adaddysgirl
Posts: 1093
Joined: 3/2/2004 From: Syracuse, NY Status: offline
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'Back in the day', there was quite a distinction between a wife and a girlfriend. A wife made the vows and had both the wedding ring and the piece of paper to validate her position...her 'title' if you will. She made a commitment for life and it was acceptable for her to have children within the marriage. Divorce really was not an option or at the least, it was frowned upon. The girlfriend, on the other hand, bore no such commitment. She did not live with the boyfriend, she was free to leave the relationship if she so desired, and having kids outside of marriage was a big no-no. But as we can all see, these roles have merged drastically. People no longer have to be married to live together and have kids. With the divorce rate, live ins often stay together longer than marrieds. And in some states, if you live with your partner long enough, you are legally considered his wife, even without the ring and the piece of paper. i think this same trend has spread across the D/s lifestyle as well. i can recall early on hearing of slaves who were actually collared at collaring ceremonies, in front of their community. That was what receiving a collar and ownership was really about. But, let's see...nowadays we have: Online slaves who are collared without ever meeting their Master in RL. We have the 'Insta-slave' who is on CM 2 weeks, meet a dom, is collared, she then becomes a slave and he a Master. We have slaves with limits, and slaves with no limits. We have slaves who live with their Masters, and slaves who don't. We have slaves who blindly obey, and others who don't. Slaves who can ask questions and others who can't. Slaves who have input in decisions, and other who don't. Slaves with safewords, and slaves without. Some slaves turn over all rights, including their money.....and others do not. We have slaves who submit once and can never leave, and slaves who submit once but can leave, and when they do leave, they wonder if they are still a slave. We have Gor slaves. And we have the 'slave for a day' (okay, so i made that one up....lol) So does every person who gets a collar automatically qualify as a slave? And then we have the submissive....who supposedly submits and renegotiates on a daily basis. Yes....every day she wakes up and thinks 'Hmmm...do i really feel like submitting today?' 'That rule Sir made yesterday just doesn't sit right with me. Think i'll tell him that's a hard limit today and if he doesn't like it, oh well. Too bad for him.' It often sounds like they don't give their all.....like they have no real 'stake' in the relationship....much like the girlfriend of old. But i still don't see such a distinction. Because a Dom calls himself a Dom, or Sir, or Lord, or Daddy...or whatever....and chooses to call his partner a sub instead of a slave, makes their relationship no less committed than an M/s couple....not in this day and age anyway. And what about subs who are with their partners for years? Are they really any less committed to staying in that relationship than a slave? Is a sub with a Dom of 10 years any less of anything than a slave? And if her partner knows her better than the newly proclaimed slave, does that make her less than that slave? If people stay in relationships long enough, i think they share pretty much the same dynamic with trust and love and limits, etc, regardless of what they call themselves. i think duration has a lot to do with it. So CP, you can search the ends of the earth for a defining point between a slave and a sub and i think all you will come up with ultimately is whatever term is agreed upon by those in the relationship. Well, i am off to work here shortly. This was fun! Maybe i'll have some more great thoughts while i 'slave away' at my desk today Have a great day all! DG
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