John's Dilemma in Helen's "Take Clothes Off As Directed"

I got involved in a very interesting discussion over at cathexys' LJ of helenish's Take Clothes Off As Directed, a Stargate: Atlantis story that the author describes as an "unauthorized homage" to Xanthe's Coming Home and General & Dr. Sheppard. For those who aren't familiar with either, Xanthe created an alternate universe where social and sexual roles were determined not by gender/sex but by one's identification as a "top" or a "sub." This discussion took place in a locked post, but Cathexys suggested that I make my interpretation available in a public post.

cathexys's original post raised the question of whether or not Helen's story treats power roles as biologically-based or culturally constructed. A lot of people read this story as an allegory for sexism and a pretty brilliant feminist critique of the struggles people face trying to live within socially-constructed roles framed as natural. However, the story contains a line that complicates this reading: "John had known he was a sub since he was six and lost his virginity at 17 with his high school girlfriend, tied to her bed with knee socks with unicorns on them." This line prompted Cathexys to wonder about choice and visibility of identity in this world:

"The extreme imbalance of the system makes it difficult to maintain sub/toppiness as *choice*. The story slides between identity positions that are written on the body (like sex [and race]), which fit with the overall allegorical thrust and the various moments of clear feminist struggles, and identity positions that may be in-born but that are not as easily detectable in random daily encounters. As such, the sentence reads like sexual orientation more than gender, which means it can be hidden, that it needs to be announced by the subject in question." [Used gratefully with her permission.]

I got into the discussion to argue that John's identification of himself as a sub at a young age doesn't contradict with a constructivist reading; this post explains how I personally read this story.

( Disclaimer )

( Take Clothes Off as a queer love story and how this 'verse differs from BDSM )

( Childhood, socialization into top/sub roles, and 'why choose subhood?' )

( John's deviant subhood, why passing isn't the solution, and the John/Rodney dynamic )

( Reading John by my own made-up scripts )

ETA: Now with a section of cathexys's original post for clarification. [11/20/2006]