Neil said:
The dynamic here is one of levelling off - or reversing - a perceived
imbalance
of power to facilitate access to the Patient. Both Cally and Vila can be regarded as 'weaker' than Avon, until Avon is debilitated and needs to be nursed to recovery. [...] (In the original article I referred to the Victim rather than the Patient, but in retrospect I think Patient is more applicable).
"Patient" is Latin for "sufferer" anyway and has the same root as "passive."
I would expect head injuries, brain damage, permanent disfigurements and amputations to be very rare or non-existent in such stories
Depends on which side you're on--Travis' permanent disfigurement is somewhat echoed in "Blake," too
Slash is one way of bridging the gap (if we take the sex in A/B slash to
be
at least in part a metaphor), h/c is another.
In my reading, though, Avon has both good and bad reasons for refusing to reveal vulnerability to Blake, who is lover, beloved, and rival simultaneously-- he cares much less what Vila thinks of him (and whether Vila is upset about his having been hurt) than about Blake's reactions.
It may be so that more readers identify with Avon than with Blake, though
I
don't recall seeing any poll results.
They might not be accurate--it's much more respectable to identify with Blake (and we seem to have an irresistible compulsion to manipulate election results anyway).
-(Y)