I've only read the second of Xanthe's stories, but I think they can been seen as being in just about the same universe, but at different times (and in different genres). To use the metaphor of gender instead of BDSM roles backwards, Xanthe's is set in the world we (would like to thing we) live in today, when men and women (tops and subs) can take on any job, and do whatever they'd like to. Helen took that and (to my eyes) said "Hmmm, wonder what that world would have been like a couple of decades ago?" I think a lot of the differences between the two universes are very similar to the differences time has made to the expectations and experiences of women in traditionally male roles.
I also think that this John really is a sub, in Helen's world, but one comparable to a (straight) woman in a 50's style traditional environment who doesn't want to wear dresses and act helpless -- but still wants to have sex with a man (top). He's enough a product of his environment and experiences that he doesn't expect anyone to really want him if he can't dress and act the part, and he honestly sometimes wishes he could. Rodney, on the other hand, is a top who has totally rejected the whole BDSM-world equivalent of being "macho"; it's not clear whether that has more to do with him, or with the fact that the sciences are a much less traditional environment that the military. To say that they're not "really" sub and top is to sell short the story, in my view; it's like saying a tomboy isn't really a woman. I suppose what I'm saying is that Helen isn't trying to indict the BDSM underpinning of this shared world, but rather use it to indict the cultural expectations that come along for the ride.
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I also think that this John really is a sub, in Helen's world, but one comparable to a (straight) woman in a 50's style traditional environment who doesn't want to wear dresses and act helpless -- but still wants to have sex with a man (top). He's enough a product of his environment and experiences that he doesn't expect anyone to really want him if he can't dress and act the part, and he honestly sometimes wishes he could. Rodney, on the other hand, is a top who has totally rejected the whole BDSM-world equivalent of being "macho"; it's not clear whether that has more to do with him, or with the fact that the sciences are a much less traditional environment that the military. To say that they're not "really" sub and top is to sell short the story, in my view; it's like saying a tomboy isn't really a woman. I suppose what I'm saying is that Helen isn't trying to indict the BDSM underpinning of this shared world, but rather use it to indict the cultural expectations that come along for the ride.
(Hope that makes sense; I'm up far too late...)