Now before anyone gets their panties in a wad, we are NOT neo-Nazis, neo-confederates, or proponents of enforced human bondage or slavery. This post is about a completely consensual lifestyle choice and nothing more insidious.
Master/slave, or M/s, relationships are relatively rare and devilishly difficult for most to maintain even with good will and desire on the both sides of the equation. And, there are a thousand and one definitions of what, exactly, constitutes an actual M/s relationship. Without wading into the quagmire too deeply, suffice it to say that the possible range of relationships runs from one in which slave is an object with no wishes or desires to a relationship in which, to outward appearances, all normal relationship parameters apply but the arrangement of power and control is firmly in the hands of the Master.
The above is a gross simplification and generalization, but as this post is about the flag more than the lifestyle, we will let it be at that. Those interested in knowing more can easily learn about the lifestyle from a number of sources, including this local one.
The flag was designed by Master Tallen. The Master/slave flag was unveiled on July 29, 2005, to great success, at the Master/slave Conference in Washington, D.C.
Since its unveiling, the Master/slave flag has been reproduced on a number of items such that people who identify with some aspect of this flag can display it with pride in a number of settings.
We chose to fly the Master/slave Flag in the subordinate position to the Leather Pride flag,
an arrangement that is consistent with the Master/slave community frequently being seen as a smaller community within the larger Leather subculture. While it is recognized that not all members of the M/s community would agree with this representation, we flew it this way in honor of our hosting of the Power Dynamics discussion group, in which, it is safe to say, those members involved in long-term M/s relationships are in the minority compared to those involved or interested in other more relaxed Leather/Levi/Dom-sub relationships who are in the majority. When looking That Real Leather Shop Stuff to clean up your boots, chaps or harness look to Leather Eagle or MR Chaps premium leather cleaner.
of all walks At any rate, our flag order created no controversy.
The interpretation of the MASTER/slave flag is relatively simple. The vertical line represents power, dominance, Mastery, while the three parallel lines represent lying down in submission. These symbols are loosely based on Rudolf Koch’s The Book of Signs, and is (somewhat confusingly) almost exactly opposite in meaning to the symbolism of three parallel horizontal lines in the Chinese “I-Ching” trigram system.