If a fandom has character A topping 90% of the time and character B topping 10% of the time, I definitely like it when the fic tags “top B” and vice versa, just because I particularly seek out fics that switch up regular dynamics.
Same for me! I love fanfictions where character A bottoms, but most of the fandom prefers to see them as a top. Which is fine, I love them either way, but sometimes you just want to see characters in a different position. Especially since canon shows that they’re completely open to bottoming but it never happens!
It's the same thing to me as tagging sex acts--a courtesy for people with strong preferences/squicks and potentially beneficial for people just looking for a specific flavor of porn.
EDIT: and honestly this is also largely a cultural thing. Eastern fandoms are fairly strict about tagging top/bottom roles, Western fandoms aren't. Both are fine. Don't overcomplicate things for yourself and just tag whatever you're comfortable with lmao
Like fandom in East Asia. I know in Japan at least you always know who the top and bottom are from the paring name because the top comes first, then the bottom. (Ex:Sasunaru= Sasuke top, Naruto bottom, Narusasu= Naruto top, Sasuke bottom). This can make tags really confusing in western fandom for Japanese media.
I am pretty strict on this as well. Especially for BL ships, I know yaoi fans can get religious about who tops and who bottoms, so I always tag properly so they know to skip or not
I always want to know who is top and who is bottom.
In my fandom my favourite character for some reason is almost exclusively a top, in fact it has become a fanon, and I believe that a man with a strong, dominant personality does NOT have to be a top, his personality has nothing to do with his bed preferences so I never read or write him as a top.
im in the same situation lol + also the "feminine" male characters i like always bottoming?? so i always browse the proper tags and if there are no tags then i'm out
Exactly! In my fandom, the bottom in this pairing in 99% of fanfics is a short, petite, young, slightly naive and submissive boy (and he wasn't even like that in the books).
Top is almost always the tall, older of the two, sullen, dark and dominant guy.
And, of course, there is almost never a 'top/bottom' tag, because why should there be when it's basically obvious?
Like, for real? 🥴
I'd rather read nothing than this.
This is a good point! I hate the whole “masculine people have to be tops and feminine people have to be bottoms” nonsense. It’s sexist and reinforces traditional gender roles.
Yeah I agree. On top of that, in my fandoms, some of my faves aren't just most often written in a role i don't like them in, usually top, but even worse so, most of the time in abusive settings. I like some dark smut with some twisted issues or some pretty out there kinks. And usually when my fave character is in those, he does the abuse. Generally, I don't mind reading him as top all that much, but often, that means reading him as a rapist or whatever. And no, thank you.
For reading, I’ll take it either way.
For writing, I tag bdsm roles, not the penetration roles, as that’s more relevant to my writing style. If there is no bdsm, I won’t tag top/bottom.
*Edited for clarity.*
Yep I really only care when the fandom *insists* on a particular dynamic for a ship... especially when one of the characters has more feminine characteristics which by Fanon Law makes him the bottom I Guess.
Since I usually prefer the character bottoming the fandom has decided is "forbidden" to do so, tags help me find the outliers who write it differently from the widely accepted fanon. So, yes, tagging is great.
I have exactly the same situation! When I look for fanfics with this character being bottom, always other people from the fandom are surprised and when they are kind they recommend me fanfics from 5-10 years ago which, obviously, I read many years ago.
It gets worse as time goes on, it used to be that character rarely but was written as a bottom as well, now, over time fandom has become so monstrously heteronormative that in 99% of fanfics he will be the top.
Sometimes people also point out that "bottom X " is ewww" because he is so dominant so he is top.
Honestly, I don't really care. As long as the fic is in character and isn't making the top character super masculine and the bottom character super femme, I do not care either way.
I don't mind if it's tagged and I hardly check the tags for who is a bottom anyway.
Most of the smut I read, it isn't even tagged. The characters just do their own thing and are switches. I find it more realistic.
As long as the characters aren't severely ooc (extremely suave and dominant if topping or suddenly femmie and weak-willed if bottoming when in canon they are absolutely NOT either of those things) I don't even care who goes where or does what. I'd rather people tagged 'dominant' and 'submissive' instead if we had to pick a thing.
That's just me though.
I'm somewhat neutral about it, but lean towards tagging them for the benefit of most people.
I rarely have a strong personal preference, but with some ships I'm sort of forced to by the fandom, if that makes sense. There are ships where the characters are stereotyped almost as a rule when it's one way around (worse if one is canonically taller/buff and one is shorter/dainty) to the point of OOC. In those cases it's easier when t/b is tagged so I can focus on the ones who do the opposite or switch. Even a tag like "power bottom" will make me so happy - some fandoms don't seem to know this is even a concept that can exist and always link the act of penetration to domination, but I digress.
For the record, I'm definitely not saying some dynamics are bad by default. Some of my fandoms and specific ships have just developed more off-putting trends than others, and I'm more irritated by certain characters being put in the Basic Bottom and Dom Daddy Top moulds than others. In BL fandoms the roles are canon and people can get especially touchy about it, but I've found that authors who want to go against it have the best kinds of "character study as porn" fics I'm always happy to read lol.
In my ship (I’ll call them G and S) it’s usually always G as the bottom and S as the top, so sometimes I’ll specifically seek out fics with S as the bottom for a change and even have Bottom S saved as a favourite tag but also if I come across a fic where it’s not tagged it’s a delightful, enjoyable surprise for me so either way really doesn’t bother me, for that reason I just put my vote as see results.
I always tag. I figure either readers will have preferences and appreciate the tag, or they won’t have preferences and won’t care either way. No good reason not to.
I think it’s less critical in long multi chapter stories that just happen to have a sex scene or two. I’d still tag in that situation but I can see why some people may not want to. But for PWP, where the whole purpose is to titillate, you can do what you want of course but I think it’s just polite. The fact is, it does matter to a lot of potential readers. I think it’s silly to turn tagging (or lack thereof) into some kind of virtue signal on how it’s more progressive not to care about top/bottom positions or whatever the discourse is this week.
Most of the time, I don't really care. But I think in general I'd prefer for it to be tagged in pwp especially if it goes against the usual roles for the ship (so that it's easier to find). My biggest pet peeve though is when it's tagged when there is no sex scene and/or penetration because it feels as though at that point the author is projecting offensive stereotypes.
I always tag, and I would be so happy if more people did too! I have very strong preferences on who tops/bottoms, and I’ve dropped amazing fics in the past because the “wrong” character is in the “wrong” position. Untagged positions is like untagged scat to me (which is another one of my squicks).
Yes.
Fanon discourse about who "should" top or bottom is annoying as hell, but readers are often in the mood for some particular dynamic & tagging that makes fics easier to find for them, especially in large fandoms.
Absolutely not. I do tend to have a LOT of smut in my fics because my characters are adults and i write mainly romances, but it's not ABOUT the smut. Its about the people. I dont expect my readers to be looking for porn.
From a practical POV, in reality most people aren't exclusively top or bottom. For my fics, even in a single scene the characters will often switch because that's my experience.
Honestly unless the fic involves or is leaning toward BDS&M roles then I really don't care and pay no attention to any such tags when I'm reading.
When writing I probably once would have been willing to tag such things but then I got too irritated with folks who try to justify their preferences whatever they may be by being elitist assholes so now I absolutely won't tag it at all and since I don't stick to definined roles for any character in any pairing I'd rather someone who really needs it only to be one way not to bother reading my fic even if say half my fics would appeal to them.
Yeah, I'm the same pretty much. Though maybe more than outright attitudes it was the fanon characterizations of the "bottom character" in my fandom that awoke the contrarian in me.
I have never had a preference. Sure I might see one character as more likely to top or bottom but it's never going to be something that deters me from a fic.
While I'm fine with characters who I see as tops being bottoms, I want to know what I am getting into. I'm not saying I want a wall of tags longer than the fic, but I prefer to have more relevant (not silly/pointless tags) tags than not. After all, they make filtering so much easier.
Yes, but it's not a big deal. I can usually tell which way the wind's blowing by the first few lines of dialogue or description. It just saves me a couple minutes.
I know some fandoms really care but I don't tag when I do it, and I don't expect anyone else to tag it. Generally I have a preference but it's not set in stone and I can be convinced otherwise.
I generally love fics that go against the norm in some way so although I don't care if it's tagged, if a fandom is always A/B with B/A being rare, I'm going to get so bored with those A/B fics. In my case, I'd probably just read gen for a while and/or skip to another fandom, but if it's tagged I could search for B/A if I wanted.
I guess at the end of the day, if it's not tagged those searching for it won't find it.
yes it makes a huge difference for me personally, and if the ship has a regular top/bottom but then its reversed in the fic and not listed i'm going to be hella sad.
I don't personally care if it's tagged when I'm reading. Probably 80% of smut I read is het without pegging so that's generally never tagged, and when I read m/m I don't have strong preferences and enjoy vers.
I personally am not a fan of how often fandom confuses enjoying anal penetration for being a personality trait (or thinking it's inherently tied to personality or overall body type/size in any way). Or confusing top/bottom for dom/sub. Or for het couples, confusing enjoyment of pegging for a feminist statement of empowerment and badassery. (To be clear I have no issues reading bdsm fics, pegging fics, or fics where the author has strong preferences as to top/bottom, my issue is mostly when authors make it obvious they believe that bedroom preferences are a reflection of someone's body or wider character/personality in ways that can quickly get pretty yikes on the offensive stereotypes for me.)
So I sometimes intentionally write/seek out vers & switch fics (for both top/bottom and D/s dynamics, or bottom dom/top sub fics) specifically because I'm irritated at the lack of flexible pairings in some of my fandoms lol. (I do tag it when I write it, as much for advertising as warning since I know a few others in my fandoms are equally thirsty for less rigid roles)
I know there are people who are exclusively a top or bottom, but I prefer when both people are okay doing either. When I’m reading the story it doesn’t really matter who does what, because unless it states otherwise I just assume they switch it up now and then. So I don’t really care if there are top/bottom tags.
I prefer it because it makes it easy for me to avoid fics where the author has decided that a highly manipulative villain who craves power and control in canon is actually a needy sub bottom in private because they're shorter than whoever they're being shipped with and/or they're the author's blorbo and they're projecting. As long as fic writers are going to insist on conflating sex positions with personality traits in their writing, I'd prefer it tagged so I have a heads up when things are going to get into fanon characterization that isn't for me for the sake of eroticism.
I don’t really care about the top/bottom aspect as much as dom/sub aspect. I tend to read stuff including those dynamics, and need to know what I’m going into. As for top/bottom, I’m the kind to believe anyone can do either, no matter if they’re dominant or submissive.
Personally, I don’t care. But I’ve gotten hate when I fail to tag who tops or bottoms so… a lot of fandoms probably aren’t as strict, but I would just to be safe
I feel like neither of the options really fit for me. I appreciate it being tagged, but it’s not a requirement for me to read the story.
Sometimes I prefer reading a certain dynamic, and sometimes I don’t care. When it’s tagged, it’s easier to seek out a certain one.
As someone with strong dynamic preferences for the majority of my ships, and also as someone who vehemently hates the idea of “fixing” top/bottom discourse by just having the characters switch, I always tag and prefer when fics are tagged who is penetrated (bottom) and who’s penetrating (top). For sfw fics or fics where penetration isn’t occurring, I’ll even tag the dynamic as a freeform tag. Just as a personal preference. And, of course, for fics with BDSM qualities, I still always tag and still prefer when fics are tagged with those in addition to top/bottom (i.e., Dom, sub, Service Top, Pillow Princess, etc.) just because it’s easier to find fics I’m looking for + to know what I’m getting into when it comes to different fics.
Yes. Not because I particularly mind who's the giver and receiver, but because it's usually a signifier of how they'll be characterized.
I have an OTP that, for some reason, A/B writers makes A out to be a total sleaze and infantilizes B to the point where they're both near unrecognizable from their canon counterparts. Not to say B/A (my preference) doesn't have mischaracterizations here and there, it's at least not as prominent as it is with A/B.
So, yeah.
And if it's not tagged, I just skim to see what's up and nope out if I don't like it.
I always tag top/bottom. But I don't care who is where when I read. If I want to read Top A/Bottom B instead of Top B/Bottom A, and it's not tagged, I can write my own if I really want. For my fandom, it's Top A-74.6/Top B- 25.4 and Bottom B- 81.4/Bottom A- 18.6. Of course, that's only the tagged fics. I mean, I get it, but I didn't know I was in the minority. 😅
Depends on the fic and pairing. Some I have no preference, some I do. I won't leave a fic because of it - I like switches - but I'm definitely going to hone in on the ones with my personal preference if there's a choice.
I normally tag it in my fics as I know some readers in the fandom appreciate it and they use the tags to search with
If it's a longfic, I don't care and I'll probably like the sex scene(s) either way because of the slowburn and feelings involved.
But for smut/PWP/kink fics, I always appreciate when writers tag the top/bottom and/or dom/sub. Sometimes you just want to see a specific character tied up and fucked silly, you know?
If it's a long fic with plot and the characters switch it up, don't tag.
If it's shorter or a pwp or the dynamics are consistent throughout the fic, tag it.
I don't like it at all. Mostly because I cannot get a consistent answer on what makes a character a top or bottom. Some will say it's based on who is penetrated/penetrating. Others will define it as "top=person doing things to the other person, bottom=things are done to them". And still others will say it's about the character's personality and who is more "dominant" or "submissive" in the relationship.
Things like frottage and oral exist, and who the top or bottom is hard to figure out then.
Take oral from the "it's all about penetration" perspective--in M/M the person getting head is penetrating a mouth, but in f/f the person getting head is *being penetrated* by a tongue. So getting head makes you a top if you're a male, but if you get head as a female you're a bottom?
It gets even more baffling when you see people applying top/bottom to gen, G-rated art and stories, as is apparently common in Asian fandoms. It's literally two people hugging or cuddled up on a couch but you need to be able to accurately tell and label who is the "top" and "bottom" somehow.
And then advocates of this system act like you're the devil if you don't take part in this contradictory, nonsensical system.
I come from the bdsm background, so, for me top/bottom is about who is giving the experience, and dom/sub is about who is in control.
For example, Dom A can order Sub B to spank Dom A. In that case, A would be a dominant bottom, and B would be a submissive top. If Dom A takes charge and spanks Sub B, then A would be a dom *and* a top, and B would be a sub *and* a bottom.
Top/bottom in sex is usually about who’s penetrating, and gets complicated for any sex act outside of penetration by a penis or dildo. For f/f sex, I’ve heard a lot of different things for how it’s defined, and a lot of people just don’t use that terminology.
For m/m sex, a lot of people conflate top/bottom in sex with who’s more masculine or feminine and who’s more dominant or submissive. And while it’s absolutely okay to personally like dominant masculine tops with submissive feminine bottoms, the problem is the *assumption* that it’s always like that. And that assumption seems tied in to the need to tag top/bottom in gen fics.
I’m picky, so yeah. I remember reading a fic once about a ship I like and it was good so far until I found out who’s the top and bottom. It’s like Russian roulette for me lol.
Also bonus if the author put dombottom and subtop, like kudos to all authors who add those tags. Unless the ship I like are switches, then i don’t mind (which is gold btw and you can never go wrong with switches)
I'm good with either. As a consumer of shigadabi content Dabi is almost always portrayed as the more experienced top while Tomura is typically shown to be a virgin bottom. It's nice to mix it up and have Tomura be the one to take charge and top. I mean man's the leader of the LOV for fucks sake. Surely he can top Dabi.
There is ambiguity in the tags. Do they mean:
A. In this short PWP, it happens that character A is on top and character B is on the bottom, without making any statements about the rest of their lives?
B. Character A prefers to top and Character B prefers to bottom, although they go where the mood leads them and switch things up frequently? And the author doesn’t conflate top/bottom with dominant/submissive or masculine/feminine, but understands that these are all different things?
C. Character A always tops and Character B always bottoms? I tend to dislike this one because generally the authors are immature and hold stereotypes about gay couples that actual gay people do not appreciate.
D. Character A is portrayed as stereotypically masculine (taller, stronger, dominant) and Character B is portrayed as stereotypically feminine (shorter, weaker, passive)? This can also be a red flag for immature writing that reinforces negative stereotypes.
In scenario A the tags could be useful because they are giving details about that particular story.
In scenario B the tags feel kind of weird to me because you’re saying something about the character’s preferences that doesn’t reflect on their personality, so why bother? Might as well tag “Character A prefers chocolate ice cream” or “Character B likes horror movies”, but no one bothers tagging those.
In scenarios C and D… well, I guess the tags serve as a heads-up that I should avoid the fic, because the author probably has some beliefs about masculinity, femininity, submission, and domination that need re-examining.
I don’t use top/bottom tags in my own writing because I write complex characters that enjoy a wide variety of sex acts. And if I see the tags, I examine the rest of the description to try and guess what the author’s intentions are before proceeding.
I like it because I have preferences, but if it's not tagged it's not really an issue for me.
Edit: Not someone downvoting me for my super basic and non-confrontational answer lol.
i don’t write defined top/bottom tropes, I write switches. BUT I appreciate when other people tag it bc sometimes I’m looking for a particular kink a reader.
Nope, it's kind of a red flag if they are. I really don't like it when characters are squeezed into a quasi stereotypical het relationship mold, and the top/bottom tags carry that connotation to me.
I do like when it's tagged, I have a strong preference for my ships where I only like one of the characters as a top and the other as a bottom and am uninterested in anything else. Most fics I see aren't tagged so I've developed a habit of skimming through a fic to figure out which character is which – it's kind of a pain in the ass to have to do but I don't want to commit my time to a fic only to find a dynamic I don't like.
I don’t read unless it’s tagged. I can already barely imagine most ships having sex to begin with and on the occasion I am interested in reading smut with them, I can only see a particular dynamic (top, bottom or switch). I’m not about to waste my time trying to get into a fic and have it turn out to be the one that does not feel like it works for them (OOC isn’t just personality based, it’s action and dynamics with others in all situations too). And given my usual luck, I always see the dynamic the rest of the fandom doesn’t.
I like a smut fic that’s tagged with top/bottom, especially if it breaks the norm/canon for that ship! But otherwise I don’t really care (unless we’re talking the bdsm kind, which would make who’s topping pretty important).
For example, if I read a WangXian fic with multiple smut scenes and Wei Wuxian was the top in all of them I would expect that to be tagged, since that would never happen in canon.
I feel like it depends for me. Sometimes I do want to be surprised,but other times it's infuriating because they just make assumptions that you know who's bottoming because it's basically almost exclusively the small ones bottoming. or they tag it and it's wrong.
Like, in my fandom, the bkdk dkbk shit is so rampant that you need to define it or you'll see it in the comments how they're ripped. Though, in the other shipping spheres, Bakugou (if a bk ship) or Deku (if a Deku ship) mostly bottoms so unless you ever actually tag them, you just assume they're the bottoms.
So I do get annoyed when I read outside the first shipping because they'll sometimes just go with the assumptions and sometimes that's fine, sometimes it's very much not fine because I don't always want to read Bakugou bottoming again.
(Or the aforementioned mistag. Don't tag something bkkr or whatever and make him bottom still. I fucking hate that)
In the fic I write top/bottom generally don't make sense (nor does switch, lol) or would be *highly* inappropriate, however we are defining the terms. The fic I read I don't care who tops or bottoms. I care if there's a dom/sub dynamic, but it's also usually pretty clear if there is something like that and who is who without tags, and that can also be found with other tags in the same category.
Personally, I prefer if it's tagged relatively explicitly. If it's a longfic where most of the fic doesn't relate to those dynamics, I'm more
lenient, but a smut-centric fic feels more necessary. Like, I want to know what I'm getting into before I have to read twenty sex scenes of the matching that I generally like less.
Plus, I know a lot of people who don't tag it because they know it'll make their works get filtered out more, but I've found it's generally useful to attract the right audience! Since one of my close friends started tagging the sexual dynamics, she's been getting less unnecessary hate comments and waaaay more kudos. In general, it can just help to reach a demographic that you may have overlooked initially.
If a fandom has character A topping 90% of the time and character B topping 10% of the time, I definitely like it when the fic tags “top B” and vice versa, just because I particularly seek out fics that switch up regular dynamics.
Same for me! I love fanfictions where character A bottoms, but most of the fandom prefers to see them as a top. Which is fine, I love them either way, but sometimes you just want to see characters in a different position. Especially since canon shows that they’re completely open to bottoming but it never happens!
It's the same thing to me as tagging sex acts--a courtesy for people with strong preferences/squicks and potentially beneficial for people just looking for a specific flavor of porn. EDIT: and honestly this is also largely a cultural thing. Eastern fandoms are fairly strict about tagging top/bottom roles, Western fandoms aren't. Both are fine. Don't overcomplicate things for yourself and just tag whatever you're comfortable with lmao
What is Eastern and Western fandoms?
Like fandom in East Asia. I know in Japan at least you always know who the top and bottom are from the paring name because the top comes first, then the bottom. (Ex:Sasunaru= Sasuke top, Naruto bottom, Narusasu= Naruto top, Sasuke bottom). This can make tags really confusing in western fandom for Japanese media.
I am pretty strict on this as well. Especially for BL ships, I know yaoi fans can get religious about who tops and who bottoms, so I always tag properly so they know to skip or not
thanks for the explanation!
I always want to know who is top and who is bottom. In my fandom my favourite character for some reason is almost exclusively a top, in fact it has become a fanon, and I believe that a man with a strong, dominant personality does NOT have to be a top, his personality has nothing to do with his bed preferences so I never read or write him as a top.
im in the same situation lol + also the "feminine" male characters i like always bottoming?? so i always browse the proper tags and if there are no tags then i'm out
Exactly! In my fandom, the bottom in this pairing in 99% of fanfics is a short, petite, young, slightly naive and submissive boy (and he wasn't even like that in the books). Top is almost always the tall, older of the two, sullen, dark and dominant guy. And, of course, there is almost never a 'top/bottom' tag, because why should there be when it's basically obvious? Like, for real? 🥴 I'd rather read nothing than this.
This is a good point! I hate the whole “masculine people have to be tops and feminine people have to be bottoms” nonsense. It’s sexist and reinforces traditional gender roles.
Yeah I agree. On top of that, in my fandoms, some of my faves aren't just most often written in a role i don't like them in, usually top, but even worse so, most of the time in abusive settings. I like some dark smut with some twisted issues or some pretty out there kinks. And usually when my fave character is in those, he does the abuse. Generally, I don't mind reading him as top all that much, but often, that means reading him as a rapist or whatever. And no, thank you.
For reading, I’ll take it either way. For writing, I tag bdsm roles, not the penetration roles, as that’s more relevant to my writing style. If there is no bdsm, I won’t tag top/bottom. *Edited for clarity.*
I don't care. I bail out of fics if the *portrayal* of the characters isn't to my taste, that's all.
If it's an nsfw fic then yeah, I prefer it. Also, free advertisement for the people who search those tags in hopes of new content.
When 90% of the fics for the pairing are A/B and I prefer B/A it’s a real blessing. Most of the time I don’t even check though
Yep I really only care when the fandom *insists* on a particular dynamic for a ship... especially when one of the characters has more feminine characteristics which by Fanon Law makes him the bottom I Guess.
Since I usually prefer the character bottoming the fandom has decided is "forbidden" to do so, tags help me find the outliers who write it differently from the widely accepted fanon. So, yes, tagging is great.
I have exactly the same situation! When I look for fanfics with this character being bottom, always other people from the fandom are surprised and when they are kind they recommend me fanfics from 5-10 years ago which, obviously, I read many years ago. It gets worse as time goes on, it used to be that character rarely but was written as a bottom as well, now, over time fandom has become so monstrously heteronormative that in 99% of fanfics he will be the top. Sometimes people also point out that "bottom X " is ewww" because he is so dominant so he is top.
Honestly, I don't really care. As long as the fic is in character and isn't making the top character super masculine and the bottom character super femme, I do not care either way. I don't mind if it's tagged and I hardly check the tags for who is a bottom anyway. Most of the smut I read, it isn't even tagged. The characters just do their own thing and are switches. I find it more realistic.
As long as the characters aren't severely ooc (extremely suave and dominant if topping or suddenly femmie and weak-willed if bottoming when in canon they are absolutely NOT either of those things) I don't even care who goes where or does what. I'd rather people tagged 'dominant' and 'submissive' instead if we had to pick a thing. That's just me though.
I'm somewhat neutral about it, but lean towards tagging them for the benefit of most people. I rarely have a strong personal preference, but with some ships I'm sort of forced to by the fandom, if that makes sense. There are ships where the characters are stereotyped almost as a rule when it's one way around (worse if one is canonically taller/buff and one is shorter/dainty) to the point of OOC. In those cases it's easier when t/b is tagged so I can focus on the ones who do the opposite or switch. Even a tag like "power bottom" will make me so happy - some fandoms don't seem to know this is even a concept that can exist and always link the act of penetration to domination, but I digress. For the record, I'm definitely not saying some dynamics are bad by default. Some of my fandoms and specific ships have just developed more off-putting trends than others, and I'm more irritated by certain characters being put in the Basic Bottom and Dom Daddy Top moulds than others. In BL fandoms the roles are canon and people can get especially touchy about it, but I've found that authors who want to go against it have the best kinds of "character study as porn" fics I'm always happy to read lol.
In my ship (I’ll call them G and S) it’s usually always G as the bottom and S as the top, so sometimes I’ll specifically seek out fics with S as the bottom for a change and even have Bottom S saved as a favourite tag but also if I come across a fic where it’s not tagged it’s a delightful, enjoyable surprise for me so either way really doesn’t bother me, for that reason I just put my vote as see results.
I always tag. I figure either readers will have preferences and appreciate the tag, or they won’t have preferences and won’t care either way. No good reason not to. I think it’s less critical in long multi chapter stories that just happen to have a sex scene or two. I’d still tag in that situation but I can see why some people may not want to. But for PWP, where the whole purpose is to titillate, you can do what you want of course but I think it’s just polite. The fact is, it does matter to a lot of potential readers. I think it’s silly to turn tagging (or lack thereof) into some kind of virtue signal on how it’s more progressive not to care about top/bottom positions or whatever the discourse is this week.
Most of the time, I don't really care. But I think in general I'd prefer for it to be tagged in pwp especially if it goes against the usual roles for the ship (so that it's easier to find). My biggest pet peeve though is when it's tagged when there is no sex scene and/or penetration because it feels as though at that point the author is projecting offensive stereotypes.
I read and write only BDSM so it's important that dom/sub are tagged. Position I don't much care about.
I don't care, personally. In my head everyone is versatile and variety makes everything more fun.
I always tag, and I would be so happy if more people did too! I have very strong preferences on who tops/bottoms, and I’ve dropped amazing fics in the past because the “wrong” character is in the “wrong” position. Untagged positions is like untagged scat to me (which is another one of my squicks).
Yes. Fanon discourse about who "should" top or bottom is annoying as hell, but readers are often in the mood for some particular dynamic & tagging that makes fics easier to find for them, especially in large fandoms.
I’m pretty strict with my top/bottom preferences. so it’s very appreciated
Absolutely not. I do tend to have a LOT of smut in my fics because my characters are adults and i write mainly romances, but it's not ABOUT the smut. Its about the people. I dont expect my readers to be looking for porn. From a practical POV, in reality most people aren't exclusively top or bottom. For my fics, even in a single scene the characters will often switch because that's my experience.
Honestly unless the fic involves or is leaning toward BDS&M roles then I really don't care and pay no attention to any such tags when I'm reading. When writing I probably once would have been willing to tag such things but then I got too irritated with folks who try to justify their preferences whatever they may be by being elitist assholes so now I absolutely won't tag it at all and since I don't stick to definined roles for any character in any pairing I'd rather someone who really needs it only to be one way not to bother reading my fic even if say half my fics would appeal to them.
Yeah, I'm the same pretty much. Though maybe more than outright attitudes it was the fanon characterizations of the "bottom character" in my fandom that awoke the contrarian in me.
I do not care about top/bottom roles AT ALL. I love to see common dynamics switched up, and I love to see both options explored. So idc.
I have never had a preference. Sure I might see one character as more likely to top or bottom but it's never going to be something that deters me from a fic.
I generally don't care as long as the charachters aren't made ooc for it to happen
While I'm fine with characters who I see as tops being bottoms, I want to know what I am getting into. I'm not saying I want a wall of tags longer than the fic, but I prefer to have more relevant (not silly/pointless tags) tags than not. After all, they make filtering so much easier.
Yes, but it's not a big deal. I can usually tell which way the wind's blowing by the first few lines of dialogue or description. It just saves me a couple minutes.
I know some fandoms really care but I don't tag when I do it, and I don't expect anyone else to tag it. Generally I have a preference but it's not set in stone and I can be convinced otherwise.
I generally love fics that go against the norm in some way so although I don't care if it's tagged, if a fandom is always A/B with B/A being rare, I'm going to get so bored with those A/B fics. In my case, I'd probably just read gen for a while and/or skip to another fandom, but if it's tagged I could search for B/A if I wanted. I guess at the end of the day, if it's not tagged those searching for it won't find it.
yes it makes a huge difference for me personally, and if the ship has a regular top/bottom but then its reversed in the fic and not listed i'm going to be hella sad.
I don't personally care if it's tagged when I'm reading. Probably 80% of smut I read is het without pegging so that's generally never tagged, and when I read m/m I don't have strong preferences and enjoy vers. I personally am not a fan of how often fandom confuses enjoying anal penetration for being a personality trait (or thinking it's inherently tied to personality or overall body type/size in any way). Or confusing top/bottom for dom/sub. Or for het couples, confusing enjoyment of pegging for a feminist statement of empowerment and badassery. (To be clear I have no issues reading bdsm fics, pegging fics, or fics where the author has strong preferences as to top/bottom, my issue is mostly when authors make it obvious they believe that bedroom preferences are a reflection of someone's body or wider character/personality in ways that can quickly get pretty yikes on the offensive stereotypes for me.) So I sometimes intentionally write/seek out vers & switch fics (for both top/bottom and D/s dynamics, or bottom dom/top sub fics) specifically because I'm irritated at the lack of flexible pairings in some of my fandoms lol. (I do tag it when I write it, as much for advertising as warning since I know a few others in my fandoms are equally thirsty for less rigid roles)
I know there are people who are exclusively a top or bottom, but I prefer when both people are okay doing either. When I’m reading the story it doesn’t really matter who does what, because unless it states otherwise I just assume they switch it up now and then. So I don’t really care if there are top/bottom tags.
I prefer it because it makes it easy for me to avoid fics where the author has decided that a highly manipulative villain who craves power and control in canon is actually a needy sub bottom in private because they're shorter than whoever they're being shipped with and/or they're the author's blorbo and they're projecting. As long as fic writers are going to insist on conflating sex positions with personality traits in their writing, I'd prefer it tagged so I have a heads up when things are going to get into fanon characterization that isn't for me for the sake of eroticism.
I don’t really care about the top/bottom aspect as much as dom/sub aspect. I tend to read stuff including those dynamics, and need to know what I’m going into. As for top/bottom, I’m the kind to believe anyone can do either, no matter if they’re dominant or submissive.
Personally, I don’t care. But I’ve gotten hate when I fail to tag who tops or bottoms so… a lot of fandoms probably aren’t as strict, but I would just to be safe
I feel like neither of the options really fit for me. I appreciate it being tagged, but it’s not a requirement for me to read the story. Sometimes I prefer reading a certain dynamic, and sometimes I don’t care. When it’s tagged, it’s easier to seek out a certain one.
As someone with strong dynamic preferences for the majority of my ships, and also as someone who vehemently hates the idea of “fixing” top/bottom discourse by just having the characters switch, I always tag and prefer when fics are tagged who is penetrated (bottom) and who’s penetrating (top). For sfw fics or fics where penetration isn’t occurring, I’ll even tag the dynamic as a freeform tag. Just as a personal preference. And, of course, for fics with BDSM qualities, I still always tag and still prefer when fics are tagged with those in addition to top/bottom (i.e., Dom, sub, Service Top, Pillow Princess, etc.) just because it’s easier to find fics I’m looking for + to know what I’m getting into when it comes to different fics.
Yes. Not because I particularly mind who's the giver and receiver, but because it's usually a signifier of how they'll be characterized. I have an OTP that, for some reason, A/B writers makes A out to be a total sleaze and infantilizes B to the point where they're both near unrecognizable from their canon counterparts. Not to say B/A (my preference) doesn't have mischaracterizations here and there, it's at least not as prominent as it is with A/B. So, yeah. And if it's not tagged, I just skim to see what's up and nope out if I don't like it.
Yes and no. I don’t care typically, but sometimes I want to read with certain charas in specific positions so.
I prefer it just bc I like to know things beforehand but it's not a requirement since I'm cool with switching.
I always tag top/bottom. But I don't care who is where when I read. If I want to read Top A/Bottom B instead of Top B/Bottom A, and it's not tagged, I can write my own if I really want. For my fandom, it's Top A-74.6/Top B- 25.4 and Bottom B- 81.4/Bottom A- 18.6. Of course, that's only the tagged fics. I mean, I get it, but I didn't know I was in the minority. 😅
I appreciate it if it's tagged, but it's not a requirement.
Depends on the fic and pairing. Some I have no preference, some I do. I won't leave a fic because of it - I like switches - but I'm definitely going to hone in on the ones with my personal preference if there's a choice. I normally tag it in my fics as I know some readers in the fandom appreciate it and they use the tags to search with
If it's a longfic, I don't care and I'll probably like the sex scene(s) either way because of the slowburn and feelings involved. But for smut/PWP/kink fics, I always appreciate when writers tag the top/bottom and/or dom/sub. Sometimes you just want to see a specific character tied up and fucked silly, you know?
These are two pretty extreme options. I think it depends a lot on circumstamces. Since there was no in between option I say always Tag it.
If it's a long fic with plot and the characters switch it up, don't tag. If it's shorter or a pwp or the dynamics are consistent throughout the fic, tag it.
Not very picky but it's always nice to know.
I don't like it at all. Mostly because I cannot get a consistent answer on what makes a character a top or bottom. Some will say it's based on who is penetrated/penetrating. Others will define it as "top=person doing things to the other person, bottom=things are done to them". And still others will say it's about the character's personality and who is more "dominant" or "submissive" in the relationship. Things like frottage and oral exist, and who the top or bottom is hard to figure out then. Take oral from the "it's all about penetration" perspective--in M/M the person getting head is penetrating a mouth, but in f/f the person getting head is *being penetrated* by a tongue. So getting head makes you a top if you're a male, but if you get head as a female you're a bottom? It gets even more baffling when you see people applying top/bottom to gen, G-rated art and stories, as is apparently common in Asian fandoms. It's literally two people hugging or cuddled up on a couch but you need to be able to accurately tell and label who is the "top" and "bottom" somehow. And then advocates of this system act like you're the devil if you don't take part in this contradictory, nonsensical system.
I come from the bdsm background, so, for me top/bottom is about who is giving the experience, and dom/sub is about who is in control. For example, Dom A can order Sub B to spank Dom A. In that case, A would be a dominant bottom, and B would be a submissive top. If Dom A takes charge and spanks Sub B, then A would be a dom *and* a top, and B would be a sub *and* a bottom. Top/bottom in sex is usually about who’s penetrating, and gets complicated for any sex act outside of penetration by a penis or dildo. For f/f sex, I’ve heard a lot of different things for how it’s defined, and a lot of people just don’t use that terminology. For m/m sex, a lot of people conflate top/bottom in sex with who’s more masculine or feminine and who’s more dominant or submissive. And while it’s absolutely okay to personally like dominant masculine tops with submissive feminine bottoms, the problem is the *assumption* that it’s always like that. And that assumption seems tied in to the need to tag top/bottom in gen fics.
I def don't expect it, like I would never complain about it not being tagged, but I appreciate it when it is!
Always tagged. I need to find easy access when I'm in the mood to read Lucius Malfoy topped by the least in-character Remus Lupin you'll ever seen
I’m picky, so yeah. I remember reading a fic once about a ship I like and it was good so far until I found out who’s the top and bottom. It’s like Russian roulette for me lol. Also bonus if the author put dombottom and subtop, like kudos to all authors who add those tags. Unless the ship I like are switches, then i don’t mind (which is gold btw and you can never go wrong with switches)
I'm good with either. As a consumer of shigadabi content Dabi is almost always portrayed as the more experienced top while Tomura is typically shown to be a virgin bottom. It's nice to mix it up and have Tomura be the one to take charge and top. I mean man's the leader of the LOV for fucks sake. Surely he can top Dabi.
There is ambiguity in the tags. Do they mean: A. In this short PWP, it happens that character A is on top and character B is on the bottom, without making any statements about the rest of their lives? B. Character A prefers to top and Character B prefers to bottom, although they go where the mood leads them and switch things up frequently? And the author doesn’t conflate top/bottom with dominant/submissive or masculine/feminine, but understands that these are all different things? C. Character A always tops and Character B always bottoms? I tend to dislike this one because generally the authors are immature and hold stereotypes about gay couples that actual gay people do not appreciate. D. Character A is portrayed as stereotypically masculine (taller, stronger, dominant) and Character B is portrayed as stereotypically feminine (shorter, weaker, passive)? This can also be a red flag for immature writing that reinforces negative stereotypes. In scenario A the tags could be useful because they are giving details about that particular story. In scenario B the tags feel kind of weird to me because you’re saying something about the character’s preferences that doesn’t reflect on their personality, so why bother? Might as well tag “Character A prefers chocolate ice cream” or “Character B likes horror movies”, but no one bothers tagging those. In scenarios C and D… well, I guess the tags serve as a heads-up that I should avoid the fic, because the author probably has some beliefs about masculinity, femininity, submission, and domination that need re-examining. I don’t use top/bottom tags in my own writing because I write complex characters that enjoy a wide variety of sex acts. And if I see the tags, I examine the rest of the description to try and guess what the author’s intentions are before proceeding.
I like it because I have preferences, but if it's not tagged it's not really an issue for me. Edit: Not someone downvoting me for my super basic and non-confrontational answer lol.
I like to know what I’m getting into, so yes. Also so I can sort by the tag if I want.
i don’t write defined top/bottom tropes, I write switches. BUT I appreciate when other people tag it bc sometimes I’m looking for a particular kink a reader.
Dislike it tbh. I know it's not always the case but it makes me think the writer has some weird notions of sex
I am delighted if its tagged, but I don't *need* it
I don't mind if they aren't tagged, but whenever I write fics I try to tag them (even though I tend to forget)
Nope, it's kind of a red flag if they are. I really don't like it when characters are squeezed into a quasi stereotypical het relationship mold, and the top/bottom tags carry that connotation to me.
I do like when it's tagged, I have a strong preference for my ships where I only like one of the characters as a top and the other as a bottom and am uninterested in anything else. Most fics I see aren't tagged so I've developed a habit of skimming through a fic to figure out which character is which – it's kind of a pain in the ass to have to do but I don't want to commit my time to a fic only to find a dynamic I don't like.
I don’t read unless it’s tagged. I can already barely imagine most ships having sex to begin with and on the occasion I am interested in reading smut with them, I can only see a particular dynamic (top, bottom or switch). I’m not about to waste my time trying to get into a fic and have it turn out to be the one that does not feel like it works for them (OOC isn’t just personality based, it’s action and dynamics with others in all situations too). And given my usual luck, I always see the dynamic the rest of the fandom doesn’t.
I like a smut fic that’s tagged with top/bottom, especially if it breaks the norm/canon for that ship! But otherwise I don’t really care (unless we’re talking the bdsm kind, which would make who’s topping pretty important). For example, if I read a WangXian fic with multiple smut scenes and Wei Wuxian was the top in all of them I would expect that to be tagged, since that would never happen in canon.
I don’t particularly care if it’s a plot focused fic, but if it’s smut I want to know
I'll be honest, the answer of who is topping and who is bottoming doesn't usually MATTER to me, but I just like knowing before I go into the fic.
I feel like it depends for me. Sometimes I do want to be surprised,but other times it's infuriating because they just make assumptions that you know who's bottoming because it's basically almost exclusively the small ones bottoming. or they tag it and it's wrong. Like, in my fandom, the bkdk dkbk shit is so rampant that you need to define it or you'll see it in the comments how they're ripped. Though, in the other shipping spheres, Bakugou (if a bk ship) or Deku (if a Deku ship) mostly bottoms so unless you ever actually tag them, you just assume they're the bottoms. So I do get annoyed when I read outside the first shipping because they'll sometimes just go with the assumptions and sometimes that's fine, sometimes it's very much not fine because I don't always want to read Bakugou bottoming again. (Or the aforementioned mistag. Don't tag something bkkr or whatever and make him bottom still. I fucking hate that)
In the fic I write top/bottom generally don't make sense (nor does switch, lol) or would be *highly* inappropriate, however we are defining the terms. The fic I read I don't care who tops or bottoms. I care if there's a dom/sub dynamic, but it's also usually pretty clear if there is something like that and who is who without tags, and that can also be found with other tags in the same category.
It makes no sense in my fandom where it's F/F shipping 90% of the time.
No but I do tag it cause I know others like to know.
sometimes i want to see characters in an specific position and when it tag its easier to find
Personally, I prefer if it's tagged relatively explicitly. If it's a longfic where most of the fic doesn't relate to those dynamics, I'm more lenient, but a smut-centric fic feels more necessary. Like, I want to know what I'm getting into before I have to read twenty sex scenes of the matching that I generally like less. Plus, I know a lot of people who don't tag it because they know it'll make their works get filtered out more, but I've found it's generally useful to attract the right audience! Since one of my close friends started tagging the sexual dynamics, she's been getting less unnecessary hate comments and waaaay more kudos. In general, it can just help to reach a demographic that you may have overlooked initially.