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#1 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 27,807
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'House' episode offends asexuals
“House” gets asexuality wrong
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#2 |
I would save the receptionist.
Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
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Because it's a TV show about pretend medical conditions?
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#3 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 27,807
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If the character had been gay instead, and House found that it was actually a tumor that was causing him to be gay, and his husband/boyfriend was just pretending to be gay, would that be not be offensive?
It's the notion that somewhere inside every asexual or gay person there's really a straight person trying to get out. |
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#4 |
Alumbrado
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,600
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What Loss Leader said.
And the fact is that there are many things people do that aren't considered medical problems... until individuals turn them into one. TV 'dramas' haven't really invested heavily in the upside of things for a while. On another note, since House is currently treating conditions that start with the letter 'A', does that mean the show has been renewed for at least 25 more episodes? |
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#5 |
Chief Solipsistic
Autosycophant Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 13,394
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I would've thought that House himself is asexual. Although perhaps not quite the posterboy for asexuality that they'd be looking for
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#6 |
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,859
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#7 |
Guest
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,221
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The fact is that low or zero libido can have identifiable medical causes, and that if the cause was a tumour then identifying that cause could save that person's life.
Maybe there's nothing medically wrong with some people who identify as asexual, and maybe they're happy that way. It's no skin off my nose if that is the case. However such people make up less than 100% of the zero-libido population. House is a medical drama, so I don't see anything wrong at all with an asexual person on that show having a medical basis for their asexuality. If there were curable medical conditions that caused homosexuality, I'd have no problem with House curing someone's medical condition that was causing their homosexuality. I'm pretty sure that's not how reality works, so I think it's a straw man rather than an equivalent case, but if it did I'd have no problem with House doing a story about it. I'm sure AVEN would like House to do a Very Special Episode all about how asexuality is a valid sexual orientation (just like atheism is a religion and not collecting stamps is a hobby) but that doesn't mean it's wrong for House not to do so. |
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#8 |
Grammaton Cleric
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 7,114
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Sounds like the people at the AVEN really need to get laid.
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#9 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 27,807
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OK, you win.
You hit on something that occurred to me after my last post, which is that the prefix of asexual is the same as the prefix for atheism. Atheism is not a religion, but the absence of a religion, just as not collecting stamps is not a hobby, but the absence of a hobby. So, therefore, asexuality is not a sexual orientation, but the absence of a sexual orientation (Not That There's Anything Wrong With ThatTM). |
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#10 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,714
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I haven't seen it, but here's an exchange from it:
Quote:
Yuck. |
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#11 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 13,987
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House has found medical reasons for religiosity and generosity, too. If there wasn't a medical reason for the couple in this episode to be asexual, it wouldn't have been good for the two main themes of the show: Silly medicine and House is always right even when he initially has no good reason to be so.
Obviously, people can choose to be asexual. Just as obviously, asexuality can be thrust upon them (so to speak). The former might be interesting in, say, a legal drama (perhaps a divorce case?); the latter is what works for a medical show. |
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#12 |
Daydreamer
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 8,044
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I went to the AVAN website and clicked on the "To find out more about asexuality, click here" link. On that page, I found this...
Quote:
I'm not sure what they're complaining about. Unless they expect House to be politically correct. But House is never politically correct. |
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#13 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 13,987
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The problem is that nobody - conservative or liberal - cares one bit about people who choose to be asexual (or are born that way - I don't know the claims or the science), so the organization jumped on this for the chance to whine in public about mistreatment. It's likely to be the first and last time most people will ever hear about them.
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#14 |
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,859
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I am guessing their problem is that House immediately assumed there was a medical reason for this woman (well, her husband) to be asexual even though he had no reason to do so. And that he went out of his way to prove it even though she wasn't his patient (she was Wilson's).
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#15 |
Chief Solipsistic
Autosycophant Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 13,394
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I suspect it's more simply the fact that although they depicted two valid 'causes' of asexuality (ie. medical condition, or 'faking' it), they didn't depict the 'cause' that they'd personally prefer -- a natural condition that is not harmful, and not a sickness. And, as mentioned above, because it gives them a chance for a little publicity for their cause.
Now, what I'd like to see is a show where they have someone who was originally gay, but then becomes straight. House discovers that it's because of some kind of tumor, and after treating the condition, the person goes back to being gay. Not only would it be an interesting twist, but it'd be sure to get the Christian crowd in an uproar over the idea that heterosexuality was a condition that needed to be cured! |
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#16 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,714
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He also called asexuals ugly, gay, lying or sick.
http://www.fox.com/house/houseisms/s.../episode-9.htm |
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#17 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,714
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"The only people who don't want it are either sick, dead, or lying."
Those three things were presented as the only causes there. It's not a case of this person being a liar and this person being sick (and there being other causes for asexuality, excluding death), but of those cases, and death, being presented as the only possible causes. Also they're really ugly and gay too, apparently. |
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#18 |
I would save the receptionist.
Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 28,168
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House cured dwarfism in one episode. But he failed to cure autism.
So I don't know how what kind of position is held by the American Association of Autistic Dwarves. |
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#19 |
Chief Solipsistic
Autosycophant Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 13,394
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And he also assumes that every heterosexual is lying...so I guess that heterosexuals should be offended? If he directed this only towards asexuals, I'd perhaps agree...but he treats pretty much everyone with the same derision, distrust, and dislike. I'm sorry, but this behavior is completely in character for this show. House starts with the presupposition that everyone is lying, that everyone is hiding something, that everyone has some dirty secret they don't want everyone to know...it's hardly like he acted this way because they claimed to be asexual.
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#20 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2006
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#21 |
Penultimate Amazing
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#22 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 6,620
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What does Fox think they're doing? Creating fictional characters that represent actual viewpoints is outrageous if those viewpoints are not politically correct. House is a role model, he's supposed to represent everything that is fair and decent in our society.
Yucky-yuck. Reality is disgusting and crude. I don't watch TV to see such crude views portrayed by fictional characters. I'll be in seclusion in the west wing. |
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#23 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Posts: 27,807
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Actually, apparently there are medical conditions (although not necessarily curable ones at present) that can cause a straight person to turn gay:
Rugby jock says stroke turned him gay
Quote:
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#24 |
Skepticifimisticalationist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Gulf Coast
Posts: 27,989
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As an actual member of AVEN's forums, I've been keeping tabs on the discussion surrounding this episode and can offer some insight. The problem isn't that a person's asexuality was proven to be medically caused; it's the fact that House's statement - people who don't want sex are either gay or lying - is extremely familiar to asexuals as they hear it all the time; it's the second most common reaction to mentioning one's orientation (behind "you just haven't met the right person yet"); asexuals consider it invalidation at best, bigotry at worst. So House using the line and it being proven right is seen as similar to confirming a prejudicial stereotype on a show watched by millions. Considering that so few ever get to hear the advocate's side of the story, it's seen as damaging to asexuality awareness in a way that will be difficult to recover from. |
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#25 |
Misanthrope of the Mountains
Join Date: Mar 2007
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#26 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 13,987
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I admit to total ignorance of any asexuality movement, if one exists as such, but I have to ask: Does anyone need to have awareness of asexuality? Are they victims of prejudice and I just haven't heard about it?
I mean, I can only speak for myself, but if someone identified themselves to me as being asexual, while I might have a few questions about it (including inquiring about their medical status, if I felt comfortable doing so - there are both primary and secondary hormone deficiencies that can be indicative of serious medical problems), at the end of the day I probably wouldn't give it a lot more thought. I don't consider the idea of someone not having sex, or an interest thereof, to be a problem or anything that requires advocacy. It's weirder to me that an asexual would get upset about this TV show than being asexual in the first place. |
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#27 |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 270
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News flash: sarcastic, cynical TV character is sarcastic and cynical about something...
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#28 |
Satan's Helper
Join Date: Oct 2007
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#29 |
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#30 |
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#31 |
Muse
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 899
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I have a friend who identifies as asexual and actually suffered quite a bit of derision from it, mainly in college, he was a generally good looking and likable guy, so got a lot of female attention. When he repeatedly failed to "close the deal" guys would call him faggot, gay, pussy, etc. When he'd 'try' for the sake of peer approval but fail to get hard, then the girls know him as a limp-dick, 'closet-case,' etc.
ETA: In many ways I think it would be worse than homosexuality. Since most people who would discriminate against a homosexual will lump you in with them, you'd get the same derision from that group, but without the support and awareness of the LGBT community. |
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#32 |
Lackey
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Hold on a moment - you mean it isn't a medical lecture? That it is a fictional - well I never....
I do wonder why people get their knickers tied in a twist about such shows, especially since they will often focus in on one small detail they consider wrong or incorrect which is just one minnow swimming alongside the whales in the ocean of wrongness that is every single TV show! |
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#33 |
Lackey
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#34 |
Illuminator
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#35 |
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#36 |
Penultimate Amazing
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#37 |
Muse
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 899
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I'd like to add that I don't think House did anything particularly wrong, though it seems like no one is really arguing the opposite at this point. I can see how it would hit home if you were an asexual and you've had to deal with ******** like House in real life, but that's the nature of media and life in general. I'm sure a prison rape joke could wound me pretty badly if I'd been raped in prison. But being offensive isn't a bad thing, per se.
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#38 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 9,264
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An episode of House offended somebody. Film at 11.
Next up: Liquid water is wet. |
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#39 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 6,681
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Asexuality is NOT a sexual orientation.
That is just an excuse so they can live their sick, twisted lifestyle. |
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#40 |
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