The Question That Won't Go Away, Part 2

     So I'll start from the assumption that it's not totally futile to try to find some aspects of D/s that can be organized into a standard, or some body of common useful and applicable knowledge.

     It seems to Me that it should be fruitful to start with most elemental and even mundane aspects of D/s, and (hopefully) find some basis there on which to build more complex structures.

     Along those lines, I come up with the following "bottom level" precepts.

1.  The submissive obeys, serves, and strives to please the Dominant.
      A.  This obedience can take various forms.  Presumably there are submissives who are not sexually subservient.  From what I can tell there are many that are only sexually subservient.
      B.   There is a reasonableness test.  The submissive doesn't have to obey any order that is impossible, illegal, overly dangerous, or which breaks one of the submissive's expressed limits. 

2.  The Dominant is responsible for the submissive.
     A.  The Dominant must look after the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of the submissive. 
            i.   2A applies even if looking after the submissive's well-being is at the expense of the Dominant's own pleasure or convenience.
     B.  The Dominant takes the responsibility of teaching and correcting the submissive as necessary.
            
3.  Each party has certain rights and obligations.
     A.  The submissive is entitled to express hard limits and to expect that said limits will be respected.
     B.  The submissive is entitled to expect that the Dominant will make the submissive's well-being the first priority, as in 2., above.
     C.  The Dominant is entitled to expect that obedience and service will be complete, cheerful, and immediate, in absence of any mitigating circumstances. 
     D. The Dominant is entitled to expect that the submissive will not start adding to his or her list of hard limits just to avoid certain things s/he might find boring/unpleasant, etc.
     E.  If there is a written agreement between the parties, both parties have the right to expect that the other party will abide by the contract.

I'll stop there -- that's more then enough for the purposes of this exercise.

1.  The submissive obeys, serves, and strives to please the Dominant.
     Obeys.  I'm not sure that obedience can be taught, or needs to be defined in any standard way.  One either obeys or doesn't.
     Serves.  Non-sexual service can and should be taught.  There is a way to serve a drink, for example, a right way to make a bed.  And so on.  This is not to say that a particular Dominant will not have His or Her own particular way that S/He wants things done, but knowing standards can only help.  Think of it as, you learn how to write numbers clearly, then when you go into bookkeeping you're taught to put a little line through all the 7s.  But you still needed to learn how to write in the first place.
     Strives to please.  The submissive who does well at obeying and serving is likely to be pleasing, but still there are things that can be taught.  The good submissive has a certain mindset, and that mindset can be learned, and practiced.

Part 3, soon.