vacation

I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks. Part of the time I shall be in Berlin so if you know of any fun taking place there, do let me know.

;)

:)

More when I get back...

a BDSM spectrum

In a reply to a tweet I posted EisleyXO wrote "I feel like it’s more of a bdsm spectrum now more than ever."

There clearly is a wide spectrum of what people would consider as BDSM or D/s. At one end it may get close to an example I gave in an earlier post about service with little or no play or sexual element. At the other end it could involve heavy sado-masochist play and a slave contract.

So what would the minimum be for a relationship to be regarded as BDSM?

EisleyXO suggested, "Creating a safe environment, pushing limits, ensuring proper after care, and giving a sub the attention they crave could be considered the bare minimum of a d/s dynamic..."

I could agree with most of this but is "pushing limits" an essential part of a BDSM relationship? Though that is perhaps getting into a different discussion. (Perhaps next week!)

For now I wonder what others regard as the bare minimum for a dynamic to be considered BDSM?

loving care as an act of submission

I came across an interesting post on Fetlife recently. The writer was discussing the act of caring for someone as an act of submission. She was asking if there were male or female submissives who got off on just being caring and kind through looking out for anything their dominant might desire or need in their daily lives. The discussion was about this in a non-sexual or BDSM contact. It was purely about offering service and gaining enjoyment through this care and support. There was no search for punishment or reward. The only reward would be the fact that the dominant had been made happy and that they were appreciative of the care. The fulfilment was coming from the fact that the submissive knew they had done the best they could to do everything as perfectly as possible for their dominant and made them happy.

I think this may well be part of many D/s relationships. However for it to be the sole context of the D/s relationship would, I think, be unusual.

I wonder if it is part of your own D/s relationship?

I am slightly conflicted by this notion. I think of myself as dominant rather than submissive and I don't switch. However I like to give pleasure. I offer care and support to my submissives and gain pleasure from this. After all I am a Kind Dom. Does that mean I have submissive tendencies or am I merely manipulative!

;)

Toni

This post isn't about BDSM or D/s or anything at all salacious I am afraid.

It is just to mark the death of Toni Morrison who may have been the greatest American novelist of the last hundred years or so. If she had been male and white then perhaps she would be more widely celebrated as such. Though to be fair she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. (But then again so was Bob Dylan. Not that I don't like Bob but, well...)

I think I may have quoted from her once long ago in a post on my Beau blog but I can't find it now or the reason for it.

I have looked for her books on my shelves and found a couple. Others may have been lent out long ago and never returned. I hope I may find time this summer to re-read her novels and perhaps read ones of hers I am yet to discover.

On a review just now I heard her being talked of as describing the black experience. No. She described the human experience. So wonderfully.

Thank you Toni.