Becoming A Slave Read Online Free Page A

only prompted by memories of how that topic has played out in my own relationship. But al of them are insights I offer out of my own experience and observations. I hope you wil respect them as such and use them on your journey if they are helpful.

    Becoming a Slave: The Theory and Practice of Voluntary Servitude, wil be a good companion to your journey. Use it to help you understand the many feelings this journey wil bring.
    After Reading Activities

    Get yourself a loose-leaf notebook or start a word processing document in which you wil keep a journal. Use the notebook to write about your first contact with the idea of slavery. Was it in a book? A movie? A friend? How did you feel about it then? How do you feel about it now? Why do you find it attractive? Why are you reading this book?
    Why do you want to be a slave? These questions can lead to greater understanding of yourself and give you some answers for those master applicants wise enough to ask them of you

    What myths and assumptions about slavery do you think you have that might not be based on reality? Can you describe your greatest 12

    obstacle to finding a dominant partner? What assets do you think you bring to such a relationship?

    If you meet regularly with like-minded friends, you might want to bring this book to a meeting and share a paragraph or two from this chapter. How do others react to the questions above?
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    Copies of
    Becoming a slave
    may be ordered at
    http://www.leatherviews.com
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    1.
    A Complementary Relationship
    In trying to speak in generalities, I know I am going to run headlong into the exceptions, with the inevitable result of someone pointing out an example that doesn’t fit. As I’ve noted before, human beings are far too variable to be classified into watertight compartments.26

    When it comes to M/s relationships, appearances can be most deceiving, probably because most people view this relationship through eyes (and with a mind) tainted by the myths of fiction. To the unknowing our lifestyle appears unequal, unfair, and unlivable. In fact, successful M/s relationships are based upon mutual support and the benefits that each partner receives from being in the relationship. Without mutual gratification, this relationship, as any other, wil quickly sour and end, at least as a satisfying relationship, if not in reality.

    We can also look at this by thinking of our “bottom line.”27 What must you have in a relationship in order to be fulfil ed? This question also addresses limits and wil be discussed in greater depth as the book develops.

    Mutuality isn’t the same as equality, so the partners’ support of one another may be expressed differently but mutual y. The differences between the partners’ roles are complementary so that each gives to the other in such a way that each is empowered by and satisfied in those roles. It is important to point out that the word “mutual” means
    “Having the same relationship each to the other; Directed and received in equal amount.” Therefore in the context of this discussion there can be no such thing as a master/slave relationship in which one partner gives or takes “more” than the other. One can only give as much as the other is wil ing to receive. One cannot be more of a master, for instance, unless the partner is wil ing to become more of a slave.

    Your search for a partner is actually the search for your complement, that special person whose temperament and vision for their future fits with yours. The characteristic of “fitness” is what al ows the relationship to work. It is also the reason that finding one’s partner is so difficult. You both must fit, and fitting involves a wide spectrum of characteristics, be they physical, intel ectual, social, economic or 26
    Townsend, Larry, The Leatherman’s Handbook, The Traveller’s Companion, Inc., New York, 1972.
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    Thanks to Slavette for this addition.
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    fantastic, meaning that your fantasies are complementary as