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"plaintext": "In my formative adult years, those being 18 to 28. I was mostly confused about my identity. I felt like I was an outlier in the gay community. That I was a strange anomaly. It was difficult to talk to people."
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"plaintext": "\"Oh yes, I'm a bottom.\""
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"plaintext": "\"Well then kneel for me boy!\""
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"plaintext": "\"You're barking up the wrong tree because I'm not a sub.\""
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"plaintext": "\"How does that even work?\""
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"plaintext": "I was, and still am, attracted to being the penetrated partner in sexual situations. Which back in the 2010's was basically unheard of in the broader community, and I didn't even have the terminology to describe it. Anytime someone heard me say \"bottom\" they automatically would just assume I was a submissive."
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"plaintext": "We attach these assumptions to titles we use. If you see a muscular handsome guy you automatically assume he probably has a large cock, is dominant, and probably a little tough to approach. When really he's fairly average below the belt, just wants to get laid out on the bench and railed until there isn't a single though left in his head and then called a good boy."
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"plaintext": "The gay community is full of niches and titles and labels and signals and flags. We've had methods of communicating preferences and desires almost subtly. Like the Hanky Code. "
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"plaintext": "Also called flagging, a person would wear a colored handkerchief or bandanna in their back pocket to signal what they were looking for. You may have also heard of the infamous foot tap, where someone looking for some anonymous action would tap their foot under the stall. I bet you don't know about key code? A dom would wear their keys on a loop or carabiner on the left side and a sub on the right, and this was a signal for gay men, and is still heavily in use by the lesbian community."
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"plaintext": "Many people though are stuck on the idea that"
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"plaintext": "Top = Dom"
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"plaintext": "Bottom = Sub"
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"plaintext": "Human sexuality is a bit more complex than that, and like the elder queers that many of us didn't get a chance grow up with we are sailing what is almost completely uncharted waters. The signals, the flags, the earrings, the slang, leatherman culture, pet play, all of those things started off with the question. \"How can we do that.\" "
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"plaintext": "While the urge to be a bottom commanding your top or a top taking commands from your bottom is ancient, a lot of people are just figuring out what that looks like. Now a days I have great pride in telling people that. There is such a thing as Role and Position and they are not mutual exclusive or inclusive of any of the other."
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"plaintext": "The Chart"
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"plaintext": "Roles are things like Dominant, or Versatile, or Submissive.\n\nPositions are things like Top, Switch, or Bottom."
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"plaintext": "We should explore the above graphic in a bit of detail. Lets take it a bit like the alignment chart you might be familiar with from Dungeons and Dragons. "
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"plaintext": "The horizontal axis in the chart represents the physical aspect of ones intimacy. Much like the horizontal axis of the D&D alignment chart focuses on how closely one might follow the laws of the world."
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"plaintext": "While the vertical axis focuses on behavioral or psychological dynamic of a relationship or interaction. Again, much like how the D&D alignment chart's vertical axis focuses on Good and Evil."
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"plaintext": "Unusual Intersectionality"
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"plaintext": "We should talk about the bottom left to top right diagonal though. This is where many people get hung up when thinking about these situations. This chart doesn't do the best justice to just how wild human beings can be, take this Bluesky Post for example. It shows off just how little justice this chart does to the spectrum of sexual preferences."
},
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"description": "I can't help myself when I'm locked for such a long time. When I have a hot like _pup_helios_ (insta) visiting and stuck in segufix..",
"href": "https://bsky.app/profile/maskedbiker.bsky.social/post/3mmxwqay5nc2l",
"siteName": "Bluesky Social",
"title": "MaskedBiker š³ļøāš š³š± (Jethro)š (@maskedbiker.bsky.social)"
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"plaintext": "Service Top - An intersectionality that more and more people are starting to identify with, many of whom might have once been submissive bottoms. A Service Top is a person who takes the physically insertive role but doing so entirely under the pleasure, instruction, and command of their partner. These people derive the majority of their satisfaction from serving, performing well, and obeying the desires of their dominant partner who might otherwise be physically receptive"
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"plaintext": "Power Bottom - Another intersectionality that more and more people are starting to identify with. Power Bottoms occupy the physically receptive space while dictating the pace, energy, and direction of an encounter. Using their energy, assertiveness, and sometimes physical control to drive an interaction."
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"plaintext": "True Switch - This one might feel a bit more self explanatory, but I think that it's worth going into. A True Switch is the absolute center of the matrix, these are people who are comfortable being entirely fluid and find satisfaction across all physical positions and psychological roles depending on scenario, chemistry, mood, and partner."
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"plaintext": "Even Stranger!"
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"plaintext": "We should also upend how we think about traditional roles in BDSM as well. It shouldn't come to any surprise to the reader at this point that there are people out there who might buck the expectations of Dom/Sub even here, a place that's usually defined by tradition, formality, and some rigid adherence to ritual."
},
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"plaintext": "To explain this lets look in on John Simple and his sub Pup. John is confident, he fills the room with his presence, he goes to the gym, he has a six figure job, he's clean cut, an all-American boy next door. In his local BDSM community he's known as an upstanding Dom who has help teach many of the other Doms. "
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Pup is a younger man, he's a little more timid, what's striking about him is his close cropped hair and how his face is always smooth, he always seems to be right behind John where ever they go. Pup might not be as successful in his career as John but he's still able to live a comfortable life."
},
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "But then... when the door to John's play room closes, well. You might find John strung up from the ceiling in Shibari or being spanked by Pup. John has trained Pup in all manner of technique, and skills that traditionally might be employed by the Dom in a scene, but that's not Pup. "
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "Pup is still a submissive, Pup likes to be commanded, Pup likes to be given directions. Even if John is tied up and gagged and unable to do more than wriggle on the floor it was because John told Pup what to do, how to do it, and how long it should be done for."
},
{
"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "This gives John precious brain off time. Before the scene he told Pup exactly what to do, there's a set itinerary. Pup just needs to follow it, John just has to enjoy it."
},
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"$type": "app.offprint.block.text",
"plaintext": "When it's all said and done, John and Pup cuddle in bed, order DoorDash, and watch some cheesy alien invasion flick on Netflix while dozing off together."
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"plaintext": "Ultimately, stories like John and Pup's and intersectional identities like Service Top and Power Bottom shatter mainstream expectations of power and intimacy. They are a fundamental truth of the human experience that the queer community is just now uncovering: Power is a mindset, not a physical posture. Restraint is not a loss of control if you were the one who ordered it, and penetration is not submission if you are the one commanding it."
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"plaintext": "When we look back at the last seventy years of Western queer culture, we can see a radical evolution of identity, expression, and communication. We can see that we have been building brand new forms of relating, pioneering new power dynamics, and most importantly the vocabulary we need to love and thrive."
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"description": "Upending Expectations of Role, Position, and Relationships in Queer Culture",
"path": "/a/3mn3dbbcdkm23-power-bottoms-a-modern-realization",
"publishedAt": "2026-05-30T18:00:06+00:00",
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"textContent": "In my formative adult years, those being 18 to 28. I was mostly confused about my identity. I felt like I was an outlier in the gay community. That I was a strange anomaly. It was difficult to talk to people.\n> \"Oh yes, I'm a bottom.\"\n\"Well then kneel for me boy!\"\n\"You're barking up the wrong tree because I'm not a sub.\"\n\"How does that even work?\"\nI was, and still am, attracted to being the penetrated partner in sexual situations. Which back in the 2010's was basically unheard of in the broader community, and I didn't even have the terminology to describe it. Anytime someone heard me say \"bottom\" they automatically would just assume I was a submissive.\nWe attach these assumptions to titles we use. If you see a muscular handsome guy you automatically assume he probably has a large cock, is dominant, and probably a little tough to approach. When really he's fairly average below the belt, just wants to get laid out on the bench and railed until there isn't a single though left in his head and then called a good boy.\nThe gay community is full of niches and titles and labels and signals and flags. We've had methods of communicating preferences and desires almost subtly. Like the Hanky Code. \nAlso called flagging, a person would wear a colored handkerchief or bandanna in their back pocket to signal what they were looking for. You may have also heard of the infamous foot tap, where someone looking for some anonymous action would tap their foot under the stall. I bet you don't know about key code? A dom would wear their keys on a loop or carabiner on the left side and a sub on the right, and this was a signal for gay men, and is still heavily in use by the lesbian community.\nMany people though are stuck on the idea that\nTop = Dom\nBottom = Sub\nHuman sexuality is a bit more complex than that, and like the elder queers that many of us didn't get a chance grow up with we are sailing what is almost completely uncharted waters. The signals, the flags, the earrings, the slang, leatherman culture, pet play, all of those things started off with the question. \"How can we do that.\" \n\nWhile the urge to be a bottom commanding your top or a top taking commands from your bottom is ancient, a lot of people are just figuring out what that looks like. Now a days I have great pride in telling people that. There is such a thing as Role and Position and they are not mutual exclusive or inclusive of any of the other.\nThe Chart\nāš¼ Roles are things like Dominant, or Versatile, or Submissive.\n\nPositions are things like Top, Switch, or Bottom.\nWe should explore the above graphic in a bit of detail. Lets take it a bit like the alignment chart you might be familiar with from Dungeons and Dragons. \nThe horizontal axis in the chart represents the physical aspect of ones intimacy. Much like the horizontal axis of the D&D alignment chart focuses on how closely one might follow the laws of the world.\nWhile the vertical axis focuses on behavioral or psychological dynamic of a relationship or interaction. Again, much like how the D&D alignment chart's vertical axis focuses on Good and Evil.\nUnusual Intersectionality\nWe should talk about the bottom left to top right diagonal though. This is where many people get hung up when thinking about these situations. This chart doesn't do the best justice to just how wild human beings can be, take this Bluesky Post for example. It shows off just how little justice this chart does to the spectrum of sexual preferences.\nService Top - An intersectionality that more and more people are starting to identify with, many of whom might have once been submissive bottoms. A Service Top is a person who takes the physically insertive role but doing so entirely under the pleasure, instruction, and command of their partner. These people derive the majority of their satisfaction from serving, performing well, and obeying the desires of their dominant partner who might otherwise be physically receptive\nPower Bottom - Another intersectionality that more and more people are starting to identify with. Power Bottoms occupy the physically receptive space while dictating the pace, energy, and direction of an encounter. Using their energy, assertiveness, and sometimes physical control to drive an interaction.\nTrue Switch - This one might feel a bit more self explanatory, but I think that it's worth going into. A True Switch is the absolute center of the matrix, these are people who are comfortable being entirely fluid and find satisfaction across all physical positions and psychological roles depending on scenario, chemistry, mood, and partner.\nEven Stranger!\nWe should also upend how we think about traditional roles in BDSM as well. It shouldn't come to any surprise to the reader at this point that there are people out there who might buck the expectations of Dom/Sub even here, a place that's usually defined by tradition, formality, and some rigid adherence to ritual.\nTo explain this lets look in on John Simple and his sub Pup. John is confident, he fills the room with his presence, he goes to the gym, he has a six figure job, he's clean cut, an all-American boy next door. In his local BDSM community he's known as an upstanding Dom who has help teach many of the other Doms. \nPup is a younger man, he's a little more timid, what's striking about him is his close cropped hair and how his face is always smooth, he always seems to be right behind John where ever they go. Pup might not be as successful in his career as John but he's still able to live a comfortable life.\nBut then... when the door to John's play room closes, well. You might find John strung up from the ceiling in Shibari or being spanked by Pup. John has trained Pup in all manner of technique, and skills that traditionally might be employed by the Dom in a scene, but that's not Pup. \nPup is still a submissive, Pup likes to be commanded, Pup likes to be given directions. Even if John is tied up and gagged and unable to do more than wriggle on the floor it was because John told Pup what to do, how to do it, and how long it should be done for.\nThis gives John precious brain off time. Before the scene he told Pup exactly what to do, there's a set itinerary. Pup just needs to follow it, John just has to enjoy it.\nWhen it's all said and done, John and Pup cuddle in bed, order DoorDash, and watch some cheesy alien invasion flick on Netflix while dozing off together.\n\nUltimately, stories like John and Pup's and intersectional identities like Service Top and Power Bottom shatter mainstream expectations of power and intimacy. They are a fundamental truth of the human experience that the queer community is just now uncovering: Power is a mindset, not a physical posture. Restraint is not a loss of control if you were the one who ordered it, and penetration is not submission if you are the one commanding it.\nWhen we look back at the last seventy years of Western queer culture, we can see a radical evolution of identity, expression, and communication. We can see that we have been building brand new forms of relating, pioneering new power dynamics, and most importantly the vocabulary we need to love and thrive.",
"title": "Power Bottoms: A Modern Realization"
}