Interview with a Master by Jason Luke Read Free Book Online

demeaning. Those kind of comments come from ignorance.”
    She gave me a little smile. “So, enlighten me.”
    I sat back and thought for a moment. I wanted to get up from the table and pace, but I didn’t.
    “The BDSM lifestyle is like…. like seafood,” I said in a moment of dubious inspiration. “And seafood comes in a hundred different forms. Some people like shrimp, but cannot tolerate the taste of fish. Some folks enjoy lobster…. The point is, it all comes under the broad label of ‘seafood’, and yet we all have different preferences. BDSM is the same. As far as the sexual aspects of the lifestyle go, some submissives enjoy being spanked. Others enjoy being tied or handcuffed. Others I have met enjoy other things completely. It’s a question of taste, and those matters are negotiated by the Master and their submissive, to ensure both – I repeat both – people involved enjoy what takes place.”
    I paused for a moment and studied Leticia’s expression. “Does that make sense?”
    She nodded, though I could see it was conditional. She had more questions. I went on quickly.
    “The only generally accepted rules of sex-play in a BDSM relationship are that whatever the participants engage in must be safe, sane, and it must be consensual.”
    Leticia waved her hands at me in a sudden animated outburst. “That’s what I don’t get!” she said. “That’s the part about BDSM that I just can’t get a grasp on.”
    “What? That it must be safe?”
    “No! The concept that such a relationship can be consensual. How, for the love of god, is that possible?” Two glasses of wine had made Leticia animated. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled. Her gestures, the tone of her voice, the way she held her body – everything about her became a little more real, and a little less restricted. It was as though she had begun to relax, and lost some of her prim reserve.
    It had not escaped my attention that she had called me ‘sir’ just a few minutes earlier.
    Had it been an accident, or was it deliberate?
    “Leticia, if you desperately wanted children, would you marry a man that despised children?”
    “No,” she said. “That would probably be a deal-breaker, if I had my heart set on having a family.”
    I nodded. “Of course you wouldn’t. And it’s the same with BDSM play. No submissive is going to want to submit to a Master who is obsessed with whips and handcuffs, if they hate the idea of being whipped and bound.”
    “You’re saying submissives have a choice.”
    “Of course!” I said. “More than that, generally speaking, in a BDSM relationship, the submissive is the one who holds the real power.”
    Leticia shook her head. “How can that be?”
    “Because BDSM is based on consent,” I said. “The Master cannot exert control and power over someone who does not willingly –” I raised my finger to emphasize the point, “willingly offer themselves. A Master without a submissive is a guy. Just a guy. He needs someone who wishes to submit to him, in order to become a Master.”
    Maybe I was doing a poor job of explaining the lifestyle, and the roles of the Master and the submissive. Leticia looked more confused now than when I had started with my ridiculous seafood analogy.
    I really needed to get some better material.
    The problem was that I’d never felt the need to explain the lifestyle to anyone before. Whenever I had engaged in conversations about BDSM, it was invariably with someone who already understood the lifestyle. I didn’t have the ‘sound bites’ I needed to make a convincing case for someone like Leticia – someone who was outside the lifestyle, and with very limited sexual and relationship experience.
    “You called the Master a guy,” she said softly. “Can’t women be the dominant one, and the man be the submissive?”
    “Yes,” I said. “Of course. Generally the stereotype is a male dominant, and a female submissive. But certainly the roles are equally valid