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ORIGINAL: Cherylmazana

I think you are confusing the issue here, Gorean thought is not universal throughout the books, the Home Stone and Caste certainly are not universal.

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John Norman travels through cultures showing the commonly held beliefs of a certain area, those customs and beliefs change depending on what part of the world you visit, just like in our own world.

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Every aspect changes religion, beliefs, clothes, even slavery take the two extremes of Tharna and the Alar for example.

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There is no one true way.

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It is the same with Gorean’s on Earth because the blanket of BDSM could if loosely applied even cover a man and woman in a traditional strict Christian marriage. And I am sure they would be horrified at the idea, the problem is only that BDSM is such a loose term it can encompass almost anything.

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ORIGINAL: celticlord2112

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Under the Dominance and submission aspects, would you say that there is an active level of negotiations either before or during the participation of it? Are there contracts involved in a general sense? If negotiations occur, or contracts are involved they usually spell out what "activities" will occur, or what activities wont occur.

In many D/s relationships, formal negotiations are part of the dynamic, as are formal written contracts.  I personally have known several D/s relationships that did not entail formal negotiations or contracts.  Also, the degree of formality as well as the detail of negotiation will vary widely. 

More broadly, I have observed even in vanilla relationships there tends to be an informal level of negotiation that occurs as a relationship evolves.  Relationships are rarely static and unchanging; the few I have observed that were static were also fairly short-lived.

That being said, yes, where negotiations/contracts occur (formal or otherwise) they will generally encompass what spectrum of activities will occur, and what the hard limits are.

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So then, based on your defining statements, would you say that the submissive holds the power in a D/s relationship?

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As an aside, the defining difference between D/s and M/s in my judgment (though maybe not in 100% of the cases) is that negotiations occur in any D/s relationship, whereas in a M/s relationship, once entered into such by a Master/slave that there will be no negotiations. Considerations yes, negotiations no.

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ORIGINAL: celticlord2112

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So then, based on your defining statements, would you say that the submissive holds the power in a D/s relationship?

I would not say it as a blanket statement, but there are D/s relationships where the submissive wields the ultimate control. 

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As an aside, the defining difference between D/s and M/s in my judgment (though maybe not in 100% of the cases) is that negotiations occur in any D/s relationship, whereas in a M/s relationship, once entered into such by a Master/slave that there will be no negotiations. Considerations yes, negotiations no.

Differentiating between D/s and M/s, I tend to agree with this.

The constant caveat, of course, in any such analysis is YMMV.   My personal approach when considering such relationships is to focus less on whether it's D/s or M/s and merely describe the degree and nature of power dynamic/power exchange taking place.  I have found the labeling to be unreliable in any but a conceptual discussion.