Consensual Enslavement
Obedience Training
Apprentice
Some concepts can fit more than one category. Obedience Training is one of them. If some of the terms I use are unfamiliar to you, they can be found in other places here. They do have specific meanings in many cases which might not be identical to all dictionary ones. This also touches on the concepts of Layering and multiple usages in a single tool.
Obedience Training is comprised of several parts. It is a goal, an Engine and a Tool all wrapped into one nice package.
Obedience as a goal is obvious. Every Owner wants their slave to be obedient to their commands. This is an integral part of what enslavement is. As property, a slave is expected to obey their Owner and to do or not do whatever their Owner desires.
Obedience as a tool is also somewhat obvious, at least to most if not everyone doing this. A slave who becomes habituated to obeying some commands is much more likely to obey other commands which are similar or perhaps very different from the commands they have been obeying.
Obedience as an engine of enslavement seems to be similar to its use as a tool, but there is a difference as it is also a general rather than specific Enforcer and Reinforcer. This is because the obedience can be more important than what is being obeyed.
Obedience is not always automatic. This is especially true of new slaves. Even for simple orders there is an internal questioning of "What exactly is being wanted?”, "Why is this wanted? and "Should I obey?" Some questions are answered very simply and easily as the answers are obvious. Some are not. If I command a slave to bring me a cup of coffee, there are some internal questions but what I want is very obvious. I want a cup of coffee. Exactly how I want my coffee is a reasonable internal question or external if the slave has never brought me a cup of coffee before. How hot, cream, sugar, sweetener, which type of coffee, etc. If the slave has brought me a hundred cups of coffee before, I expect that the last question has long since been answered and she knows how I like it. With experience, she also knows how I want it served whether it is just to be brought and set down or to be formally served. Perhaps I stated a preference in the command and she then questions if she knows how to perform as required. The harder question is should she obey. Obviously, my slave should obey my command for a cup of coffee. She knows the answer to this question. But, is she doing something else that should not be interrupted or that she does not want to interrupt and so should she get it when she has time to get it or when she feels like getting it? This is really the enslavement question. The rest are details. Obedience Training removes the "Should I obey" question.
The following is an example of one training practice that uses all three forms of Obedience Training. Most, but not quite all Owners train their slaves in certain formal slave positions. The Gorean Slave Positions are one of the most common sources of these. I will use them for this example as they are both formal and practical positions for a slave to learn.
The expectation when a slave is given a specific position name as a command is for them to go into that position as quickly and gracefully as they can and to hold it until told to release or change to a new position. The questions about what and why are answered when you tell the slave they are going to practice various positions and practice doing them correctly but most importantly they are going to practice obeying your commands for each position.
The goal is the slave learning, obeying and performing the slave positions properly when commanded to do so. The tool is the obedience to commands. The slave positions themselves act as physical reinforcers of her enslavement to the Master.
When you practice, you repeat the same actions to learn something. This is an obvious procedure and doesn't take much thought to understand. It easily slides past the what is required and the “why should it be done” internal questions. If the slave wants to serve her Owner then the practice has a low threshold of resistance to performing the task just as getting a cup of coffee also has a low threshold because the what and why are easily understood.
During the practice the slave repeatedly obeys the commands and does not keep asking if she should obey as that is answered at the beginning of the practice. The repetition of obedience is the engine which drives future obedience. During the practice the expectation of obedience is there and the questions are not repeated with each command. The more someone obeys simple commands, the more they will obey more complicated commands. Each time the resistance to obedience is overcome there will be marginally less resistance to any new command. Many simple acts of obedience without the internal questions will layer up to the slave obeying complicated ones. Starting with many small acts of obedience works better than beginning with the complicated ones that can be confusing or may require more trust that has not yet been earned from the slave. It is slower but the Dwell Time for automatic obedience is much longer than the more complicated commands which will likely result in internal questions that are asked every time the command is given.
There is such a thing as reinforcing a reinforcer. Quick, positive reinforcement of the correctly done obedience is the best way to do this. Second to that, especially in something like the slave positions example, is correcting what is not or not quite correct and having it done over. In true practice, corrections and repetitions until correct works very well. Punishments or negative reinforcement do not work as well, unless you consider doing something again and again until it is done correctly a form of punishment.
Remember that not everything will have only one purpose or use when it is part of consensual enslavement. In this case, a session practicing the slave positions has many useful items all layered together along with the expenditure of energy on the part of the slave which can have other uses as well. A good Owner, Master or Trainer will have several goals for most of the tools he uses when working with and training a slave including reinforcing her enslavement.
28 September 2018