domtimothy46176 -> RE: Humiliation (1/20/2005 5:57:59 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyAngelika quote:
ORIGINAL: willing2serve hmmm, could it be degradation is a belittling, lowering self esteem and humiliation is a lifting, knowing your place of which you belong and therefore can be endearing? Actually... To humiliate (according to the definition people at www.m-w.com) is to reduce to a lower position in one's own eyes or others' eyes. To degrade (same source) on the other hand is a) to lower in grade, rank, or status (see demote); b) to strip of rank or honors; c) to lower to an inferior or less effective level; d) to scale down in desirability or salability. Humiliation can be an effective form of power exchange. It can also be just plain mean. It all depends on the intent and how it is done. It can have the effect of belittling such as what happens when one just bellows out a series of curse names at someone (of course making the Dom/me look like a potty mouthed moron). It can also have the effect of making someone feel safe in their place, what willing2serve describes as "knowing your place of which you belong and therefore can be endearing". - LA I use dictionary.com when i'm working at the puter, mostly for spelling, although I keep a copy of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language for more serious questions relating to meanings. dictionary.com has a couple of entries although the first is the better, IMO. It also corresponds almost closely to Webster. hu·mil·i·ate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hy-ml-t) tr.v. hu·mil·i·at·ed, hu·mil·i·at·ing, hu·mil·i·ates To lower the pride, dignity, or self-respect of. See Synonyms at degrade. Webster stated: to cause (a person) a painful loss of pride, self-respect or dignity; mortify I employ this definition, specifically the mortification. For those who don't have ready access to Mr Webster, I'll share his definition. mortification 3. the practice of asceticism by penitential discipline to overcome desire for sin and to strengthen the will I don't believe that the process needs to physically painful to be effective. In truth, I believe that it is much more a process of helping my girl work through problems that arise from the conflict between how she wants to behave and how she has been conditioned to behave. I provide an environment that is designed to allow her to break that conditioning and develop new behaviors that are more in line with who she wants to be. In common parlance, we speak of self-respect and one's place when speaking of humiliation. I've observed more self-respect and pride in my girl when she is able to behave in accordance with her vision of submission. I think the key to humiliation is to recognize it covers a lot of ground. It can be designed to hurt, to tear down or it can be a journey of learning to surrender in order to gain a deeper, more spiritual perspective. Viewed in one light, humiliation and degradation are, indeed, synonymous. Knowing how a partner interprets the words is a neccessary first step before agreeing to engage in it. Timothy
|
|
|
|