Re: Ask a hundred different people...
"The bottom line is I don't care if you use the title slave, you can call yourself Praxion from the planet Ziffania for all I care."
I'm brand new to the site and I love reading your stuff, I learn so much from you. Your humor especially, and your honesty.
Re: Ask a hundred different people...
"The bottom line is I don't care if you use the title slave, you can call yourself Praxion from the planet Ziffania for all I care."
I'm brand new to the site and I love reading your stuff, I learn so much from you. Your humor especially, and your honesty.
Submission slavery or objectification
I'm glad this thread was 'refreshed' as there has been some very interesting comment, but there is a point that does not seem to have been picked up.
I see submission as more than just a role that someone chooses to play in the context of power exchange. It is a sexual orientation, more than just a role or state of mind. It is a need, a position, and it reflects a psychological makeup that is very different from that of a person who can be dominant.
Slavery, on the other hand, is a way to put submission into practice. It is a status in a context that involves other people. Submission can remain just an unsatisfied need, although the role that a submissive will be naturally inclined to play in power exchange is predefined.
Slavery as a status is not necessarily consensual. Consensual slavery requires extreme submissive tendencies on the part of the slave, a need to be utterly controlled. A slave may not accept this status. It can be abusive. Non-consensual slavery does exist in the lifestyle and does not require the slave to have a natural inclination towards the submissive role. Slavery does not necessarily involve sex. but it always involves power play. Slavery is by definition a status that applies 24/7, or for an extended duration.
Objectification may seem like an extreme form of sexual slavery, but from the descriptions in this thread it is more about the way a submissive is treated, or wants to be treated. The duration is unspecified. Unquestioning obedience is not enough. The treatment is necessarily degrading. It involves the total subjugation of both body and mind. Permanent harm in many forms is not excluded. This kind of treatment can equally be applied to a person who is not naturally submissive, because objectification does not require any form of consent. Curiously, there are many people out there who derive sexual satisfaction from being treated like that, or even just thinking about it. Unfortunately there are also people out there who are treated like that, derive no sexual or other satisfaction from it, and cannot escape from their situation.
Naturally inclined submissives require a form of relationship that applies a form of constraint, physical or mental, for the full expression of their own sexual orientation. A person's preferences can be very complex, but I think there should always be love and respect for the other partner underlying any form of power exchange. The submissive partner should never be exposed to sickness, injury or any other kind of permanent harm on a non-consensual basis. If that happens the dominant should be locked up!
The Existence of Non-Consensual Slavery
Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtis
Okay, I'm probably missing something here, but "Non-consensual slavery does exist in the lifestyle" doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of this post. Also, I don't agree with the statement. If it's non-consensual, it's criminal, and not part of 'the lifestyle' as that phrase is generally used in this Forum. The essence of BDSM is 'safe, sane, consensual'; if it's non-consensual, it's assault, rape, kidnapping, etc. :dunno:
Curtis, you are preaching to the converted - however, the 'lifestyle' does not only exist within the boundaries of this Forum. Unfortunately the idealistic attributes 'safe, sane, consensual', which I believe I endorsed very strongly in my statement, are not universally accepted by all practising dominants. I felt it necessary to state facts, because of the nature of the question posed by this thread, which might have been taken as suggesting that submission, slavery and 'objectification' can be compared on the same level playing field. I do not consider that they are comparable on this basis, or equally acceptable, and I believe I explained my reasoning rather clearly.
We also have the same kind of problem that exists with other forms of domestic violence. The victim is often reluctant to pursue a complaint through the courts. Being submissive, taking such a form of positive action can often be psychologically difficult for a person whose ego has been systematically trampled on, even when the situation becomes intolerable and actual bodily harm has occurred.
Nobody can deny that many people who enjoy relationships involving bdsm experience gratification of a kind, or an intensity that otherwise does not occur. As in any loving relationship, I would like to think that the more effort is devoted to the pleasure of the partner, the more enjoyable it is. If one partner has no interest in the gratification of the other, as you rightly pointed out, the relationship is abusive, and legal sanctions should apply. The success of marriages or partnerships that do not involve bdsm is just as dependent on the unselfish attitude of both partners.
I believe that what I posted was both accurate, and directly relevant to the issues previously discussed in this particular thread. Hopefully what I have added was complementary to the previous discussion, and useful.