rivers_bend

Interesting poll....and you guys, your comment porn has me choking with laughter here. LOL. I think for me it's partly that Dean is the older one, so I'm more comfortable with him bottoming, otherwise the age gets conflated with power and comes too close to a squick. Or is it just that Jensen is so pretty like that? Hmmm.

For all the people who feel like switching it up is defacto for everyone and are confused by why people have a penchant for forever!top/forever!bottom, I'd be curious to know how their own personal preferences reflect (or don't) their notions of possibilities in fandom. As someone who definitely prefers to top basically all the time, it's not hard at all for me to understand how characters can naturally fall into a forever(mostly)!top/forever(mostly)!bottom situation. When I get "close" to characters, their circumstances and personalities start to build into a mix of canon and personal fanon for me and it's hard for me to see them switching unless I can explain it to myself very early on.

I have to say up front, though, that even though I know that top and dominant do not always coincide as sex/power roles in a relationship, since that is a mix of roles that makes the most immediate sense to me, I tend to mesh them together in fandom. *shrugs* I can only pull them apart when it's done fairly explicitly in the text of a fic and even then it doesn't tend to get me hot in the same way that top-dom/bottom-sub fic situations can.

Jack/Daniel (Stargate SG-1) - In this case, it just really breaks my brain for Jack to bottom except in those rare cases (say, the first time they're trying something) when it's part of his way of protecting Daniel to let Daniel top, but even then, he's still very much in control and would be doing it less because he likes it and more to ease Daniel into what he *really* likes. Hence, my answer of usually A but A can bottom occasionally.

Sam/Dean (Supernatural) - This is one that is difficult for me to explain at times, because I very much come to top!Sam/bottom!Dean because I believe in dominant!Sam/submissive!Dean and not everyone can understand that belief or it's connection to the top/bottom roles. I look at Sam's personality, especially in relation to John, and see a very assertive, even aggressive, guy who is going to get his way, either through persuasion, wits, anger, or ultimatums, etcetera. Sam is NOT submissive to ANYONE. Dean, on the other hand, while he may be generally tough and hypermasculine and rebellious in the playboy-brawler kind of way, with people that he truly cares about he defers to them and really bases most of his self-worth and happiness on *their* happiness. Dean SUBMITS to the will of respected cared-for others, he just doesn't respect or care for a lot of people. Dean is also incredibly protective of Sam and with his submissive tendencies and that immense level of protection, I think he'd have a hard time breaching Sam's body like that, especially early on in their relationship (for underage starts, for example, it's *really* hard for me to believe that a 20yo Dean would deflower 16yo Sam). Opening himself up like that would be an immense and almost sacrificial act of love on his part, which is exactly the kind of thing that he does *all the time*, particularly considering how much he guards his masculinity. If Dean were to top, it would be after a lot of coaxing and reassurance from Sam and would likely be very heavily under Sam's control. Sam has lived his whole life working to be the alpha and Dean is not only okay with being a beta, he's often scared to death of having to be the alpha. Dean doesn't want to lead anyone but himself (if that) and he only does it when it's the best of a bad set of options. Hence, A usually tops, but A can bottom on a rare occasion.

Realistically, though, the other reason why I tend to prefer Dean on the bottom is because I usually find the characterization of bottom!Sam to be really different from any version of Sam that I like. There are a few writers, albydarned for instance, who can write bottom!Sam's that I believe, but far too often in this fandom it seems like bottom!Sam is made into what I would consider a rather OOC needy, whiny, spoiled brat of a 12yo girl. Now, I'm not saying that doesn't occasionally happen with bottom!Dean, but Dean's overt masculinity seems to lessen the prevalence of that characterization while the fact that Sam's empathetic and not keen to stalk around like a virile man-beast somehow leaves him open to being overly feminized.

... cut in half, more in the next comment ...

Jared/Jensen (CW RPS) - I'm much less wedded to top!A/bottom!B here than I am in my other OTPs, but that's because we know little enough about their lives such that a good author can lead me down a path that varies a bit more from my usual tendencies. Personally, though, in my own fanon (based on what little we do know), Jensen's shy reserved nature fits very well with the notion that he's a somewhat submissive bottom type, especially when multiple accounts say that he's more relaxed and personable and happy when Jared is around. Jared is assertive like a really happy puppy who wants to play and is clearly protective of Jensen (evidenced by Jensen's reactions to him), so it makes sense that Jared would be an amazing sorta-dominant top for Jensen. I can believe, though, that if they are progressive males open to exploring this with each other that they would also be open to (and perhaps even specifically interested in) switching things up on occasion, which is why I say A usually tops but can bottom sometimes.

It's true that tops in the bedroom may not seem so outside of the bedroom, but I do think that some of people's bedroom personalities really can be reflected in their everyday lives. I think if you followed the high-powered corporate executives who like to submit, you'd see how much they're exhausted by their leadership positions, even if they like the work, and you'd begin to see how submission would be a glorious escape, just exactly what seems reasonable for them to want/need. I think, similarly, that if you wandered around with the quiet bookstore clerk who's a nightly dominatrix, you'd see how much quiet joy she gets out of controlling the way in which her designated sections are organized and how deeply she smiles when her regular customers call her ma'am and request her advice on gifts, because she revels in receiving the respect that's due and being able to mold things in an image pleasing to her. Excluding people who hold tightly to social masks, I think most people are at least somewhat their true selves all the time and that essential self is often what writers are working to reveal and examine through intimacy, so I don't think it's necessary or even all that reasonable to throw out what we know of the characters just because we haven't literally seen them fucking. I really don't believe the slate is blank and that any character might possibly do anything. You really have to sell me on the connection between who they are during the day and who they are between the sheets.

Phew! *wipes brow* Sorry about the length, dude. You just got my gears turning.

I like Sam to top but occasionally someone writes a very convincing top Dean that is just as effective for me as Sam topping.

I like for them to both be a switch in general. Sam topping more but sometimes being the bottom as well. It depends on the mood and circumstance of the fic. When I write them, I usually can't predict who is going to do what until I get to that part. Sam is typically the dominant one, though.

With J2, I have a stronger preference for Jared to top even though I like them both as a switch. I like when both like to give and receive. Oh so hot.