If you were a slave...

I confess, I don't like the term "slave" applied to BDSM or D/s relationships. I feel that it is inevitably inaccurate, since slavery is, by definition, non-consensual. People who keep slaves in real life are doing so for economic gain, not for anyone's personal satisfaction, least of all the slaves'. They are operating outside of the law and do not have any abiding interest in their captives' well-being. Slavery is conducted in many parts of the world - women are sometimes abducted but more often lured with false promises of legitimate work, only to find that they are dependent on criminals for their livelihood and expected to earn money for them through prostitution, drug smuggling, or other illegal labor. For instance, if you were a slave...

...you would be prevented from leaving through coercion, brainwashing, and violence
...you would not be fed adequate, nutritious food
...your captors would compel you to use harmful, addictive drugs through which they could control you by controlling the drug supply
...you would be raped by your captors
...you would not receive adequate medical care
...you would most likely be murdered by your captor as soon as you became too much trouble or were no longer profitable
...if you became pregnant, your captors would most likely take the baby away and sell it, or murder it

I think what most people refer to as a "slave" role in BDSM is actually closer to that of a servant in the service of an English or American household in the 18th - 19th centuries. The servant in this situation was kept in place by the constant threat of being dismissed and losing both their livelihood and shelter, and was expected to follow an elablorate set of rules in order to keep that position. It is still more coercive than consensual, but servants were not killed or brutalized nearly as much as slaves are. They were sometimes physically punished, and probably molested and/or raped by their employers more often than people of that era would be inclined to admit.

Now, playing at being a slave or a servant is different from claiming to actually be one. I can actually see myself really enjoying slave play in small doses and under controlled circumstances.

She doesn't take this argument to the degree that I do, but Mistress Matisse did say in one of her Control Tower articles that no matter how much you may want it not to be so, you do have the right to leave the relationship, even if you call yourself a slave, and that believing otherwise is a nice fantasy, but not reality. So I'm not the only one.

I've come to accept that people in this community use the term slave to refer to something that is not actually slavery, and I accept that this is what they want to do. I just think it would be more accurately called something else.