Quote Originally Posted by Sir_Russell
It is a shame then, maybe it is my belief that words are tools that has me concerned that terms and history of the life has gone so loosy goosy.

There was a group in Colorado that was teaching they newbees that BDSM started after WW2 by black gay men. That is what frightens me, if we don't know more about what we do and who we are how will anyone ever understand how dangerous our form of play can be.
That's an excellent point and one I partially agree with. I don't know that it follows that if a person doesn't know how and when BDSM started they won't practice it safely, but there are too many people out there half-assing their way through BDSM and that makes them dangerous. Your post about your introduction to BDSM makes me view your initial post in a different way too. In a society of people it would be necessary to have distinctions between the titles so everyone would know what you were. Most of us aren't in societies though and I don't like to give people the impression that there is a "right" way to practice the relationship parts of BDSM or that the words are what is most important.