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House M.D. - Asexual couple


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Lady Heartilly

I'm not sure what to say... :unsure: Suggestions, anyone?

I haven't seen the episode, but I love writing letters, so I'll give it a go!

The members of the asexual community were eagerly awaiting this episode with great anticipation. Since we only make up about 1% of the world's population, we have a great deal of difficulty getting our voice heard. Exposure on national television would have been an excellent step in the right direction for us if asexuality had been presented as a legitimate orientation. When the orientation was dismissed as a tumor for one person and a lie for another, we feel that we were betrayed in a very negative light. Since there are so few of us, it is difficult to defend these accusations to the proper channels. Now we are all worried that people will have the wrong idea of us, and we are already very misunderstood as it is. In addition to that, we are worried that asexuals who were not aware of the orientation will now think they are tainted after watching tonight's episode. We would like an opportunity to defend ourselves as legitimate, healthy, honest people, but we do not know how after so many people have already seen this episode and got the wrong idea.

Of course, you may need to send each sentence as a separate tweet, but it should be worth it. :lol: Then again, that is just a suggestion. You don't have to send any of it if you don't want to!

would you mind if I posted this to various forums?

Go right ahead! :) If you don't mind, though, I'd appreciate if you could credit me as "Lady Heartilly from AVEN" or something.

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I understand what the writer is talking about. This is a certain kind of TV show, and constraints have to be followed. At least she tried to establish it first before having it disproved.

ETA: But Faelights is right. She could have left just one? Oh well. At least she took the time to talk to us and explain. Much appreciated, ma'am.

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Queen-Of-Spiders

Here is her explanation to me:

I am trying to communicate with several of the people of the asexual community who were displeased, so forgive me if I repeat myself. I did a lot of research on asexuality for the episode. My original intent was to introduce it and legitimize it, because I was struck by the response most of you experience, which is similar to the prejudice the homosexual community has received. People hear you're asexual and they immediately think, "What's wrong with you, how do I fix you?" I wanted to write against that. Unfortunately, we are a medical mystery show. Time & again, my notes came back that House needed to solve a mystery and not be wrong. So in THIS CASE, with THESE patients, it was a tumor near the pituitary. But I hoped I could (now it seems unsuccessfully) introduce asexuality to the general public and get them asking questions. All they need to do is one google search and they can see for themselves it's a real community of great people. Originally, part of my dialog included thoughts about whether as a species we've grown past sex. Any time we tackle a subject, we risk the possibility of not doing it justice. I apologize that you feel I did you a disservice. It was not my intent. Asexuality is a new topic for me and definitely one I find fascinating. It is a subject I would like to continue to explore here or ..on future shows I write for. I think it speaks to where humans are now and where we are going. I will do my best in the future to do it justice. Thank you for feedback and please share any and all thoughts.

Ok, if anyone uses Twitter, they know how long that took to copy and paste...

If you guys want to know what I wrote to her, let me know.

Thank you very much for posting this.

I am glad to hear her response ; she sounds very respectful and hopefully can explore the topic further in a more positive light. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Either way, I'm so thankful for you and others who managed to speak to her directly and make an impact. I'm glad our voices were heard.

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Here is her explanation to me:

I am trying to communicate with several of the people of the asexual community who were displeased, so forgive me if I repeat myself. I did a lot of research on asexuality for the episode. My original intent was to introduce it and legitimize it, because I was struck by the response most of you experience, which is similar to the prejudice the homosexual community has received. People hear you're asexual and they immediately think, "What's wrong with you, how do I fix you?" I wanted to write against that. Unfortunately, we are a medical mystery show. Time & again, my notes came back that House needed to solve a mystery and not be wrong. So in THIS CASE, with THESE patients, it was a tumor near the pituitary. But I hoped I could (now it seems unsuccessfully) introduce asexuality to the general public and get them asking questions. All they need to do is one google search and they can see for themselves it's a real community of great people. Originally, part of my dialog included thoughts about whether as a species we've grown past sex. Any time we tackle a subject, we risk the possibility of not doing it justice. I apologize that you feel I did you a disservice. It was not my intent. Asexuality is a new topic for me and definitely one I find fascinating. It is a subject I would like to continue to explore here or ..on future shows I write for. I think it speaks to where humans are now and where we are going. I will do my best in the future to do it justice. Thank you for feedback and please share any and all thoughts.

Ok, if anyone uses Twitter, they know how long that took to copy and paste...

If you guys want to know what I wrote to her, let me know.

Thank you very much for posting this.

I am glad to hear her response ; she sounds very respectful and hopefully can explore the topic further in a more positive light. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Either way, I'm so thankful for you and others who managed to speak to her directly and make an impact. I'm glad our voices were heard.

I'm going to re-edit my post to make it easier to follow. Give me about a minute. :)

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Here's her response to me:

I appreciate your frustration. I can only say to you that through my research (Which included long visits to http://asexuality.org), I have my eyes opened to your community & if I did you a disservice here, I will try again in the future because I think your community is one that is growing and says a lot about what it is to be human today (tho historically there have been aces a plenty). Again, I'm sorry to do your community I disservice. I wanted to get a dialog going w/the public about asexuality but there are many masters to please in TV. I am open to any and all comments, suggestions, critiques. (This does remind me a a frustration for a writer for the CW who vented that they could never cast African American characters as criminals because the network was too afraid of offending them. Not a direct corollary, but perhaps speaks to the day when ppl respect asexuality as an orientation enough that we can do a story with the medical condition and it won't discredit it all). Thank you for letting me explain myself/ramble.

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JJButterworth

But honestly, no matter which way it turned out (i.e. if asexuality was portrayed positively or neutrally or negatively), I think we should give feedback about it.

I agree fully on this

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So... it was lupus?

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JJButterworth

So... it was lupus?

I think that you just won the tread there Philip.

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I need an opinion... would this be an offensive tweet to the writer?

Saw the "asexual medical mystery" reason for #House. Why both people in the couple; why couldn't one actually be asexual? =/
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So... it was lupus?

If only. I agree with the whole "it's a medical show" thing, there has to be a medical cause, but like everyone's been mentioning, they had two asexual characters. Did they really have to throw in the lying bit?

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At least the problem isn't convincing her it's a real orientation. The issue is just getting her to make it loud & clear to her viewers that "Asexuality IS real & not unhealthy, it really was just this particular couple in the show that it simply wasn't the case for". I don't know how she'll do that & make it sink in though.

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The Pofessional

So... it was lupus?

Your response makes this whole mess less depressing XD

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So... it was lupus?

If only. I agree with the whole "it's a medical show" thing, there has to be a medical cause, but like everyone's been mentioning, they had two asexual characters. Did they really have to throw in the lying bit?

It's a ~medical drama~. I guess that was the drama. :/

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I need an opinion... would this be an offensive tweet to the writer?

Saw the "asexual medical mystery" reason for #House. Why both people in the couple; why couldn't one actually be asexual? =/

I think it sounds good Fae, not offensive at all.

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Ugh, I'm so glad I saw this before my mom (who doesn't believe in asexuality) saw the episode. I'll have to sneak down and delete it sometime before tomorrow, and then watch it myself online once it's posted. I am angry.

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I'm glad that some of us got to talk to her, and to hear that she visits this site. Everyone wave hello! :lol:

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The Great WTF

I need an opinion... would this be an offensive tweet to the writer?

Saw the "asexual medical mystery" reason for #House. Why both people in the couple; why couldn't one actually be asexual? =/

I think it sounds good Fae, not offensive at all.

Agreed.

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I'm glad that some of us got to talk to her, and to hear that she visits this site. Everyone wave hello! :lol:

Hi~! Want some cake? :cake:

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Take a deep breath and consider...this is the show House that we're talking about here. House is always right and there is always a cynical explanation. How else did you really expect it to end?

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Take a deep breath and consider...this is the show House that we're talking about here. House is always right and there is always a cynical explanation. How else did you really expect it to end?

I did not see the program but I can not say that I am surprised by the outcome of said program. I think that we are looking for validation in the wrong places here. To expect a prime-time show to do anything other then reflect the popular opinion of asexuality is asking alot. Look how homosexuality is and was portrayed by mainstream entertainment programing. I for one place my faith in information and news programing to show the world what asexuality is really is. Not only do they give an accurate view of asexuality but they also place a human face on asexuality, something not even the best fictional portrayal of asexuality can do.

Just give the world time. Remember, we asking the world to except the existence of people that do not want anything do with the most of the world thinks makes people human.

IMO, if we don't fix it now, it won't get any better. But, that's just my opinion.

I just belive that acceptance from the the world at large comes before any accurate protrayal in a show like House.

Hmm. Valid point.

Oh, yeah, totally, I agree. I've never actually watched House before, so I didn't know what to expect, so I didn't have any expectations, though I was hopeful. If that makes sense.

But honestly, no matter which way it turned out (i.e. if asexuality was portrayed positively or neutrally or negatively), I think we should give feedback about it.

:P

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Queen-Of-Spiders

Take a deep breath and consider...this is the show House that we're talking about here. House is always right and there is always a cynical explanation. How else did you really expect it to end?

I think a healthy level of "House cynicism" could have been achieved if only one partner was asexual, but the other was not. That would have both let House be right and maintain asexuality's legitimacy. Instead, the show even had House throw in an offensive jab, that the chaste couple had a "twisted world view," and Wilson basically agreed. I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking, but at least some positive resolution.

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So... it was lupus?

It is official

Phil is psychic

Now we need to figure out the medical reason behind that :unsure:

It's obviously a brain tumour that has advanced to the point where his neurons can sense the ripples sent by the movements of atoms in other neurons across the world and interpret them in a sensible way.

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I didn't have any knowledge of the asexual sidestory prior to watching the episode, so when she said we're asexual, I was delighted. I am glad they included it, if for no other reason that they put the word out there and stated the phrase "it's a valid orientation". Having watched the show since the beginning, I know that the little sidestory usually gets resolved rather abruptly because thats (typically) when House gets his epiphany and arrives at his third and correct diagnosis for the main story. With that in mind, I wasn't truly bothered. It is a shame though, because they really had something!

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Hoping to show my family this episode of House so maybe they'll have more open minds towards it. We watch House all the time and no doubt they'll see this episode. House just lost a viewer :\

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So... it was lupus?

When is it ever Lupus??? LOL

Lupus, always the bridesmaid and never the bride of House's diagnosis!.

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So... it was lupus?

When is it ever Lupus??? LOL

Lupus, always the bridesmaid and never the bride of House's diagnosis!.

There was an episode where it actually was lupus... It was back when I used to watch House regularly, so a couple seasons ago. Something about a magician?

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Holy crap Arca, put that thing in a spoiler. Takes forever to scroll down the page! :lol:

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I think a healthy level of "House cynicism" could have been achieved if only one partner was asexual, but the other was not. That would have both let House be right and maintain asexuality's legitimacy. Instead, the show even had House throw in an offensive jab, that the chaste couple had a "twisted world view," and Wilson basically agreed. I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking, but at least some positive resolution.

Yeah, but take a moment and reflect on how the writer said that she had people to please. She does need a job after all. And she never said who put in the fact that the wife lied. So we don't know who to be disappointed in. Also, take a moment to reflect on who owns the rights to House. FOX. FOX is a network that lies so often and spews so much conservative right wing nonsense that Canada wouldn't let them start a network on their televisions. I'm must more inclined to be mad at FOX than anybody else but that's not really anything new.

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