John Watson and Taylor Swift have something in common?

 Some of us can't shake being a Sherlockian, even when the topic at hand is far from Holmes.

Listening to my standard Saturday morning podcast today, I heard the discussion turn to Time's Person of the Year, Taylor Swift, and just went, "It's John Watson" all over again.

It's their sexuality, you see. Both have a large contingent of fans that accept them as gay. Both have public evidence of being in a heterosexual relationship. And both get a measured, "Okay, they're bi," from those of us not invested enough in either side and willing to accept duality.

Governess Mary Morstan and NFL tight end Travis Kelce are characters almost as far apart as two people can be, but they find themselves in the same role: Unlikely love interest standing in the way of fans hopes for their significant other. While Taylor Swift doesn't have a Sherlock Holmes dominating her life, creating a relationship rival for Travis Kelce, there are still qualities she shares with Watson that have put her in this space.

John Watson lets his writings speak for themselves telling their stories. He's made the choices for what stories he records, but still comes off as an everyman in the telling, remaining back just far enough to let the reader imagine they're present for the events happening around him. Taylor Swift seems to do the same, letting her songs tell their stories, not distracting from them by putting any personal distractions out front. 

Have there been any articles in The Baker Street Journal or The Sherlock Holmes Journal, the two traditional pillars of Sherlock Holmes fandom, digging as deeply into John Watson's sexuality as topics like which trains he rode where? Something that goes in without an agenda and examines his reactions to both men and women, his moments of emotion, and definitely goes deeper than dwelling upon "an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents." (How often we forget the "many nations" part of that quote.) I'm very forgetful about what I've read over the years, so I'll need to be reminded if there is such a piece.

While Taylor Swift will one day probably reveal her truths, in a memoir or candid interview, we're definitely not going to see that from John H. Watson anytime soon. Like the chronology of his cases or the extent of his wounds, we will just have to keep posing the questions and working out our own answers.