Power Exchange - BDSM
In BDSM , the term Power Exchange is associated with a submissive exchanging his/her authority to make decisions (whether just for a scene, or for his/her entire life), for the Dominant's agreement to take responsibility for his/her happiness and health.
On a psychological level, much BDSM "play" involves power and dominance, in particular power exchange, with one person willingly handing over personal autonomy. This can range from addressing another person as "Master" or "Mistress" for a ten-minute scene, to a witnessed, formal collaring with an agreement which governs the submissive's entire life. The latter is often referred to as TPE or Total Power Exchange or 24/7(full time)
In "safe, sane and consensual" BDSM , power exchange is always negotiated. Before play, the participants would discuss their physical and psychological limitations, establish safewords and work out what will happen.
Types of power exchange relationships
Head of Household (HOH) Much like the 'traditional' marriage, this is a relationship that exists in many vanilla households (think of the phrase "who wears the trousers"). It is listed on this site because a HOH relationship is contiously consensual, where many vanilla situations just evolved or are imposed by one partner on the other.
Domestic Discipline (DD) The most vocal branch of this type concentrates heavily on spanking but it can be much more than that. A healthy DD relationship maintains because one partner is willing to be disciplined and another is willing to discipline, where that discipline is done for the good of the other partner or the partnership itself.
Taken In Hand (TIH) More narrowly-focused than most types, TIH is based on a male-led, heterosexual, monogamous relationship allowing for consensual non-consent from the woman.
Daddy/lil girl or Daddy Dom A relationship dynamic where one partner takes a recognisably parental position with the other partner. There is more often a noticeable age gap in this type of relationship than in others but it is not about age - the 'Daddy' can be younger than the 'lil girl'. Confusingly, the "Daddy Dom" can be female but in most such heterosexual relationships, they refer to themselves with terms like Mummy/boy.
Dominant/submissive (D/S) By some defintions, all power exchange relationships are dominant/submissive, except those where the parties normally switch. The narrower focus of the meaning of a D/S relationship, however, is of people who acknowledge to one another that one is in a dominant position over the other.
Total Power Exchange (TPE) or Absolute Power Exchange (APE)
An extreme of power exchange, often used synonymously with Master/slave. This term is more often used by those where the submissive owns property and can act in her own right but will follow all orders of the dominant.
Master/slave (M/s) or Owner/Property An extreme form of power exchange, where one partner considers themselves the property of the other, in all practicable meaning. While it is talked about a great deal, it is actually quite rare because of the high level of time committment from the Master (owner) and the depth of dependence the slave (property) has to be prepared to accept.
See also Bondage:
