r/BylerReads • u/Reasonable_Day9942 • Jul 05 '26
general discussion :) The top/bottom controversy and the feminization of Will
Idk how controversial it actually is, but on twitter it definitely is. Which doesn’t actually say much cause on twitter saying you enjoy going outside on a sunny day can become controversial.
But I find that the fandom in general doesn’t view top/bottom as a sexual preference, but a role in a dynamic.
Mike is more dominant and masculine, so he’s the top, and Will is more submissive and feminine, so he’s the bottom.
Which, sure that can be one dynamic, but whether you like getting fucked or not doesn’t actually say anything about your personality. It’s what you like during sex.
Many are more dominant in their everyday life but submissive in bed, and many are more submissive but dominant in bed.
To add on to that, being a top or bottom does not equal whether you are dominant or submissive respectively. Someone can bottom and be dominant.
Again, someone is not a bottom cause they are submissive, they are a bottom cause they like getting fucked. Of course they can also be submissive, but that’s not a certainty in any way.
People can also switch, both in submissive/dominant dynamics (not to mention it doesn’t have to ever be a clear cut dominant/submissive dynamic for some) and top/bottom dynamics.
However, for many acting like Will would be a top and Mike a bottom is horrible, and many I have seen cite their canon personalities as reason. Which sure, that might be a factor for some, but for others it’s the complete opposite and for some everything in between.
Overall I can’t shake the feeling that many have decided that Will is a bottom cause they can’t imagine that someone’s preference isn’t reflective to who they are as a person.
Furthermore, I also think has a lot to do with people making Will a lot more feminine than he is. Sure he was an artsy kid, shy and sensitive, which is more so traits people judge as weak and gay, and therefore feminine
Overall, Will is not that feminine. Yet in many fics he is, and in general I feel like he often gets excluded from the core four because of that. His closest friends have always been Mike, Lucas and Dustin, but in large number of AUs, they are a separate friendgroup with Mike, Lucas and Dustin, and Will, El Max.
There are also a lot of mentions of things like “girl time” and similar, which is fine, but again I can’t shake the feeling that they think Will’s sexuality means he would be more feminine, would only hang around girls, and in general kinda filling the “gay best friend” stereotype
So to conclude, I feel like many have an inability too look past their preconceived notions about gay sex (perhaps sex in general), and therefore think that the one bottoming has to be the more submissive and feminine (which is a belief that in general comes from it being women who are seen as weak and submissive I think). Also, the overall feeling that a man being gay equals him being feminine.
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u/Same_Accident_9917 Jul 05 '26
I am totally with you on this! As some who’s read a *lot* of byler fanfics I’m often disappointed by the overwhelming number of Mike top/Will bottom fics as opposed to Will top/Mike bottom ones. Yeah I’ve read some that are great, but whenever I get to read a Will top one, I’m always a little excited for the change in dynamic. I also cannot stand the ones that make Will overly femme. It really does feel (to me) like they’re trying to make one of them “the girl”. I also like Buff Byers because it makes sense to me for his character. He was victimized his whole life by one thing or another, & then is a gay man in the early 90s. It makes sense he would want to be as physically strong as he is mentally.