Reconciling Conflicting Ideals

[Virulent]

I have a similar dichotomy within me; I'm an anarchist (one who believes that systems of involuntary control are evil and should be destroyed) who gets off on domination. I'm not going around kidnapping anybody, so the control I exert on others is de facto voluntary... but its definitely unseemly, to say the least. Further, from a philosophically 2nd-wave feminist perspective, its hard to sufficiently define a case wherein a woman can consent to sexual submission and torture...

To be a prisoner means to be defined as a member of a group for whom the rules of what can be done to you, of what is seen as abuse of you, are reduced as part of the definition of your status.

I do not think it is a stretch to say that most subs are treated as if they are hierarchically less than their doms. Anyone who disagrees; please explain to me why its acceptable and even perhaps normative for a dom to flog a sub, but not the other way around. MacKinnon, of course, then mentions that obviously prisoners are incapable of meaningful consent. Let me summarize for clarity: if a sub fits MacKinnon's definition of a prisoner, then MacKinnon thinks that sub is getting raped regularly.

Most of the feminism displayed in this thread so far looks like third-wave, empowerment feminism, to me though... the sort that believes that a woman can advance feminism by any individual decision, such as becoming a stripper, a prostitute, or performing in porn... the thought being that since the woman makes a decision and follows through, it "empowers" her as an individual, and reinforces her feeling of self-directedness, of control over her own life. In the 3rd-wave model, a sub isn't being raped by her dom because he can flog her and she can't flog him, instead she is empowered by her decision to place herself in a position where her ass will get whipped red. I think Dworkin & MacKinnon might just find themselves in an apoplectic fit at such an idea, but whatever - I have no horse in this race. Introspection is great and all, but like most people, I'm more interested in my individual sexual satisfaction than the intellectual coherency of my personal morality.

On a closing note,

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
I am large, I contain multitudes.