Here’s what the post says:

Tumblr: America needs to stop being racist and sexist, pay more attention to women and PoC ok

CBS: Hey guys guess what we decided Watson should be played by a Taiwanese, female actress in our version of Sherlock Holmes

Tumblr: NOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CAN’T DO THAT HOW DARE YOU I AM BOYCOTTING YOUR SHOW I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS IS THE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED

Okay.

I’ve seen some valid opinions going around tumblr as to why people aren’t going to watch this show. The problem is, there are multiple issues involved here, and race and gender issues are just two of them.

Many people feel, as the trend tends to be in the media, that Watson has been sexswapped for the purpose of a heteronormative Sherlock/Watson ship.

There are two problems with this. One, for the two characters to be placed in a romantic relationship, does one have to be the opposite sex? And two, placing Sherlock in a romantic relationship (which is also most likely sexual) invalidates the character’s typical place as an asexual icon.

Of course, both of these problems are only problems if the premise of the argument, that Sherlock and Watson end up in a relationship in the show, ends up to be true.

Which brings up the gender issue.

Because unfortunately, female characters in the media are often there as love interests, or because of their relationship to a male character (see: the Bechdel test and the Smurfette Principle).

When the media includes a female character, for the most part, one can correctly assume that she’s there to be a love interest (or a mother). It’s likely that this is why Watson is female in this adaption.

From what I’ve seen, the race issue is a non-issue in people’s decision to not watch this show. People are rejoicing that there is a non-white female character in a lead role on a television show, but at the same time, they are worried about other issues.

I think that if Sherlock was also sexswapped, people would have no problem with it and tumblr would be eagerly awaiting its release.