People do not like labels. This is not a label. Being a slave is not a label, for those who are owned slaves it is a lifestyle choice not a label.

I am not making a comparison of slave versus submissive. There is no comparison, but I will write more about that later in this post.

For now, I want to look at the definitions I have found on the net in various BDSM dictionaries defining the term slave.

Slave - A term used interchangeably with "submissive." Some consider a slave a more extreme version of a slave. See articles on "Slave vs. submissive."

Slave- Once used more generally for an SM bottom, this is now becoming limited to submissive in a long-term dominant- submissive relationship Submission...The act of or interest in submitting to a someone else's will, within limits, for sexual purposes.

Slave: A person who gives the control to another person (Dom/me, Top) Sometimes used the same way as the term sub, some people distinguish a sub from a slave by pointing out that a slave doesn't have the possibility to chose her/his destiny.

Property: A submissive in a BDSM relationship in which the emotional dynamic is that he or she is owned or controlled, either entirely or partially, by the Master or Mistress.(from a more detailed dictionary)

Slave: A person who has an on-going, structured relationship with a dominant. Someone who is or wishes to be completely owned and controlled by his or her dominant. Or term of endearment for the submissive.

I began my journey in exploring power exchange as a Domme. My personality, everything about me is Dominant. However, when I contracted with a male slave for training, I realized somehow I was at the wrong end of this power exchange. My heart, and my soul were yearning to be slave not Master.

So, I released my slave and sought out a Master. I was perplexed with myself. I did not feel submissive, and yet as a masochist, and the fact I wanted to feel the Domination of a Master, everything pointed to the fact I was, in fact, a submissive.

On the other hand, I am also a sadist. I am aggressive with my demeanor and personality. I was also told on occasion by experienced Dominants I met that I was in fact not submissive.

Master sat me down last year and flat our told me he knew he owned a Dominant. At the time I was crestfallen. I was his slave. I was his property. I thought by saying this to me he was telling me I was not what he had bargained for. His response at the time, was that he just needed to learn how to adjust his thinking in how he could use me as his slave.

We have now passed the two year mark in the relationship. In the two years I have written many things about the concepts of slavery. I have been criticized with my views regarding the subjugation of the slave.

However, I do feel in my heart, that slaves do not submit, but are subjugated. They are different concepts.

I have also come to the conclusion, and had the opportunity to hear it from a long standing teacher in M/s relationships, that slaves are indeed Dominants.

This was a profound revelation for me on many fronts. The foremost being, I have never felt submissive. I have been subjugated, I have needs that are fulfilled from this subjugation and being the property of another.

So it felt to me as if a piece of the M/s puzzle had fallen into place. I no longer have to put on a submissive face.

All the women I know who are slave wired are also sadistic, they like to top, and they are Dominant. I used to have very convoluted conversations regarding the fact I considered myself a Dominant slave and was not a switch. It seemed to me to be an oxymoron.

Slaves, after all give themselves in a way that goes beyond being in scene. Slaves do not go home after a fun week end with a Dominant and stop being slaves.

M/s when you think about it, is not part of the BDSM blanket acronym. The basis of any M/s relationship comes from a different space than D/s. I realize now I was trying to shoehorn in D/s concepts into my own headspace regarding M/s.

I remember when I began posting to these forums, as a brand new slave, I was often corrected that I was posting my views from the perspective of slave and not submissive. I owe them a belated apology, because they were completely correct in saying so.

Slaves are Dominant. We do not respond well in a D/s dynamic. We get frustrated when expected to be submissive. We respond well, when we are living in a structured environment that is task oriented. I think you will find that Master's also thrive in this environment, many of them being past military or in some other structured career. The difference being in the needs of the Master and slave as to which end of that structured environment fulfills them.

I think that is why threads and discussions that try to compare submissive and slave get so heated and confused.

We are in essence trying to compare apples and oranges. If one looks at submissives as exactly what they are, and slaves as exactly what they are, there can be no comparison. While I feel in some of the feelings invoked in D/s and M/s overlap, I do not feel as though they do conceptually at their root.

So, you see I do not consider it a matter of labeling. Slavery is not a brand or form of submission.