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SD! Wiki : Master : history
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Master
Master is a term used to describe or address the dominant partner in a
relationship or scene. Because it is an honorific of the dominant, it
is
common for "master" to be written with a capital letter.
The term "master" is mostly used within the Ownership Subculture to
refer to males, but is sometimes also used by female owners or
dominants
to stress the masculine style
of their dominance. Owner
Typically, master is used to describe the owner in a Master/slave
relationship. It is sometimes, less commonly, used as a title for the
dominant in a D/s relationship.
The master has usually acquired the right to exercise authority over
the
slave (or submissive) in some substantial sense, within a relationship
that may extend to a full time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or
something less extensive (weekends as schedules permit, for instance). Head of household
Master may also be used in its everyday sense as the male head of a
household in some styles of D/s and M/s, especially those groups of
people identifying as a
house.Expert
Not often used within the meaning of BDSM, but sometimes found in this
context to mean someone who knows a lot about some subject, such as
ropework or computers or whips (as in "he is a famous whip master.")
Historically, a master craftsman (sometimes simply called Master) was a
member of a guild. In the European guild system, only master craftsmen
were allowed to actually be members of the guild. An aspiring master
would have to pass through the career chain from apprentice to
journeyman before he could be elected to become a master craftsman. He
would often have to produce a sum of money and a masterpiece before he
could actually join the guild. Becoming a Master was often very hard.
The usage of master in SM parallels this usage in some ways, as early
practitioners used to go through an 'apprentice' stage, often having to
act as a submissive or masochistic as part of the process. However,
master in historical SM and Leather derived from 'Master/slave' rather
than apprentice / journeyman / master. Casual usage
Some people in a relationship, or just within a BDSM scene, enjoy the
psychological impact of calling their dominant partner Master or having
their submissive partner call them Master. Such usage is not by itself
an indication that they are a Master any more than calling a partner
'honey' indicates that they are made of honey.
This usage of the word master, as an honorific when neither party in a
relationship consider themselves to be owned nor owner, is a common
source of confusion when trying to use or understand BDSM terminology,
given that the most accepted usage requires no certification or formal
training. Most especially, a Dom might be called Master by his sub in a
D/s relationship.See also
(This article incorporates text from the article
Master
in Wipipedia.)
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