Really old thread I know, but I just came across it.

People are much to concerned with figuring out what to label yourselves as. The bottom line is, you don't have to be *one thing all the time* just so you can stick a label on your profile.

I've straight-subbed to some and straight-Dom'd others - switching is no different than anything else, it has to work with the specific people involved. Just because you may be a switch doesn't mean your partner is too. With one person the role of sub may fit, with another the role of Dom. In some instnaces maybe both. But I don't feel these roles are nearly as concrete as some who feel the need to label everyone as either Dom, sub, or switch (save for those who truly cannot enjoy one role or the other... for reasons I honestly do have a hard time understanding personally).

To answer how would I truly define a switch, it would be as one who's not just capable of enjoying, but truly can understand and be comfortable in either role. I spent pretty much my first year in BDSM totally online and all of it as a sub, because it was exactly right for the person I was playing with for most of that time. Really, allowing my Dom side to come out is relatively recent. I wouldn't want to Dom the woman in question; it wouldn't have fit for us. But it was after I started exploring away from her, that I realized I had both sides of the coin in me. And the time I've been a sub is invaluable... I *know* what the desire of submission is. In intimate detail. It's hard to express how useful having that knwoledge has been in my Dom explorations since.