Topping from the bottom

Topping From the Bottom is a phrase used in the lifestyle to describe a situation or relationship where the bottom, or submissive, partner is calling the shots, or controlling the encounter.

In an SM scene, the Bottom often will have quite a lot of control over what is going to happen and even just how it is going to happen, with the Top following instructions or guidelines quite closely.

When referring to a sub or slave, the phrase Topping From the Bottom is often used as a negative assessment of the submissive's behaviour, or perhaps as a poor reflection on a dominant. Sometimes, however, it is quite acceptable when the submissive is teaching the dominant something.

Some submissives have strong ideas about how they think a dominant should behave and are forthright when someone doesn't dominate them just the way they want to be dominated. People who make a habit of this are also sometimes called pushy subs or pushy bottoms.

Topping From the Bottom can refer to scening, to sex, to lifestyle behaviour and is even a phrase used with similar meaning in business management.