Dominance and Submission - bDSm

(excerpt from a conversation on Fetlife)

The Dominance and Submission aspect of BDSM, like pretty much any other kink, means different things to different people, but is, yes, essentially about power and control.

For some people, it is stimulating and very sexy to feel that they are in control of another person. For some, it feels sexy and stimulating to be under the control of someone else. The ways in which this control is exercised will vary from relationship to relationship. They can be healthy... or very dangerous if taken too far or pushed beyond reasonable boundaries.

Some people are only subby or dommy about sex - In control in the bedroom, or under someone else's. Some D/s couples don't even have sex, but have fun with the dynamic and form a romantic bond over it, or become in a way like family.

You will find that D/s relationships are as varied as vanilla relationships with nearly infinite kinds and orientations. They are, at their core, the same - a close connection between two people, that work according to who those two people are, how they interact and what they like, tolerate, and don't. The only distinguishing factor that makes it D/s is that at least some of the time, one person has some significant degree of control over the other. Ideally, freely given, and equally freely taken back if the true need arises.