What is dominance, really? What is submission? Where is the line between the two, and where is the distinction drawn? Some see the roles as defined by actions. The dominant dominates, the submissive submits. This is fine, but in these actions, what is dominating, and what is submitting? Are there certain actions that are "dominant," and certain actions that are "submissive," without question? Surely the act of giving a command is dominant, and the act of following it is submissive, but what about the nature of the command? It is commonly thought that the administering of pain is the domain of the dominant and the receiving of pain is the domain of the submissive, but what if the command is to administer pain? It becomes a submissive act, because it is being carried out by the submissive to
