Quote Originally Posted by BDSM_Tourguide
No BDSM can happen without consent. Also, no BDSM can happen without awareness of risk, communication, honesty, and safety. In a relationship where abuse occurs, at least one of those things is missing. Even in the case of one partner manipulating the other partner into performing activities that the other partner might be unwilling to perform, risk awareness, safety, and honesty are all compromised. When a perosn compromises all those things, they take the power away from the person. And when that happens, those people are no longer practicing BDSM.

A submissive or slave may concede as much of her power as she wishes to her dominant partner, and as long as she is conceding it and it is not taken from her by manipulation or force, then there is nothing at all wrong with it. That's why I still completely believe that power does, always has, and always will lie with the submissive in any DS relationship.
Been reading, reading, reading, and I still have an issue with many of the statements made in this thread.

I disagree on how these concepts are being bantied about without any qualifiers. BDSM in itself does not imply consent - if it did, we wouldn't have the number of NC stories in the library or elsewhere.

SS&C is a philosophy and a practice.

When you say - No BDSM can happen without consent, I say qualify that.

If you were to say -

No healthy BDSM relationship between two or more individuals should ever remove consent, giving all parties the right to refuse each other's requests.

or

No healthy BDSM relationship between two or more individuals should ever operate without practicing SS&C.

Hey, then I'm with you.

What about the power? Again let's qualify that:

In a healthy BDSM relationship practicing the SS&C philosphy, a submissive or slave may concede as much of her power as she wishes to her dominant partner, and as long as she is conceding it and it is not taken from her by manipulation or force, then there is nothing at all wrong with it. Ultimately, that power then remains with the submissive.