Consensual Enslavement
With Great Power
Comes Greater Responsibility
This was written a few years ago as a topic in the FetLife Consensual Enslavement Forum and I rethought what I wrote a few times since then. The original essay has been mostly left as it was with minor editing and I have added my current thoughts below and expanded all of this a bit from what I originally wrote. This is my belief and my opinion.
Opinion: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
I do a lot of writing about consensual enslavement. Not all of it has been posted anywhere. These are my thoughts on what to me, is a very important part of consensual slavery. I would like the thoughts and opinions of others on this subject as well.
“With great power comes great responsibility.” That quote most often comes from Marvel Comics and Spiderman’s uncle, Ben Parker. As a piece of wisdom, it has stood the test of time especially given the source from which it came. One minor comic book character produced one resonant line that because of its truth that has and will stay with us for a very long time.
With mastery and ownership of another comes great power over them. If you, as that master and owner does not also have within yourself the ability to have as great or greater responsibility for another than the power you have over them, you should not do this. This is my belief, my teaching and what I believe to be absolutely true and necessary for any involvement in consensual slavery. If you, who wish to own and train another to serve you cannot or do not have this within you, go away. You will only do harm to others and to yourself in the long run.
My understanding is that the ancient Chinese had a belief that if you saved someone from dying, your will had taken place of that of the gods and now you were responsible for that life. When you take a slave, you take their life into your hands. This is not something that they require or give to you. This is what you take from them, everything. That includes their responsibility for themselves. This is one of the differences between the sub and the slave. The sub retains their self-responsibility, the slave gives it over to her owner.
This is not the same as the slave saying, “I don’t want this, you take it,” although many have. It is something that must come from within and be a part of you, the Master, the Owner, the one in control. It is not something you owe the slave or give the slave in exchange for her “gift” of slavery. It is something you do for yourself. Without it, you are not in control of yourself and if you are not in this much control of yourself, can you ever truly be in control of another?
In practice, what does this responsibility mean? It means keeping the slave alive. That means the very basics of Maslow’s needs which are air, water, food and shelter from the elements. It also means, in our specific instance, providing the slave with the control, the mastery which she seeks as a slave. After that, everything else is just the details of how you do it and what you do.
One of the practical elements of this responsibility is that it is also a form of protection for you. In our world, dead slaves get investigated and the law enforcement agencies of most places want to know who did it and why, then the legal system gets to decide what to do with you. This usually means you give up your freedom to the control of others and possibly your life. We do this out of a wish to control, not be controlled so doing things which will cause us the loss of that control are, at the very least, a bad idea. This takes us back to the DBS Rules and something that sounds like a stupid idea so don’t be stupid and don’t do it.
I am not going to tell you what to do or how to do it. The responsibility for others in your control is something that comes from within you. Goreans have a term which is called “Circle of Steel”. It means you control all that is within the reach of your sword, or more usefully, within your power and ability to influence, control and protect. Your slave, kneeling at your feet, is always within that circle. She is yours to keep and protect. She is your responsibility. She is yours.
I have been thinking about this for a while now. While I still believe in everything I have said above, however......
When it comes to consensual enslavement and the ownership and control of another, I now believe the phrase should always be, with great power comes an even greater responsibility. The responsibility should be greater than the power you have over another. I sort of say that at the beginning then I let it drop. The rest is still as true as when I first wrote it.
From all I have seen, read and yes, done over the years, I don't believe that most reach an equal level of power over and responsibility for those in their power. I do include myself in that. I have not always reached the level I set for myself. It is something I continue to work on. I don't know of anyone who reaches it all the time but the more we consciously work at it, the more we will succeed. As I said, we who own, train and master should always do it for ourselves, not for others. It is what we should be to do what we do.
It is broader than just D/s, M/s or even O/p. It is employer and employee. It is teacher and student. Parent and child. It is minister, pastor, priest or whatever and their congregation. It is elected officials and the people who elect them. It is the royalty and their subjects. The nobles and the peasants. The land owners and the tenants. The rich and the poor. It goes on and on throughout all parts of our society where one person has advantage, control and/or influence over another through something. It should be a duty to self, not to others and absolutely not mandated by others. To be as I believe it should be, it comes from within.