Topping from the Bottom: Neal Caffrey and Domination/Submission

[veleda_k]

I’ve had the basic idea for this post for ages, and I’m finally typing it up, somewhat different in form than I first conceived it. I’ve long wanted to talk about why I think the kinky side of White Collar fandom gets Neal so wrong, but after talking to

Comments

[freetraveller15]

I'm so glad you wrote this post. The issue you discuss has long been on my mind and made me very uncomfortable in all the years I've been in the White Collar fandom. I never, ever bought the idea (quite rightly, as you point out, unsupported by canon) that Neal's situation should be mistaken for his preferences in bed. That's two totally different things. He may like to indulge in kinks or fantasies once in a while (after all, the cuffs found by his bed after a night spent with Sara could be ascribed to herkinks as much as his), but I never saw him in a preferably submissive role by default, whether in a m/m or m/f scenario. I've always seen him, as you say, as a guy who aims to please, for two reasons, I think: he courts other people's attention; and he has a generous trait in his (complex) character. Eager-to-please may translate, in a sexual intimacy context, into a wish to adapt to his partner's wishes and preferences, or into a taste for adventure in trying new things, but not - in my mind - into a constant submissive role at all