Just a short rant...
Here is what I have never understood... to whom are you defending YOUR way of life? Slave, sub, whatever... you are what works for you. I just don't get why people get their guns out about this issue when it's brought up...I am not saying any one person in this thread has said any one thing that fits into the category of "defensive", but reading this thread top to bottom does make one wonder...

... if you're a sub, great, you're a sub. If you're a slave, great, you're a slave. If you're something in between, that's fantastic if it works for you. Why does ANYONE let someone ELSE tell them what they should feel/be/act like?? If you get upset everytime this issue is brought up, and you find yourself getting verchlemped (sp?) then you have to ask yourself: what's making you feel so uncomfortable?

OP was simply stating some very broad & well accepted "generic" notions of the differences between slave & sub--what OP thought they were. Y'all are, of course, free to contrast & compare them with your ideas and post your notions of it... but really.... it all boils down to making it what works for you. So for newbies reading this thread: you have to do what works for you!

And you know what? What you are changes in the short term, and, for some, changes in the long term. You might be slide more towards one end then another on Monday, and slide to the other end on Wednesday. It's called the ebb & flow of LIFE... You have to try things out, everyone's situation is different, everyone's notion of what they want is different--and thank god. You wouldn't want 10,000 of the same type of couple wandering around.

Celebrate the differences. Have a discussion about your philosophies... but for the love of GOD... please just remember: you are YOU--you are like NO ONE ELSE... be proud of who you are... be proud of what you are becoming. Stop obsessing about what other people may label you as or think of you as. It doesn't matter: the only opinion that matters is your own...

Just my rant.