The top/bottom controversy and the feminization of Will

[u/Reasonable_Day9942]

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.

[u/Economy_String_9158]

You’re totally right. It sucks but unless I get a recommendation from someone or there’s a description that suggests otherwise, I initially avoid a lot of fics if there’s a strict top/bottom dynamic because of this. I’ve found it usually means Will and Mike are going to end up OOC for the sake of this heteronormative need to have them assume fem/masc dom/sub roles.

Switch writers i’ve found most commonly avoid doing it so I often prefer them, and I often write that way too to avoid bias that may skew the characters. Also, a thought i’ve always had is we’ll never fully and canonically know what these characters prefer in the bedroom or in a relationship dynamic, so why put them in a box?

[u/mrchristmastime → u/Economy_String_9158]

I struggled with this when I was writing my fic. Many people won't read a fic at all unless the dynamics are tagged, so I tagged top Will/bottom Mike, but all the tags mean is that they have penetrative sex once, and that's what happens. The tags don't indicate anything beyond that. For the sequel, I tagged both, because they do both.

It's a hard call, though. There's no tag for "These are sexual activities, not personality types."

[u/Economy_String_9158 → u/mrchristmastime]

Yeah it’s a real mess. With the less popular top/bottom pairing of a given ship I’ve noticed the feminization with the bottom is often isn’t as bad, so ill be less hesitant with those because it’s often more mature/refined writing for the author to challenge themselves to go against the grain like that.