njlauren
Posts: 1577
Joined: 10/1/2011 Status: offline
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I think this falls under the category quite honestly of what BD/SM in general means to me, and that is it is inherently self defined. We can argue that slavery in the context of M/s isn't 'real' because in real life context, slaves were owned property who had no rights at all, who didn't enter into it consensually, who had no say in how they are treated, and if you use that definition then yes, it isn't 'real'. But words have context, and there is nothing oxymoronic about 'consensual slavery', since consensual is defining the nature of the slavery, that someone is willingly binding themselves to another person as their slave. Even in the BD/SM world there is quibbling about slavery, that okay, slavery exists, but unless the M sets the whole thing and has total power, including in theory to right to really hurt or maim their 'property', where the slave has no rights, it isn't real...the whole point is as real as this is to people into M/s relationships, it is all fantasy in that legally there is nothing binding, the only thing that binds the people is in their imagination and hearts, and therefore whatever they define to me is real, no matter how heavy or light it is. In reality slavery in the 'real' world was never all the same, slaves in some societies were full members of the household and had a lot of rights, others had very little, and in some cases you could argue that other then the fact that they enter into it of their own will with no legal binding, many of the 'lighter' M/s relationships were not all that much different then slavery in some 'real' situations. Then we come to the difference between submissive and slave..and my answer is, that really depends on how the person sees themselves in my experience. I have met people with a D/s that was pretty strict and in everything but name was an M/s, I have seen M/s relationships that were pretty light....the difference is in the hearts of the participants IMO, if they and their M feel like they have an M/s, they do, if they feel like it is D/s, it is. Trying to put definitive labels on something that is by its very nature so nebulous is a fool's errand:)
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