Archetypes, Forms and Images
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Images are pictures we have in our minds about how other people should appear and behave. These pictures aren't merely like two-dimensional photographs, or three-dimensional static sculptures. Instead, the pictures we have in our mind contain details of physical appearance, size, behaviour, clothing, and all the attributes which we would normally associate with a real person.
If we talk about, say, a Farmer, then we each might come up with a picture of a man sitting on a tractor, wearing overalls and a straw hat, driving through a field of wheat. Or we might see a man sitting on a stool in a barn, milking a cow. We know generally how he's going to talk, what he's going to be interested in, how he behaves, and so on. Now, this image we have in our minds about what a farmer should look like and how he behaves helps us recognise a real farmer when we see one. Undoubtedly a real farmer isn't going to exactly match the image in our mind, but we know the basic characteristics and when a real one comes along we recognise a match.
In the BDSM world, once we have a bit of experience with others who are also into BDSM, we develop our own images of how a Dominant should be, how a Submissive should be, and so on. I remind you that this isn't just how they look. It's also how they behave. With these images in our minds, when we see someone at a BDSM social event or party, even without speaking to them at all, just seeing them and how they behave, we recognise them and start responding to them.
This latter point is important. Someone doesn't need to be, say, a dominant for a submissive to start responding as if they were. It is enough that they seem to be a dominant. Someone could learn the right words to say, the right things to do, and the right clothes to wear, and this would get a positive reaction out of many submissives.
If the person isn't really a dominant, then what is the submissive responding to? And, how much of a dominant do they need to see for them to start reacting as if the person were a dominant? Is it just the clothes? Is it enough to talk like a dominant?
The answer has to do with how well the submissive can fill in the gaps that the faux-dominant has, with the necessary elements from her own image of a dominant.
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