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I hate tagging for bottom/top in fics that aren't pwp. If it's not an overarching theme of the fic or a trigger I don't like tagging it. But then I get comments asking me to tag bottom!A. And people who only read top!A and never bottom!A, even if it's only 1k in a 20k fic, will get mad at me. Those comments annoy me even more than tagging who tops/bottoms, so I tag... I'm considering deleting those tags, even if it means losing readers in the long run. Or maybe I'm overthinking this. Advise?
I donāt actually know anything about the top/bottom debate in fanfic.Ā
From my outside perspective, sexual positions arenāt something that is 100% one way or another. You might have a preference (even a strong one) but that doesnāt mean you might not try a different way every once in a while.Ā
If itās considered polite to tag that in your fandom I suppose itās a difficult choice not to. You donāt want to get a reputation for being inconsiderate after all. Hmm. I think Iām stuck on this one :/
I donāt think you need to tag for top or bottom if you donāt want to. Itās true that a lot of people use top and bottom tags to filter fics in or out, but if you donāt care either way if someone bottoms or not, chances are a lot of your readers donāt either, specially if itās not what your fic is about.The people who complain about how you tag your OWN fics are being rude, and you shouldnāt change the way you tag just to please them. Are they really the type of readers youāre after?
When you tag, you tell people whatās in your fic, but you also tell them what you care about. You wouldnāt tag a thing if you didnāt care to highlight it. You want readers who care about the same things you do, and who will not get mad at you for your perfectly reasonable tagging choices.
Keep on tagging the way you want, and good riddance to the haters.AO3 Tag Tips
I feel like switching should be the default, and if the sex goes all one way all the time, sure, tag thatābut not every fic with sex needs to have roles assigned, like you have to make one character the āgirl.ā Iād love it if people started using tags like āAssume Everybody Switches (Tonight We Fuck Like Men)ā insteadāIād be all over that tag!
tldr; ultimately itās the writerās choice on what to do, since it is their fic and they are not technically obliged to do anything they donāt want to their fic, despite what differing cultural etiquette across fandoms may demand.
tldr2; assuming switch is the default irl is ignoring many lived queer experiences; assuming t/b means the bottom is made out to be theĀ āgirlā is rooted in heteronormative thinking.
ok. this is just to explain some of the reasoning behind why people ask for position tags or care so much about it.
in my observation, fandoms that are based on western media and have mostly western fans care much less about positions and strict position tagging than eastern fans of eastern mediaājust a cultural difference at work here. in eastern fandom culture, asking for correct position tags isnāt considered rude, but rather requesting basic politeness. more detailed tagging = caught by mute/block/exclude filters = readers who dislike it donāt see it = writers avoid comments like the ones anon received. fixed shippers get so annoyed with mistagged or untagged positions because the negative experience for everyone isĀ so easily avoidableājust tag it!
in the eyes of position-tagging-advocates, thereās little reason for someone to not tag the position. it benefitsĀ everyone involvedāpeople who like it will click, people who donāt like it will filter it out/scroll past, and people who donāt care will continue on as they are.
in western fandom culture, where switch is often seen as the default or position is not very important at all, these same requests for position tags may seem rude and presumptuous. again, this is just cultural difference.
ultimately, whatās considered rude or polite is up to your specific fandom community. itās the writerās choice to do what they want with their fic, just keep in mind that in the context of your specific fandom, you could be committing a breach of etiquette. but still! itās up to the the writer if they want to care about that and its consequences! ultimately it is still the writerās choice whether or not they tag position on their content.
(also: if youāre creating switch content, the āSwitch (Character)ā tags exist and can be used too! i havenāt seen it used as much as double-tagging bothĀ āTop A/Bottom Bā andĀ āTop B/Bottom Aā on the same fic, but itās there and useable!)
āāā
that aside, i do want to comment on this reply:
ā¦not every fic with sex needs to have roles assigned, like you have to make one character the āgirl.ā
assuming this is mlm content, inherentlyā¦ there is noĀ āgirlā. they are both men. the assumption that all fixed-position shippers conflate sex position with femininity is a reflection of what you yourself think of the dynamics behind gay sex positions. youāreĀ inserting heteronormative standards into a homosexual relationship.Ā look at this from a wlw pov: in a wlw relationship, using a strap does not make one of the women theĀ āmanā of the relationship, because they are both women. in mlm relationships, taking it up the ass does not make that man theĀ āgirlāābefore, during, and after bottoming, he is still a man.
(for simplicityās sake, i didnāt mention nonbinary characters in the above examples. but for nb characters, my point still stands: sex position does not indicate or change anything about someoneās gender, presentation, personality, etc etc.)
I feel like switching should be the defaultā¦
putting aside fictional content for a minuteāeven in terms of real-world lgbt communities, switch isnāt the default for everyone.Ā many people self-identify as a top or bottom and donāt really like to switchāand obviously thatās fine, itās just personal preference. so itās not unrealistic for people to project their personal fixed-position preferences onto their favorite characters, just like how itās not unrealistic for people to headcanon their favorite characters as switches. theyāre all part of theĀ queer experience.Ā ultimately, just like in the real world, itās up to personal preference. making out fixed-position shippers as unreasonable or homophobic (this is not directed at the above reply specifically, just a general take iāve seen thrown around in t/b debates) can come across as out-of-touch with actual lgbt communities. and considering that the majority of fandom, including fixed shippers, are queer themselves, this take is sometimes at risk of being so progressive it wraps around and inadvertently becomes homophobic again (i.e when queer fixed shippers are maligned for simply preferring their lived experience as a queer person in the fictional content they consume).
at the end of the day, fixed or switch, itās all good as long as people respect each otherās preferences and donāt try to invalidate one in favor of the other.Ā both are representative of the queer experience. both can coexist! and itās not wrong or bad for people to prefer one over another.
iām sentencing everyone who believes that media consumption is activism to fifty volunteer hours helping the real actual people theyāre so busy wringing their hands over
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