Quote Originally Posted by Ozme52 View Post
What's the dividing line between humiliation and embarrassment?

I think you need to define that to anwr the question. Euryleia's example I would list under the latter word.
Yes, I agree. There is always a fair amount of misunderstanding when it comes to what amounts to embarassing and what amounts to humiliation. In an attempt to clarify my question I'd say that I define embarassment as an emotional state experienced upon having a socially unacceptable act or condition witnessed by or revealed to others. I think embarassment at least to me usually carries the connotation of being caused by an act that is merely socially unacceptable, rather than morally wrong. For example, a person being caught picking their nose, or experiencing unexpected flatulence in a public setting, or of learning that they have been walking about the office for a good period of time while trailing a length of toliet tissue from a shoe.

With respect to the question I posed, I was speaking of erotic humiliation. Something experienced that doesn't degrade or even necessarily embarass but that in a real sense lowers a submissive's position in her own eyes with respect to a Dominant or would in the submissive's opinion lower their position in the eyes of others if the act or condition were observed, but at the same time provokes sexual arousal in the submissive.