[QUOTE=Spitman]This is like asking which kind of execution you would rather have, because either answer would involve something that would feel like an amputation.

Being submissive does not necessarily involve a total surrender of control. Far from it. Submissives often like to be in control, and liking submission, they can also enjoy and understand the submission of a partner, who also provides the dominant element when the switch is the submissive. Being in control, even while in the submissive role, is a part of the personality that you can't give up, if you are that way inclined, any more than you would want to give up experiencing the physical sensations of the submissive role.

Spitman, I admire your delving into this issue.Surely this another example of human beings love of 'either/or' reasoning, so often setting up false dichotomies. Surely each one of us is a little like a commitee, with diverse elements, sometimes working in harmony as a team, and sometimes exhibiting contradictory behaviours in different areas of our functioning, or in the same areas at different times,( or even simultaneously!).Life is not a digital experience (+/- or 1/0) but analogue with infinite gradations. Different components contribute to the bdsm experience e.g algolania, control, and humiliation to name but 3. Two algolanics could switch, since they may both get turned on both by giving and receiving pain,( I discovered the sexual charge of pain, and also the changing experience that the endorphin release of arousal produces, when as a sadist I was testing my equipment ( yes , I know; that too!);many people who are used to being in control, like to take a breather, so two dominant algolanics could swap from time to time. It all depends on how much bdsm is a 'want to' sexual game , an optional add on, or to what degree it answers deep needs within ones personality that ramify far beyond just the sexual arena. I suspect that this is more true of the extreme ends of the spectrum, especially extreme issues of control +++/---, or the need to humiliate or be humiliated; this last element perhaps most likely to be an 'either or' issue for most of us, that is if it is an issue at all.