Although there continue to be large factions of gay men who identify as either top or bottom, more and more are starting to claim a more versatile status. The top-bottom binary has been criticized for imitating the heterosexual binary. Common slang terms that are used primarily among gay men are pitcher (top), catcher (bottom), and switch hitter (versatile). In the case of a heterosexual couple in which the male partner acts as the submissive partner the male "bottoms" during sexual activity. A homosexual male who prefers to penetrate his partner during anal intercourse "tops" his partner. The terms top and bottom still are used among both gay and straight men and women, particularly as transitive verbs that indicate the performance of sexual penetration or dominance-submission. For example, a gay man with a tattooed armband on his left arm or a piercing in his left ear or nipple visually signifies his preference to act as a sexual penetrator or top, whereas a man wearing similar visual cues on the right side signifies a preference to be sexually penetrated, or to bottom. In this bilateral signification system a tattoo or piercing on the left side of the body indicates that the wearer identifies as a top, whereas a visual cue worn on the right side of the body indicates that the wearer prefers to act as a bottom. A visual signifier of sexual practice, whether a tattoo, piercing, or another signifier, denotes the top-bottom or dominant-submissive preference through its placement on either side of the body. The term versatile is used commonly to indicate a preference to act as either top or bottom.ĭuring the 1970s and 1980s various methods of signifying top and bottom preferences emerged, ranging from tattoos to body piercing to color-coded handkerchiefs. A top acts as a sexual penetrator, or the inserter during sexual (vaginal or anal) intercourse, and a bottom acts as the penetrated partner, or the receiver. In that community they are used most often among gay men as indicators of preferences for sexual position however, the terms also have been adapted by the lesbian community. These terms evolved in the 1970s and 1980s as they were adapted by the gay community. For example, a top who takes direction from the bottom's explicitly expressed wishes often is called a service top. Although the top is the dominant partner, the bottom often still has control. In these cases the terms are not gender-specific: A male or a female may act as a top or a bottom. The term bottom indicates the receiver of such treatment.
In the BDSM community the term top indicates the dominant partner who inflicts pain on, enacts control over, or otherwise subjects his or her partner to acts associated with bondage, discipline, and sadomasochism. Originally, the top-bottom binary signified both sexual positions and power relationships in which a top was a sexual aggressor and penetrator who often acted as the more forceful and dominant partner the bottom represented the more submissive, typically penetrated, and often "punished" partner. The terms top and bottom emerged as descriptors of a sexual binary in the gay leather culture of the 1950s and the bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) culture of the 1960s.