Consensual Enslavement

General Definitions

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Dwell Time:

Dwell time is the duration of an effect. A progressive or faster drop over time off characterizes Dwell Time. The longer the period time the faster the rate of reduction. The best example is a note on a piano. The sound persists then drops off as the strings stop vibrating at an audible level.

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Dwell time is all of those. It is the length of time something lasts whether a specific technique or the full enslavement. The key to it is that it says things decay over time without reinforcement. It is a useful concept in many areas, not just this one.

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Engine:

In my usage, an engine is a process that makes things happen just as the engine is what makes a car run. The process can be psychological, physical or both.

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Last Free Choice:

There is an old saying that the last free choice a slave makes is who to beg to be their owner. This assumes that the would-be slave has a choice in their owner. Such a choice is usually part of Consensual Slavery but when a person has already been enslaved to the point of wishing to be owned, they may have no effective choice even if they still have one in theory.

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Making a good Last Free Choice depends on information given and received as well as trust in the completeness and accuracy of the information given. Interviewing skills, what if questions and what have you done before are all categories that should be covered at length and in depth before making that choice.

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I am an absolute believer in the concept of the more things you can verify about someone outside of what they directly tell you the better. That does go both ways. If someone has years of background that is independently discoverable, even if they have changed a bit over time, which is normal, they are much more likely to be what they claim than if you can find little or nothing about them. I doubt that most predator types will spend years setting up a fake persona just to have it available at some unknown point in the future. Most of them are not willing to wait months, let alone years for gratification. There are people who are bad who had hidden it over time and only after years does it come out. Also, what is considered acceptable and not can also change over time.

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Enslavement certainly can happen before you expect it. Someone who knows what they are doing will slip enforcers and reinforcers by most people easily. They will also be doing some things which are obvious enslavement attempts and techniques as well as some not so obvious ones so they may be found by an observant person. What most people don't understand is that one of the most powerful and least obvious enslavement techniques is the truth. Verifiable truth about yourself, good and bad, builds Trust and consensual enslavement is built on trust. As long as trust is there, there are openings for enslavement. When the trust is warranted, the openings are even more prevalent and available.

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The Slash:

This is not a tool of enslavement per se but it is a common term that we use frequently enough in writing and speaking about Dominant/Submissive and Master/slave relationships that I wish to cover it. Yes, it is that slash between D/s. M/s and O/p. It is a symbol which designates a power exchange/transfer relationship. 

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The convention is that the dominant side is to the left and capitalized and the submissive side is to the right and lower cased. This is one of those simple conventions that conveys meaning and understanding. While it could have been done the other way, and I am certain some people do use it that way, I have not seen it in practice. I see no reason to change what works and what is, as far as I know, a universal convention.

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We talk about something or someone on the left or right side of the slash. This is a shorthand for someone in the dominant or submissive position. It applies to the person regardless of a relationship they may or may not currently be in. When a graph of the D/s spectrum is made, the convention is dominant on the left and submissive on the right. There is, to my knowledge, no such designation or designator for someone who is either a switch or exactly in the middle of the spectrum. The term Switch takes care of people who can be on either side of the slash depending on circumstances or relationships. 

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Tool:

A tool is any item, technique or activity that is used to create, enhance or reinforce consensual enslavement. It can be items such as but not limited to Restraints, Slave Collars, whips, clothing or documents. It can be techniques such as but not limited to third person speech, name changes, control of actions, control of sexuality, Humbling, Restrictions or requirements. It can be activities such as but not limited to kneeling, begging, Rituals, journaling, and mental, physical or sexual service.

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Tools can be small, unnoticed techniques such as specific words, actions, settings, looks and almost anything that can reinforce status, obedience, self-definition, behavior, mental state and other things which contribute to consensual enslavement. Many people think of tools of enslavement as things such as whips, beatings, cages, Humiliation and being made to do things to prove their level of submission. The first things mentioned above. Some to many of those things can be problems. From my study and experience, the enslavement those tools create, when used alone and without understanding of their effects, will not be not very deep and will be short lived. Pain aversion is a great tool to get obedience from someone. It stops working when the pain stops and therefore the enslavement Dwell Time is very short. Therefore I don't emphasize those tools as a main form of enslavement and advice to use them sparingly. If you are thinking about that just sort of tool, then yes, problems can occur. 

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Below are examples of some of the tools I use in the edited part and a bit more of how I think we should conceptualize the concept of a tool for Consensual Enslavement. Where they do work well is both as expected activities and initial large changes of habit and behavior to supplement the smaller changes that modify the slave's mindset. They also work to some extent as misdirection of where the subtle form of enslavement is taking place and allow that to work unhindered. Misdirection is also a tool of enslavement.

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Everything that you do in consensual enslavement is variable to some extent. The order you do things in or the order you use tools in is also variable. There is no one true, works every time, path. Someone may have a Ritual, or several, that they always do the same way in the same order but since every person is different, exactly what tool you use when is very variable. Theoretically there can be hundreds of tools. Some are in effectively one off tools. They only work one time or in very specific circumstances. Others are very common tools that are continually used. Positive and negative Reinforcement are two tools that are two of the most commonly used tools.

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Most tools are so simple that they will, in isolation not be a problem to use. If you are thinking of large processes and happenings or major events of some sorts, those things could be or cause problems. Some tools will be very powerful for some people and not powerful at all for others. If I tell a slave, "Good work," or "Good girl," those are positive reinforcement tools. Obviously no physical trauma or damage and I doubt much in the way of mental problems will occur from using them. Praise and sometimes specific words of praise are positive Reinforcement tools. The word ‘girl’ has a diminutive connotation that puts the speaker in a place of Status above the person being spoken to in a subtle way. It enhances authority, position of relationship and connects to all other uses of the term girl so they reinforce each other in a layering effect.

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Another example is the sound of a lock closing on a collar the first time a slave is collared. Obviously, there are no physical problems but when isolated from other actions and with proper lead up it is incredibly powerful as an Enforcer of enslavement.

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One tool I normally use in initial training of a new slave or a person new to working with me is Restraints. Every slave I have worked with has had some initial problems with wearing them and with only one or two exceptions, missed them when they came off. Restraints are designed to limit movement, not stop it. In this case, I am using physical objects to do a large-scale Enforcement and continuing Reinforcement. The tool is the restraining of movement, not the objects used. I use are Velcro cuffs with the brand name “Sport Cuffs”. They are neoprene with Velcro strip to adjust size and keep them closed. I replace the clip with larger snap clips on each cuff that I buy in the hardware store. The ankles have about a six-inch chain and the hands about a one-foot chain attaching them.

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I know someone is going to think, "But they are not locked on and the slave can take them off whenever they want to." This is absolutely true and one of the great things about them. These are not used for bondage. They are used to limit movement. One of the first things I do is require a slave to remove a wrist cuff and put it back on. What keeps them on is my will, not the cuffs themselves. That is a powerful secondary Enforcer and Reinforcer. Trust is built up through the safety that the slave perceives because in an emergency they can get out of them. That fact is explicitly stated as a command that they are to do so in an emergency. Trust is a tool of enslavement and a feeling safety is part of that. Every time a slave takes a step and pulls on the other ankle or reaches for something and pulls on the other hand, the control someone else has over their body and actions are reinforced. The slave does get used to it and learn to take smaller steps and move differently when using their hands. They may also get frustrated at times, uncomfortable at times, annoyed and several other not so nice things and words at times as well. If they stay on these things are all good because the slave is obeying my will, not hers. It is Reinforcing obedience even when she doesn't like it and even when I am not around. I often mention this when I first put them on.

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When correctly and intelligently used, everything can be a tool. When the point is enslavement, even bad things can be used as positive tools. Don't plan to work that way. It is only to take advantage of a damage control situation.

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Traditions:

I occasionally refer to the term “Traditions”. When I use that term, I am referring to a group with some form of shared culture, ritual, terminology and background because it carries on from one person to the next and by following those things, whatever they may be, someone can recognize what tradition someone is a part of.

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Unless specified otherwise or I attach a name to the tradition, I am referring to the Leather and Gorean traditions as they apply to consensual slavery. Those two are the most common ones that anyone will either meet or be involved in. Old Guard, may be assumed as part of the term, “Traditions”, because it is the ancestor of the current Leather tradition and never was a term that the people involved applied to themselves. I do not include Code d’ Odalisque because its traditions are far enough removed from the others as to be mostly not connected to them and therefore probably not representative of what I am writing about at that point. The Free Form BDSM styles do, at times, take from the other traditions but by their nature there is no consistency to them and there is no passed down styles and lore, only the occasional story or technique, therefore they are not a tradition.

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Some Traditions have their own specific nomenclature and terms or titles that they use. Within the Tradition they have certain very specific and important meanings that often mean something different outside of the Tradition. There are many sources both online and in print where you can discover those specific usages.

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Trigger:

A trigger, in the consensual enslavement context, is anything that causes a reflexive or uncontrollable response that is either created by someone or was created through the response to something happening that caused a powerful memory to be attached to it. A trigger can result in bad or good things happening. The concept itself is neutral. Exactly what the trigger is or what it causes it are totally variable. How someone implants a trigger or uses it as a tool are two different topics.

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A trigger that is consciously implanted in someone is done through some amount of operant conditioning and possibly either self-hypnosis or actual hypnosis. A trigger that is unconsciously implanted is based on some, usually traumatic, experience that brings back the feelings of the experience when something like what happened happens again. They feel ore relive the memory of the action or words which are associated with the feelings, impressions and memories of the occurrence.

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It is a conditioned response. It can be unintentionally created through something that happens to someone or something that is implanted deliberately. For instance, a slave who is trained to cum on verbal command is an example of an implanted trigger. This is especially true if the person triggering it only needs to speak the command or trigger phrase and not do anything physically to the slave to make her cum. It becomes an uncontrollable, conditioned response. Pavlovian style conditioning is one method of doing this.

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A very common use of the word trigger is connecting it to PTSD and the trigger is what brings back the feelings/situation which caused the physical and/or mental trauma. It is also used in the form of a ‘trigger warning’ so that people can be ready for something that might upset them.

All material written and © Copyright 2018 by Malkinius unless otherwise noted. 

For permission to quote or repost contact Malkinius at malkinius@consensualenslavement.com.

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