Ship Zone [Spoilers] Shamy: Season 10

[Stephen Hawking]

6 hours ago, Soopysue said:

I just can't bring myself to watch season 9 ep 1-9

I know what you mean.

I also include Season 8, Episode 24.

[April]

As I've said before the issue is mostly rooted in those terrible meta jokes about Shamy's sexless relationship which could be pretty mean pre-breakup. And it certainly helped to give parts of the audience the weird idea that Amy wants it all the time. But when you're looking at what Amy actually says and does it couldn't be further from what's actually going on.

We've already been over the whole issue with her wanting to be a "proper grown woman™" so I'm not going to repeat that here.

The other side of the coin is how she acts in her relationship with Sheldon and this is where the accusation that she wants sex all the time really baffles me. The most she's ever said to him was that she was hoping for a physical relationship at a time when they didn't even kiss. Whenever she actually made suggestions it was stuff like "romance" or "go for a walk" or "dance with someone who has arms" - truly the demands of a sex addict! (/sarcasm) Even this season the only thing she actually wanted was... snuggling in bed. At the same time she actually turned down any opportunity to have sex outside of birthday celebrations. So when exactly did Amy say she wants oh so much more sex, especially this season? Did I miss an episode where she was begging Sheldon for sex or something??? If it allegedly happens all the time there should be at least a handful of examples.

But as far as I can tell there aren't really any outside the birthday suit joke last year but that's it. What's said and shown to us though is that she likes to snuggle and enjoys the kisses and of course that she finds her boyfriend attractive. Anything beyond those facts is merely an assumption based on a misguided premise, imho.

Edited February 13, 2017 by April

[sarah7]

18 hours ago, mirs1 said:

Seriously? Is Amy the character with the highest libido among the girls? She stayed in a sexless relationship for 5 years, Shamy didn't even kiss for 3 of those 5 years, and when it ended she didn't jump on the first opportunity to make up for the lost time...I don't see her as a person with a high libido, at all. Her behaviors are not the behaviors of a woman with a high libido. She pleases herself and has had two or three of fantasies about her boyfriend (one of which was about just kissing him), seriously I don't count it as wanting sex badly.  Anyway, I blame the writers for that;  those stupid jokes about Amy that can't get some in the past were misleading. As a matter of fact, there weren't so many of those, but for sure they stuck with the audience much more than the reality that Amy did without sex for such a long part of her life.

 

17 hours ago, spidergirl said:

Sorry but I have to disagree about this, as Amy had to show since earlier she doesnt have the higest libido from the three girls. I am not going to list all the reasons why Amy had  not because @mirs1 had just made it and that mirror exactly my thoughts on this. I only would like to add that most of Amy's comments in beginning about sex always seemed imo a way of try to be accepted in a girls friends 's group who were sexually active. Then in her late reactions about some things related with intimacy imo she seemed a bit insecure and more shy than she showed in beginning of the show. And last  but not least if Amy had a big libido , she would not loose her chance with other men while she was broken up with Sheldom and before someone mention she was interrupted by Sheldon when she was with Dave, that vibe there never had vibration for that imo.

If Amy had that libido , knowing  her Sheldon well as she knew, she would not come back dating him.

 

17 hours ago, April said:

I think this is pretty much where your take on the situation completely falls apart. The idea that Amy has the highest libido is ludicrous to me. Amy talks a lot of smack and had a terrible understanding of personal boundaries in her early years - and you're confusing her openness with having a high libido!? Higher than the other girls who regularly have sex and of whom we know at least one also has a vibrator? Those girls?? Yeah, I'm not buying that. I'm also not buying that any woman with a normal sex drive would stay with Sheldon in a relationship that wasn't physical at all for the longest time.

But that's exactly my point!, No sane woman (high or low libido) would have stayed in a relationship like hers for such a long time! Let's leave aside the sex aspect, during a good portion of those years she stayed in a relationship with a man who didn't treat her properly and showed no respect for her, and she was shown just there enduring and enduring blow after blow, why? perhaps just the faint hope that someday he will change? , in reality, just a masochist would have voluntarily accepted such situation, I mean, being in her shoes, would you have accepted being with a man who treats you with disdain, hire people to talk with you so he doesn't have to, can't/doesn't want to give you a minimum of physical affection (a kiss, a hug) and have to be forced/coerced/tricked to spend time with you?, would you recommend your sister/daughter/friend to stay in such relationship? Anyway, she stayed, because this is not reality and she is not a real woman, she is a character, and those who write her decided she was not anymore that strong and quirky girl they originally envisioned, but merely a nagging punching bag for an unnecessarily cruel boyfriend who also did a 180 degrees change in his treatment of her. I suppose that she not only had a super-low libido, but also an unbelievable low self steem.

But that's so 6th, 7th, and 8th seasonish! you would say, now things are quite different, Sheldon has effectively changed (for the power of love) and is much more open to kissing, hugging, intimacy; he doesn't mock her anymore and likes to spend time with her again, as in the begginning of their relationship. So, I guess her sacrifice was worth it (fulfilling that old and dangerous fiction trope that even the most terrible of men will change with the love and patience of a "good woman"). It's okay, I'm not denying or denigrating the good stuff, I'm merely pointing out that there's still unbalance, simply for the fact that one of them is still portrayed as asexual and the other as sexual, and they had not stablished a fair middle ground yet, as simple as that.

I came up with the example of a super-sex-charged schedule before just to point out how terrible it would be for a person like Sheldon to be involved in such situation, with the hope that it will help to make my point. Would you be able to say: "Well, seems like he didn't dislike sex that much after all", or "Come on!, who wouldn't enjoy sex?, everybody loves it!", or "But they enjoy other activities together , maybe that's what makes it up for him, even if he's having much more sex that he maybe would prefer to". Not quite right, uh? Well, that's how I feel about the situation Amy is living right now. Even if her sexual drive is just one iota higher than Sheldon's, the current schedule is still unfair for her, and there's not excuse for that anymore other than the writers' whim, they are still in that once a year thing and no talking about it for the same reason Leonard and Penny didn't move across the hall and Bernardette's pregnancy lasted 10 months, even in none of that made sense and sorry, but I feel that saying "But Amy looks happy and she had never had really that much of a sex drive anyway" is just making up excuses for them.

 

17 hours ago, April said:

Yes, the girl finds her man sexy (and I guess since we're supposed to ignore Jim Parson's muscles part of the joke is the mere idea someone could find Sheldon sexy) but there's nothing wrong with that. And as we've seen this season they freely engage in all sorts of physical amorous activities (save for the holy grail of p-in-v sex, naturally) so I'm sure that her needs are taken care of one way or another.

There's nothing bad about Amy fantasizing about her boyfriend and finding him attractive per se (I've never said that), but, by the way, how many times had we seen Penny or Bernardette having a sexy fantasy about their respective husbands?

As I have been lectured here, Amy is, with difference, the one with the lowest libido among the girls, so I have to wonder why she is the one that is most frequently talking or thinking about sex in one way or another.

Something else, Amy had that fantasy, great, why is she still being portrayed as needing to get satisfaction behind Sheldon's back?, why can't she ask him to put on his conductor attire just for her?, with him knowing and participating of it, as with the HP roleplay, even if it didn't culminate with the "holy grail of p-in-v" as you call it, what's holding her back?, just because it's not her birthday yet?, what kind of nosense is that?

The bolded part, let me see, apart of the make out session that occurred off-screen, the reglamentary birthday-sex and the goodbye kiss before going to the spa, what other sorts of physical amorous activities that undoubtedly have Amy totally satisfied there had been?

See, my own dissatisfaction doesn't have to be with the amount of sex/kisses/etc. Amy could be getting, once again it has much more to be with balance and with the disrespect the writers have to her as a character. With this last thing I know it's quite hard for me to ever get satisfaction, Sheldon is the writer's priority, if not even Leonard and Penny, the other two main protagonists, are getting the proper attention, what can I hope for tertiary character Amy?

Now, regarding balance, same story, however, since they are paying attention to them as a couple (because a half of it is Sheldon, of course), I have the hope they will reach a more or less satisfactory middle ground some day.

Edited February 14, 2017 by sarah7

[Jedichic98]

@sarah7 Are your hands okay? Mine would be pretty sore after typing up that much. JK. I hear you hon, I just don't agree with you. and I'm too tired to go into it. 

I've been trying to write a proper rebuttal for almost an hour, but I'm going to leave it to the professionals, I really should go to bed, and when I'm tired I tend to let pathos take charge and trust me no one wants to see that. It's too easy to lose objectivity when I get emotional. 

Night ya'll. 

[Capt. Hilts]

1 hour ago, sarah7 said:

There's nothing bad about Amy fantasizing about her boyfriend and finding him attractive per se (I've never said that), but, by the way, how many times had we seen Penny or Bernardette having a sexy fantasy about their respective husbands?

It's more funny when a nerd like Amy does it.

[sarah7]

1 hour ago, Jedichic98 said:

@sarah7 Are your hands okay? Mine would be pretty sore after typing up that much. JK. I hear you hon, I just don't agree with you. and I'm too tired to go into it. 

I've been trying to write a proper rebuttal for almost an hour, but I'm going to leave it to the professionals, I really should go to bed, and when I'm tired I tend to let pathos take charge and trust me no one wants to see that. It's too easy to lose objectivity when I get emotional. 

Night ya'll. 

My hands are perfectly okay, thanks for the concern hon.

Let's just agree to disagree.

I'm aware that I have a very unpopular opinion. Most of the time I prefer to hold back my comments and lurk, but everybody need to vent from time to time, I guess.

Whoa!, that was short!

[sdffcx]

4 hours ago, sarah7 said:

With this last thing I know it's quite hard for me to ever get satisfaction, Sheldon is the writer's priority, if not even Leonard and Penny, the other two main protagonists, are getting the proper attention, what can I hope for tertiary character Amy?

I can't agree more...

[spidergirl]

5 hours ago, sarah7 said:

My hands are perfectly okay, thanks for the concern hon.

Let's just agree to disagree.

I'm aware that I have a very unpopular opinion. Most of the time I prefer to hold back my comments and lurk, but everybody need to vent from time to time, I guess.

Whoa!, that was short!

You should not hold back your comments, all opinions are valuable and you write very well as you defend your point of views. Imo what matters here is how the show make who watch it  feel and not if their  opinions are shared by most of who watch it. Hope you can be more around here. 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by spidergirl

[sdffcx]

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

simply for the fact that one of them is still portrayed as asexual and the other as sexual

about the once a year coitus thing, I wanna say sheldon isn't asexual,part of me guess this is wishful thinking,but we know he  has repressed his desires and feelings for a very long long time,which have had a profound effect on his ways of thinking or doing. So if he wanted to have coitus with Amy(regardless spontaneously  or logically), it's understandable that he had to formalize it before doing it. just like the RA. Birthday is a good excuse.So he can do it in a ceremonial way.

Without formalizing it, part of him would stop him to do it because the Klingon stuff or the“emotionless robotic system"  would stuck in the way.but if one asks me,why he could't do it in Valentine's Day,his own birthday or other days ,I would be dumbstruck. sorry , I can‘t explain it. Because sheldon is too busy,and it's a comedy?

and yes, I hold the view  that so far sheldon aren't able to have coitus with Amy spontaneously.so far he didn't act like one having the ability to be spontaneous or to say, inside part of him" the system" have destroyed his ability to be spontaneous. But it's sill possible "the system" is being eaten gradually by the love,the shamy love, altough it would need a very long time..I don't know when  "the eating" started and if it was too late or not.

It's a pity we can't see  very much about Amy's POV on the coitus or their relationship in the show.I don't know my post is understandable or not. sorry if my post is full of bad grammars. thanks：） 

[April]

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

But that's exactly my point!, No sane woman (high or low libido) would have stayed in a relationship like hers for such a long time! Let's leave aside the sex aspect, during a good portion of those years she stayed in a relationship with a man who didn't treat her properly and showed no respect for her, and she was shown just there enduring and enduring blow after blow, why? perhaps just the faint hope that someday he will change? ... Anyway, she stayed, because this is not reality and she is not a real woman, she is a character, and those who write her decided she was not anymore that strong and quirky girl they originally envisioned, but merely a nagging punching bag for an unnecessarily cruel boyfriend who also did a 180 degrees change in his treatment of her. I suppose that she not only had a super-low libido, but also an unbelievable low self steem.

Yes, she actually had a low self esteem which obviously is not something one likes to see in their favourite characters but that's just what it was. Sheldon and Amy are cut from the same cloth and what people often mistake for high self esteem and confidence is merely a mask that falls apart pretty quickly when things don't go as planned. They're very vulnerable people underneath.

And the difference between them is that Amy desperately wanted to catch up with all of those things in life she missed out on which made her put herself in a vulnerable position by jumping into those new friendships and that relationship with Sheldon so eagerly without any hesitation. And both hurt her - it's not just Sheldon. She's been hurt by the girls pretty badly as well. The reason for that is, imho, her inexperience with all sorts of interpersonal relationships and her naiveté in approaching them. Particularly for her relationship she looked for guidance towards Penny who taught her how a real relationship had to be and in those areas that didn't match the ideal she was ridiculed for it.

Meanwhile Sheldon was resisting all of that stuff and hesitant to show his vulnerable side which obviously caused a rift between him and Amy. I'm not making excuses for him here and I've written many essays about why Sheldon was an ass for no good reason, and during the breakup I was one of the few here defending the position that he deserved all of that heartbreak.

Obviously their relationship would have worked so much better if both would have embraced it for what it was with Amy chasing less some sort of ideal romance and Sheldon allowing himself to commit to this emotionally as well. So actually more like what they did post-breakup. But evidently that's not what the writers wanted in S5/6/7/8ish so we got that weird struggle for roughly 3 years and I don't think many shippers here are fans of that.

And yes, Amy isn't a real woman. Keep that in mind cause I'll come back to that thought later.

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

It's okay, I'm not denying or denigrating the good stuff, I'm merely pointing out that there's still unbalance, simply for the fact that one of them is still portrayed as asexual and the other as sexual, and they had not stablished a fair middle ground yet, as simple as that.

Are they though? You keep repeating that without providing any evidence. With this season especially the writers did find some middle ground by doing both: Letting Amy be more reserved by putting coitus off the table and turning down Sheldon's sexual advances, and at the same time let Sheldon be the one who is more flirty and literally suggests a quickie with her in her lab. In all your ramblings did you ever think your premise is the thing that doesn't fit!?

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

I came up with the example of a super-sex-charged schedule before just to point out how terrible it would be for a person like Sheldon to be involved in such situation, with the hope that it will help to make my point. Would you be able to say: "Well, seems like he didn't dislike sex that much after all", or "Come on!, who wouldn't enjoy sex?, everybody loves it!", or "But they enjoy other activities together , maybe that's what makes it up for him, even if he's having much more sex that he maybe would prefer to". Not quite right, uh? Well, that's how I feel about the situation Amy is living right now. Even if her sexual drive is just one iota higher than Sheldon's, the current schedule is still unfair for her, and there's not excuse for that anymore other than the writers' whim, they are still in that once a year thing and no talking about it for the same reason Leonard and Penny didn't move across the hall and Bernardette's pregnancy lasted 10 months, even in none of that made sense and sorry, but I feel that saying "But Amy looks happy and she had never had really that much of a sex drive anyway" is just making up excuses for them.

I was trying to politely ignore that example cause it's 50 Shades of WTF is wrong with you!?? You really think forcing someone into a sexual relationship they don't want, thus effectively revoking their consent which makes it at best problematic and at worst a pretty rape-y scenario, is the same as "fictional character doesn't get as much sex as I'd like even though there's no proof they even want that"!??

Remember the funny detail about Amy not being a real person but a fictional character? How are you attributing these things to her when there's nothing in the episodes that supports this?? Did she express she's unhappy with how things are? Did she express she doesn't want this once-a-year deal anymore? Did she recently come on to Sheldon suggesting that maybe they could do more in their bedroom tonight than just cuddle? Because to my knowledge she didn't and insisting that she secretly is totally not okay with how things go is you projecting god knows what onto her but it's certainly not the character that is written.

And again, if the writers want you to think that something is off we would have more of a S8 situation where Sheldon is evidently very happy with how things go but Amy frequently isn't. Like, I can clearly see the red flags that led to the breakup. But this is not the case here. Sure, there are moments when they have a fight or some other sort of conflict but so far it's nothing serious and (unlike poor Lenny) they work through their issues and have a heartfelt make up scene. If the writers want us to believe that there's some issue with the once a year agreement they would write one in. And maybe they will. But so far it didn't happen.

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

There's nothing bad about Amy fantasizing about her boyfriend and finding him attractive per se (I've never said that), but, by the way, how many times had we seen Penny or Bernardette having a sexy fantasy about their respective husbands?

As I have been lectured here, Amy is, with difference, the one with the lowest libido among the girls, so I have to wonder why she is the one that is most frequently talking or thinking about sex in one way or another.

Is she though?? A lot of the sex talk is happening with the girls who are also if not more so talking about their sexual experiences. I can't really think of many examples where Amy is bringing it up out of the blue. There are actually just as many, if not more scene where Amy is accused of making it all about sex but she then goes on to explain that no, it's not about the sex.

Heck, Penny is far more obsessed about Shamy doing the do than Amy is.

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

Something else, Amy had that fantasy, great, why is she still being portrayed as needing to get satisfaction behind Sheldon's back?, why can't she ask him to put on his conductor attire just for her?, with him knowing and participating of it, as with the HP roleplay, even if it didn't culminate with the "holy grail of p-in-v" as you call it, what's holding her back?, just because it's not her birthday yet?, what kind of nosense is that?

When is she portrayed as needing to get satisfaction behind Sheldon's back? What are you even talking about?? And what do you think the final joke about her getting them faster to their train weekend was about?? She wants to make that fantasy a reality.

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

The bolded part, let me see, apart of the make out session that occurred off-screen, the reglamentary birthday-sex and the goodbye kiss before going to the spa, what other sorts of physical amorous activities that undoubtedly have Amy totally satisfied there had been?

I was talking about PDAs in general. This season alone there has been a ridiculous amount of hand holding, hugging, kissing, snuggling in bed, making out, flirting, and all sorts of touching - the suggestion clearly being that this is not a rare occurrence anymore. On screen they have been more physical and touchy feely than the other couples on the show.

6 hours ago, sarah7 said:

With this last thing I know it's quite hard for me to ever get satisfaction, Sheldon is the writer's priority, if not even Leonard and Penny, the other two main protagonists, are getting the proper attention, what can I hope for tertiary character Amy?

That is probably the only thing I can agree with cause I would love to get some more stories focussing on Amy - and the writers don't really have an excuse to not do some of those cause they still could involve Sheldon.

[joyceraye]

This time last year the discussion point orbitting the Shamy sex-life was 'do they or don't they?' aka Schrodinger's coitus. ( I used to look at how straight or curly Amy's hair was and wonder if it was a clue.  ) Now we have been given an answer, the debate has shifted to 'why ?' and whether one of them wants or doesn't want more. If future generations study this series for Media Studies Early 21st Century Entertainment Option exams and look at our responses, I'd like to know what they'll think.  

I can't help  wondering whether, if the moral behaviour acceptibility pendulum has swung back by then, they'll be outraged, or if it's continued in its present direction, they'll be puzzled as to why anybody cared.

FWIW, future students, it strikes me that Amy had her own libido under control, regardless of its strength or weakness. When she took Sheldon back with no promises or concessions, it was because, so far as we were shown, her life was more interesting  with him than anyone else. She valued intimacy and even referred to coitus itself as being 'intimate'. I'm not the first to point out that when she was prepared to go back into a relationship with Sheldon knowing that ever having the possibility of a sex life, or one beyond that required for procreation, it was a gamble. To me that says she thought the available intellectual intimacy and finding the same things fun was worth the risk. There's a  lot of loneliness in being the only fish in the pool who is highly intelligent and/or has an interest in certain things. Ask any parent or teacher of a genius child.  Finding  a friend is hard enough, let alone a life's mate. A compatible partner with whom to enjoy 60 years' worth of whatever waking hours are not taken up with romping around on a mattress is a marvellous prize for some of them and if the prize is rare enough, they may well be prepared to accept a reduced version - or even absence - of the romping bit.

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by joyceraye
inserting missing words

[April]

1 hour ago, sdffcx said:

and yes, I hold the view  that so far sheldon aren't able to have coitus with Amy spontaneously.

I think that's pretty much disproved by him proposing to do it right then an there in the lab... unless you think that would have ended pretty awkwardly with him not getting it up had Amy said yes. I mean... you can't get more spontaneous than "let's do it right now and right here!" and he seemed pretty confident he could pull that off. lol

[joyceraye]

38 minutes ago, April said:

I think that's pretty much disproved by him proposing to do it right then an there in the lab... unless you think that would have ended pretty awkwardly with him not getting it up had Amy said yes. I mean... you can't get more spontaneous than "let's do it right now and right here!" and he seemed pretty confident he could pull that off. lol

Equally it would fit the premise of needing a purpose or schedule. Spontaneity, for science, good timing for reproductive purposes,no prior discussion, not thinking the matter of anyone else's convenience through - they all do for Sheldon here. 

[wowbagger]

@sarah7, I suspect there's a bit of a syllogism in the reasoning there. I don't disagree with many of your basic propositions, but I can't follow you to some of the inferences you draw. Regarding Shamy and coitus specifically:

 

Proposition 1: The showrunners frequently tank Amy's characterisation in service of whatever story they want to tell for Sheldon. Here I agree*.

Proposition 2: No woman with a 'normal' libido would stick around for a relationship with Sheldon, particularly in the absence of the shared interests and intellectual companionship of their early days. Here again I agree.

Inference: Therefore, Amy is a woman with a normal libido, whose desires are being suppressed or at least handwaved by the showrunners in service of Sheldon. And this is where I must respectfully disagree. I don't think you can draw this conclusion from propositions 1 and 2.

This is like saying 'all dogs are animals, some dogs have spots, therefore all animals have spots'. The first and second clauses are true, but you need a lot more information before you can make the claim in the third clause.

Specifically, I think we need to support the claim that a substantial part of Amy's satisfaction in her relationship with Sheldon stems from sexual intimacy, and that she needs more than she gets. And I would argue that neither seems to be true.

1) Amy may fancy Sheldon - and it is true that of all the women on the show, Amy is the one whose desire has been articulated more often than the others. Unfortunately, at least a little part of that I suspect came from mocking the frumpy girl, or more charitably what the showrunners consider the sheer absurdity of anyone fancying Sheldon (as @April points out).

2) Amy's sexual dissatisfaction tended to be bundled together with a number of other issues, mostly centring around Sheldon's general selfishness/rudeness** and a lack of the fun the pair used to have. Now, it makes perfect sense to me at least that, once the showrunners started writing the pair as more in sync intellectually, the issue of sexual desire both resolved itself and became less salient. But in general the frustration about sex and romance also tended to occur in seasons when a lot of other stuff was wrong with the relationship.

3) All of which is to say: would Amy like more sex, maybe? She might. Do I think that sex is particularly important to her? I don't actually think so. And especially not if the relationship is fun in other ways.

 

*I also think the showrunners frequently tank Sheldon's own characterisation in service of whatever story they want to tell, but that is a separate issue.

**You don't need me to say that I think Amy's own unrealistic expectations, passive aggression, immaturity and poor communication contribute to the issue. But I'll say it anyway.

Edited February 14, 2017 by wowbagger

[April]

6 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

Equally it would fit the premise of needing a purpose or schedule. Spontaneity, for science, good timing for reproductive purposes,no prior discussion, not thinking the matter of anyone else's convenience through - they all do for Sheldon here. 

I was specifically addressing the spontaneity issue though which has been described in the comment I was quoting that Sheldon wouldn't be able to do.

The idea that Sheldon needs a reason for coitus is a different issue for me. Personally, I actually think that the "let's make a baby!" shtick was a somewhat subconscious pretence cause -as it has been established- science with Amy makes him all randy. Looking at the nature of their experiment it's no wonder he got his wires crossed a bit. The crux for me is that if it were solely about procreating he might have suggested the IVF method instead of suggesting to do the dance with no pants immediately - cause that points more towards a certain physical need.

As for the question of "Why doesn't he do it on any other day with an equally flimsy excuse though?" the answer is clearly: Because the writers don't want to tell that story just yet. For some weirdass reason they can't bring themselves to jump over that hurdle just yet so the birthday excuse has to do it for now to grant the characters some release.

From an in-universe perspective you could argue that now that Shamy are living together and sharing a bed they finally entered that phase where they can figure out their physical needs and what turns them on and what doesn't etc. We've seen a bit of that on screen with their flirting and all that. But as @Soopysue explained so nicely the other day: The goal of these things isn't always to get to the finish line (or rather what society deems as such) as fast as you can, especially not as they were still getting used to living with each other.

Idk how long that kind of phase will still last - they are surely looking quite comfortable with each other to me now. So if the writers want to drop that long hoped for "Shamy decide to change the once a year deal" story then by all means - I'd be more than happy! But things take more time in fiction...

[sdffcx]

1 hour ago, April said:

I think that's pretty much disproved by him proposing to do it right then an there in the lab... unless you think that would have ended pretty awkwardly with him not getting it up had Amy said yes. I mean... you can't get more spontaneous than "let's do it right now and right here!" and he seemed pretty confident he could pull that off. lol

at that case, he is preparing do it for procreate, not for sex itself. yes,he wanted to do it immidiately.but the motivation is not that spontaneous

[joyceraye]

20 minutes ago, April said:

Personally, I actually think that the "let's make a baby!" shtick was a somewhat subconscious pretence cause -as it has been established- science with Amy makes him all randy. Looking at the nature of their experiment it's no wonder he got his wires crossed a bit.

Oh Yes ! I think you're right. It makes the most sense of all. I hadn't seen that.

 

[April]

27 minutes ago, wowbagger said:

or more charitably what the showrunners consider the sheer absurdity of anyone fancying Sheldon (as @April points out).

It certainly is a running gag. Like there have been plenty of jokes over the years that whenever Amy would compliment Sheldon it always had a "this is weird" undertone, like when she was praising his looks in the Weekend Vortex and Penny was just snarking like "yeah, sick is the new sexy" or something. Nobody understands why Amy is attracted to that guy. This surely may have worked better at times when Jim was still looking like he got daily calls from his worried mother asking him "But are you sure you're eating enough, son?"

Now that he is working out the joke has turned a bit into "Amy fantasizes about Sheldon being unrealistically hunky" cause we only see him like that in made-up scenarios and again the joke being here this guy can't possibly be sexy for real. I mean, we all see that Sheldon's shirts have gotten a bit tighter around the chest and arms but I would be surprised if the writers ever let Jim show off his work in a scene that plays out for real or even let Amy acknowledge that her fantasies aren't actually that romanticised with a cheeky "I know what's under those shirts" during girls night. Not that I would complain, mind you.

[Soopysue]

I've nothing more really to add, other than@april I think you are on fire today & have agreed with all you've posted !
Btw - LOVE that gif of Sheldon lifting his eyebrows in the lab, that eyebrow lift get me everytime !!!! -sexy !
Table read tomorrow guys and then hopefully the following week we might get some info from the taping - which I believe is Wednesday the 22nd, instead of the Tuesday !
Roll on some more Shamy goodness - fingers crossed !



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[amethyst]

The question I keep asking myself is " why are the writers still sticking to this once a year sex on Amy's birthday " scenario? Because, honestly, I just don't get it.

After 9x11 I, like many others, thought the writers wanted to see how the viewers reacted. Fine, I get that, but after it was so well received why stick to " once a year? ".

Then I thought maybe it's the whole " Sheldon's still Sheldon " deal and, as nothing much changed even after 9x11 I could even by that. But....

Here we are in season 10 and so much has changed that I don't think" Sheldon's still Sheldon " can even apply anymore. The writers are happy to have him move out of 10a and live with Amy, share a bed with her, show him turned on by her, kiss her in front of Lenny, tell her he loves her and that thinking of her makes his brain light up, seduce her and suggest having sex in her lab!!

So I'm back to my original question....why are the writers sticking to once a year Shamy sex??

Edited February 14, 2017 by amethyst

[April]

3 minutes ago, amethyst said:

The question I keep asking myself is " why are the writers still sticking to this once a year sex on Amy's birthday " scenario? Because, honestly, I just don't get it.

After 9x11 I, like many others, thought the writers wanted to see how the viewers reacted. Fine, I get that, but after it was so well recieved why stick to " once a year? ".

Then I thought maybe it's the whole " Sheldon's still Sheldon " deal and, as nothing much changed even after 9x11 I could even by that. But....

Here we are in season 10 and so much has changed that I don't think" Sheldon's still Sheldon " can even apply anymore. The writers are happy to have him move out of 10a and live with Amy, share a bed with her, show him turned on by her, kiss her in front of Lenny, tell her he loves her and that thinking of her makes his brain light up, seduce her and suggest having sex in her lab!!

So I'm back to my original question....why are the writers sticking to once a year Shamy sex??

The only answer I can come up with is that they probably found that once a year joke so much more hilarious than any of us dared to imagine so they'll milk it for all its worth. UGH

The silver lining I can see though is:

1) I think they basically already solved the dilemma of "How do we deal with Shamy sex?" in terms of them actually wanting to get it on. We've seen plenty of scenarios this season that got their motor running - from science experiments to intellectual spats to nerdy cosplay. It's all adorably quirky and fits the couple very well. So if the writers finally want to go with a story that lets go of the once a year restriction then there's a well of ideas ready for them to use. Like, they don't need to justify much that they can get all randy over some weird debate only Shamy understand because it's already established that this is their thing.

2) With this week's episode I feel they are probably also running out of stories to use this as a punchline for. Now apparently everybody and their mother knows and Sheldon told them off. So where could they go from there with this joke?? Ignore it until 11x11?? Seems a bit unlikely since Shamy's physical adventures have been such a focus this season and continued to be after 10x11... Would they just stop now? Hmm... Admittedly a bit harder to project because you never know with those writers and maybe they find another stupid angle nobody of us thought about yet. But at some point they'll be forced to think of something new.

They just better sort this out before the show ends though. lol

[spidergirl]

25 minutes ago, amethyst said:

The question I keep asking myself is " why are the writers still sticking to this once a year sex on Amy's birthday " scenario? Because, honestly, I just don't get it.

After 9x11 I, like many others, thought the writers wanted to see how the viewers reacted. Fine, I get that, but after it was so well recieved why stick to " once a year? ".

Then I thought maybe it's the whole " Sheldon's still Sheldon " deal and, as nothing much changed even after 9x11 I could even by that. But....

Here we are in season 10 and so much has changed that I don't think" Sheldon's still Sheldon " can even apply anymore. The writers are happy to have him move out of 10a and live with Amy, share a bed with her, show him turned on by her, kiss her in front of Lenny, tell her he loves her and that thinking of her makes his brain light up, seduce her and suggest having sex in her lab!!

So I'm back to my original question....why are the writers sticking to once a year Shamy sex??

Maybe one day writers may be aware that they can write Sheldon being more into intercourse with his girl and they would not ruin the character. Honesty what I feel sometimes is a fear to change one trait from the character that  they have already changed so many others traits of him and they didnt ruin the character at all.  The fear is a bit silly imo, most of fans would be happy to see a more bold Sheldon and Amy about sex. Course it would not be necessary to make them  sex machines, it could be for starters we see Sheldon dreaming of Amy,  naughty stuff kind . Sheldon wanted a quickie in lab with Amy. After that the writers could create some nice bolder shamy scenarios without they loose their quirkyness at all.

They are in such nice place. We could see they would be more into sex now as they are more bonded, it would be ic for the changes they have been through since they started to live together. And as I have said so  many times, spontaneous parameter need to be worked. Sheldon initiates kisses now because he is into display his affection for Amy, why not a heated make out that ruined totally the anual coitus calendar?

Come on, writers. let's take the pen and start creating that! Shamy are ready for that, you only need to be ready to write it

Edited February 14, 2017 by spidergirl

[RJ1013]

1 hour ago, amethyst said:

So I'm back to my original question....why are the writers sticking to once a year Shamy sex??

I think we all wonder this

Realistically, I think it is to keep the audience tuning in to see how things resolve. Judging by how often coitus and marriage are brought up on this forum, there’s a good chance that most other viewers find these topics of interest as well. Before anything else, this show is a business and ratings matter. Obviously they will need to deal with it before viewers get too annoyed though.

Character-based explanations are tougher. Usually when Sheldon takes a step forward in his relationship with Amy, it is shown to become an increasingly comfortable thing for both of them (holding hands, kissing, saying ‘I love you’). The continued restriction on coitus does break that pattern. Low libidos, 'that’s what works for them', and 'they’re satisfied getting to slowly explore this part of themselves via make outs' are all possible explanations for it. 

Amy is able to tell just by looking at Sheldon that he wants to make out with her at the end of “The Cohabitation Experimentation”. She also knows to keep Harry Potter costumes at hand and that wearing one on her birthday would be something Sheldon would enjoy in that context. Both of those things definitely indicate increased sexual familiarity to me. One has to know their partner pretty well to be able to read him/her, and one doesn’t tend to whip out the HP cosplay until they’re rather comfortable and confident. As such, I do think there has been progress.

One other possible explanation for the continued limitation is that Sheldon is holding back because he was raised to believe that premarital sex is immoral. While he isn’t interested in religion, this isn’t always presented as a religious issue but rather an ethical one. He expected judgement from his mother, and he’s familiar with the term ‘living in sin’. That term usually implies that the woman in question is a hussy/slut and that the man is using her and doesn’t have enough respect for her to get married. I don’t agree with that kind of thinking even a little bit, but people who use a phrase like that often do.

Interestingly enough, if that were the case for him, it might explain why he would tell random people about the once-a-year deal in this next episode. People would know they moved in together, and he might’ve thought that adding that detail would somehow protect their reputations.  Even if this wasn’t the reason for his over-sharing, I’m sure he never expected anyone to use the information as a source of mockery. For that reason I feel kind of bad for him as well as for Amy, even though he was wrong to share something private.

[April]

37 minutes ago, RJ1013 said:

Amy is able to tell just by looking at Sheldon that he wants to make out with her at the end of “The Cohabitation Experimentation”. She also knows to keep Harry Potter costumes at hand and that wearing one on her birthday would be something Sheldon would enjoy in that context. Both of those things definitely indicate increased sexual familiarity to me. One has to know their partner pretty well to be able to read him/her, and one doesn’t tend to whip out the HP cosplay until they’re rather comfortable and confident. As such, I do think there has been progress.

Good point about "sexual familiarity" here. Makes you wonder how Amy came up with that HP costume idea. Did she remember how Sheldon reacted to them "playing doctor, Star Trek style" and daring her to use ST as more effective sexy talk in 10x04 - and thus concluding he'd be game for anything geeky? Or did they once lie awake at night telling each other dirty little secrets and Sheldon admits he finds her sexy in cosplay?? Or...???

Quote

One other possible explanation for the continued limitation is that Sheldon is holding back because he was raised to believe that premarital sex is immoral. While he isn’t interested in religion, this isn’t always presented as a religious issue but rather an ethical one. He expected judgement from his mother, and he’s familiar with the term ‘living in sin’. That term usually implies that the woman in question is a hussy/slut and that the man is using her and doesn’t have enough respect for her to get married. I don’t agree with that kind of thinking even a little bit, but people who use a phrase like that often do.

Looking at how Sheldon is portrayed so far I think this is probably the least likely option. He's called his mother out on her religious beliefs more than once and only wanted to keep him and Amy living together a secret because he was expecting a fire and brimstone lecture. Growing up the way he did he obviously would be familiar with certain terms like "living in sin" which he used here to provoke her. But I don't think he has any moral qualms himself.

Edited February 14, 2017 by April

[vonmar]

Happy Valentine's Day Shamies!