences between men and women.