i actually wrote a whole 13-page paper on slash once. it was specifically about rape slash, but i had to touch on all slash and yaoi. from my research and so forth i came up with a few different reasons that might explain your question.
one is that slash has nothing to do with gay guys, unless its the sort of slash that's written by and for them. that's not most slash. instead, slash is a lot like Japan's yaoi in that it's made for and by women and it's about heterosexual relationships. the dom and sub, or as i prefer, seme (literally, attacker)and uke (literally, one who is attacked) represent masculinity and femininity respectively. a writer or reader can explore these concepts without having to feel like one is stronger because the uke is weaker or the seme is stronger. and in fact, often it's the opposite. regardless, both characters are male but represent two extreme versions of gender identity.
a second theory is that the two guys, seme and uke, represent two very opposite types of men. one is strong, stoic, aggressive, and so on. the other is emotional, compassionate, gentle, needy, and so on. the seme and uke each have personality and physical traits that women want in men, but neither have all of them. by making them so extremely one way or the other the women who read or write can sort of fulfill something in their fantasies that isn't possible in life or in het smut.
think about the sort of fumbling, victimized Reid in slash. would you be comfortable reading that character as a woman? i think that we are so used to identifying the word victim with the word woman or girl. it's easier and less frightening to explore relationship dynamics when you make these characters men.
of course, there are lots of other explanations. that was just my interpretation. i also don't think it's anything to do with this particular fandom or any fandom in particular. every fandom has its own characters that are almost always the seme or uke. for example, in X-Men Wolverine is generally always a dom or seme. Gambit is almost always an uke, and is very often a victim of rape or abuse. i guess you can call that fanon. in HP, Snape can be either seme or uke, depending on who he's partnered with. slash writers, i think, look for the seme or uke in their favorite characters.
as to het, it generally makes me really uncomfortable to read. there is only one fandom in which i will read het and it's probably because the established pairs are so good together that i wouldn't change it.
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one is that slash has nothing to do with gay guys, unless its the sort of slash that's written by and for them. that's not most slash. instead, slash is a lot like Japan's yaoi in that it's made for and by women and it's about heterosexual relationships. the dom and sub, or as i prefer, seme (literally, attacker)and uke (literally, one who is attacked) represent masculinity and femininity respectively. a writer or reader can explore these concepts without having to feel like one is stronger because the uke is weaker or the seme is stronger. and in fact, often it's the opposite. regardless, both characters are male but represent two extreme versions of gender identity.
a second theory is that the two guys, seme and uke, represent two very opposite types of men. one is strong, stoic, aggressive, and so on. the other is emotional, compassionate, gentle, needy, and so on. the seme and uke each have personality and physical traits that women want in men, but neither have all of them. by making them so extremely one way or the other the women who read or write can sort of fulfill something in their fantasies that isn't possible in life or in het smut.
think about the sort of fumbling, victimized Reid in slash. would you be comfortable reading that character as a woman? i think that we are so used to identifying the word victim with the word woman or girl. it's easier and less frightening to explore relationship dynamics when you make these characters men.
of course, there are lots of other explanations. that was just my interpretation. i also don't think it's anything to do with this particular fandom or any fandom in particular. every fandom has its own characters that are almost always the seme or uke. for example, in X-Men Wolverine is generally always a dom or seme. Gambit is almost always an uke, and is very often a victim of rape or abuse. i guess you can call that fanon. in HP, Snape can be either seme or uke, depending on who he's partnered with. slash writers, i think, look for the seme or uke in their favorite characters.
as to het, it generally makes me really uncomfortable to read. there is only one fandom in which i will read het and it's probably because the established pairs are so good together that i wouldn't change it.