A really interesting question. Actually something I've discussed quite a bit with my own psychologist. I've dealt with inferiority issues in the past, fairly extensively. Of course, at that point in my life, my Dom "side" wasn't very active because I had more pressing issues to focus on. Part of which was trying to "blend in" more with how other people seemed to be, which is a difficult thing for a kinkster, and that affected me pretty negatively.

When I was younger, I would say that my Dom side was rooted in fluctuating rapidly between feeling "greater than" or "less than" depending what I had been up to. But part of that also touched on something very deep to who I am, even at my most fucked-up. ;}

A lot of my Dom characteristics at this point in my life, stem from having done a great deal of self-examination and introspection, as well as changing aspects of my life that weren't functioning. Knowing that I can do that for myself, is what gives me the self-assuredness that most people with a sub-slant respond to. I have absolutely had times in my life when I felt completely out of control, when I was at my most miserable. A great deal of what happens in my life today, I do have control over, in some form or another. I'm all too aware, from my own experiences, that sometimes it takes having been smelted, melted down and clarified, to create something truly beautiful.