TPE = Totally Pointless Expression?

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TPE = Totally Pointless Expression? - 5/18/2005 1:24:48 PM

EmeraldSlave2

Posts: 3645
Joined: 1/1/2004
Status: offline

OK so most of the regs here already know how I feel about TPE but I figured it was a good time to spell it all out and get a lot of responses.

I think TPE is a false way of stating what actually occurs in M/s relationships.

TPE = Total Power Exchange

Total? Meaning what? All the power? All the possible power? All the desireable power? A slave still has the power to breath, to menstruate, to dream, and most doms don't like to constantly have to feed their slaves, dress their slaves, bathe their slaves and move them about like pots of plants. Giving someone total power seems inappropriately stated here.

Power? As noted above, we still HAVE a lot of power within ourselves. Not only to do the normal life functions, but to do HIGH functioning, high thinking, high processing, we carry out orders, we get trained, we have responsibilities and expectations upon us. This takes a LOT of personal power to enact effectively. I don't transfer power to the Owner, in fact in many ways I am MORE powerful than I was when I first became owned by him.

Exchange? Well you obviously aren't exchanging power for power according to this acronym, so there seems to be a missing word. Usually it's something like responsibility, or security or protection or some stereotypical dominant aspect.

So obviously, I think TPE is pretty flawed.

What do I use? Well, when I have to use a term, I use "Ultimate Authority Transfer."

Ultimate - this means the Owner can have as little or as much DIRECT control and management over me as he wants, because ultimately (at the end of the day/when it comes down to it) he's the final decision maker. If I do it, it's because he allows it, if I don't do it, it's because he doesn't. We don't have to worry about degrees, or portions, or times of day, or what power I may or may not have. It also means he can give me authority over some areas in a middle management sort of way, while he retains the ultimate veto. We only worry about that final line.

Authority - As I said, I am a pretty powerful person. But obviously the Owner does have something I do not in order for him to be able to make the rules. This is "authority." He has the ultimate authority over me. It's far more specific than a vague "power" and it shows how the direction of my life goes. He uses his authority to use me, to control me, to direct me, to manage me. And with his authority, I am delegated responsibilities.

Transfer - gone is the confusion of "exchange" and the Missing Piece. We have only one term here, authority, which is transferred. Very clear and very clean. He has ultimate authority, I do not.

So, out with TPE, in with UAT. Simpler, more accurate, and true to life.