Roles and authority

Psychology of BDSM

Psychology
of BDSM

Psychology
gateway

(all psychology articles)

Basics

Penetration

Engagement

Consent

Communication

Power

Authority

Control

Trust

Fetish

Defence mechanisms

Mapping motivations to activities

Roles
Top		Bottom
Dominant		Submissive
Master		Slave
Trainer		Trainee
Owner		Property
Mistress
Switch
SAM

Motivations (all motivation articles)

Ecstasy

Subspace

Catharsis

Surrender

Experiencing power

Hotter sex

Recreation

Expiation of guilt

Intimacy and bonding

Physiological outcomes

Chemical high

Unhealthy motivations

Just a bit of fun (not)

Pain (not)

Play versus "deep play" versus work

Transformation of pain into pleasure

The joy of being a top or dominant

One useful way of distinguishing between the different BDSM roles is to consider:

• Which types of authority are involved,
• Who has each type of authority,
• Whether any of the authority is delegated, and
• Whether ownership of any authority is transferred.

Let's first look at an example. Imagine, if you will, two people meet at a play party for the first time, chat, and discover that one has a hankering for a flogging, and that the other is experienced and keen to flog. They decide to do a flogging scene together then and there.

In this simple scenario we can see authority appearing in a number of ways:

1. They both use their personal authority---i.e., authority over themselves---to consider and then decide to do a flogging scene together.
2. The one doing the flogging has technical authority which is used to decide how to execute the flogging part of the scene---i.e., choosing the floggers, any warm-up, target, stroke rate, stroke intensity, etc.
3. In a first scene with a new partner---as is the case here---the person being flogged will retain the choice to stop or pause the scene at any point, or to say no to particular aspects of the scene (such as to limit anything involving genitals), or to say "slow down" or "go faster".
4. The only authority which might extend beyond the end of the flogging scene is the technical authority of the person who did the flogging, who may be called upon to give advice on treating bruises, what other after-effects there might be, etc.
5. The person being flogged implicitly (or maybe even explicitly) authorises their partner to strike them during the scene with one or more floggers. This is delegation.