Who Really Has the Power in a DS Relationship?

[Donatien]

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

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

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.

To remove any possible misunderstanding of my position, may I say that I fully support the aspirations, for healthy BDSM relationships that TG is cogently propounding, and as defined in Rubys thread. on rereading my post i realise that it came across as harder hitting, and without any of the light ironic quality, that I intended.As I read it now it comes across as bad tempered and rude. PLease all accept my apologies for that. ( lucy you are wise as always! ......But it wasn't me that said "hmm, the need to be right allthe time".really it wasn't)

My only slight caveat and reason for writing, (apart from what I only intended as a light hearted nit pic at TG, who is more than capable of looking after himself) being the question of situations, of power imbalance, when even apparently whole hearted consent is not what it seems. ( e.g stockholm syndrome). I do not believe that enough recognition is given to the presence of hypnotic trance phenomena , in particular the post hypnotic suggestion, in every day life, without any formal trance being induced. Most false , confessions, 'miraculous healings', conversions,and even anxiety attacks, panic attacks, and phobias, probably involve this mechanism. Since only a minority of the population are succeptable to this phenomenon, (perhaps only 10-15%) , the possibility of its existence is not even considered. In BDSM a consensual shift in the power balance is common, and it is my impression that there are a higher percentage of highly imaginative individuals in the bdsm sub world than the normal population, and a strong imagination is one of the prerequisites for this capability.
Finally please forgive my ignorance as a new comer, but what does SSC or SS & C stand for?