Submissive versus Slave

This argument sends my hackles up every time.

This is what I posted to an email group I am on. This is a group with whom I meet real time as well.

I know this is a semantic argument, but I believe there is a difference.
A submissive is, to me, someone who submits on a temporary basis...not to say that the person isn't submissive in his or her demeanor or life, but that their submission to one person is for a set amount of time...a scene, an afternoon, anything less than 24/7.
A slave is someone who gives up total control over all aspects of his or her life. In otherwords, they submit to their One on a 24/7 basis.


This is what I tried to post to another's journal in response to their ideas and a comment made by another, but I'm not on the friend list and couldn't post.

I identify as a submissive because I do not submit to my husband and can therefore NOT be in a 24/7 relationship.

That doesn't mean I dictate terms in all aspects of my D/s relationships. In fact, the only "hard" limits I have relate to no animals, children, excrement or blood. Beyond that, there might be a few other "nos" on my checklist, but I've recently changed that list to include two activities I didn't think I would like that I do and know that I do because my Sir took me there.

He asks me if I want a safeword and knows how hard it is for me to use it. He knows that if I use it, I have reached a limit and he needs to back off. It's happened ONCE. He miscalculated my tolerence for sting.

This topic almost always raises my hackles. For the most part, it is an argument of semantics. The rest is real-life limits (at least as I define submissive). The worst of it is when folks choose to treat submissives as second-class citizens. I am still the same woman, with the same need to submit who if I submitted to my husband would be considered a slave...and with the same limits I listed above. But because I define slave as someone who is in a 24/7 D/s relationship, I do not identify as a slave and I am sometimes treated as though I am not "good" enough.