It's classic heteronormativity being shoved into queer relationships.
The things we associate with bottoms tend to also be associated with women - kindness, submissiveness, neediness. The things associated with the 'top' tend to be masculine. And it's that framework that we get the idea the penetrated partner is lesser. Because penetration is associated with men and taking something into you is associated with women.
It's transposing limited patriarchal heterosexual archetypes onto queer relationships. Never mind that a quarter of gay men don't engage in anal sex at all on a regular basis. 1/4 do other things and that's that.
In fics with a the clear delineation between who is a top and who is a bottom because of personality traits, I've often noticed the idea that penetrative sex is the be all and end all of sex. It's real sex, whereas hand jobs and blow jobs somehow aren't as important or intimate.
That's also a heteronormative framework. So there's a lot of norming the queer that goes on in fics like that.
TLDR I agree with you. It is a really limited view of sex and relationships.
I'm not saying that I've read papers on this topic, I'm just saying maybe I've read papers on this topic.
Re: Favorite and Least Favorite Tropes and Headcanons
The things we associate with bottoms tend to also be associated with women - kindness, submissiveness, neediness. The things associated with the 'top' tend to be masculine. And it's that framework that we get the idea the penetrated partner is lesser. Because penetration is associated with men and taking something into you is associated with women.
It's transposing limited patriarchal heterosexual archetypes onto queer relationships. Never mind that a quarter of gay men don't engage in anal sex at all on a regular basis. 1/4 do other things and that's that.
In fics with a the clear delineation between who is a top and who is a bottom because of personality traits, I've often noticed the idea that penetrative sex is the be all and end all of sex. It's real sex, whereas hand jobs and blow jobs somehow aren't as important or intimate.
That's also a heteronormative framework. So there's a lot of norming the queer that goes on in fics like that.
TLDR I agree with you. It is a really limited view of sex and relationships.
I'm not saying that I've read papers on this topic, I'm just saying maybe I've read papers on this topic.