Het!Reid vs. Slashy!Reid

[poeticpathetic.livejournal.com]

We had a great discussion going on here about Reid as written in slash fics.  Some people touched on Reid written in het fics as well and I was hoping to explore that a little more.   I know het isn't as popular amongst fandoms as slash is (and this is across the board), but I've seen two distinct variations of Reid in het fics, and I'm new to the genre.  There's the confident, self-assured Reid who's clearly aware of what he's doing, and then there's the Reid who is a total fumble and fail and lets whoever he's with sort of take over.  What do you think is more accurate and why do you think we see two ends of the spectrum?  What episodic evidence do we have when it comes to formulating Reid's sex-life, if any, and how do you interpret it?

Comments

[bbt-criminal.livejournal.com]

In BDSM, that is referred to as "topping from the bottom," which is more or less when you've got a manipulative sub who controls the scene by putting too many restrictions on what the "master" is allowed to do. It doesn't make for a good scene, or for good fic.

[benitle.livejournal.com]

But I wasn't even talking about BDSM. I was merely talking about two men with equal power/dominance in bed where the bottom enjoys taking charge. It doesn't have anything to do with one partner being a manipulative sub or not making a great scene/story. The point I was trying to make was that bottoming doesn't automatically mean losing control during sex.

[bbt-criminal.livejournal.com]

I'm going to disagree with you on that one. In our culture, penis=power. Therefore, any time there's penetration going on, there's a power imbalance. I know it's not polite to say it, and a lot of people are going to jump down my throat for it, but there it is. (Also, equal power makes for no sizzle. That would be why there aren't more Hotch/Morgan shippers. They're equals and it would be dull.)

On the other hand, we're going off-topic.