One day, I ran across this interesting Five Point Scale For Bottoms post, and while I know that it is too simplistic to cover everything, AND I eschew labels as a be-all-end-all, I also thing it's a very cool idea and way to communicate a preference/concept quickly and effectively.

1. Fetish top: "Worship my boots and shine them brightly."

Fetish tops differ from other types of fetishists in that the object/activity they eroticise is associated with a bottom. In their purest form, they have little need to interact with the bottom or dominate others in real life encounters.

2. Sadist top: "I'd love to whip you until you safeword."

Sadists take things a bit further, and look for bottoms that will allow them to subject their subjects to pain, humiliation, and possibly physical control, such as bondage. The dynamic of the scenes is still one of equality, and it is clear that everything is done for mutual gratification, and ends where the scene does.

3. Roleplay dominant: "I'll be the professor, and you be my student..."

This involves assuming roles for a temporary scene (from a few hours up to a few days) which would normally be associated with inequality and with one person having power or authority over the other: for example, a store detective blackmailing a shoplifter into obeying him. However, it is understood that the goal of the scene is direct mutual satisfaction for both top and bottom (eg, that the "shoplifter's" desire to be held down, "ravished" and sworn at is catered to.)

4. Lifestyle dominant: "Here's how I want things done."

This can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from a long term relationship involving roleplay dominance. However, the essential feature of a lifestyle dominant is their desire to enjoy service over time, in an ongoing relationship. The dominant accepts service with ongoing expectations (negotiated) of timing and quality, for as long as the relationship remains, or until terms are renegotiated.

5. Master: "I will make your life decisions for you."

A Master differs from other types of tops in that they take full ownership of the slave bottom, making decisions not only on submission and the relationship, but on their lives in total. The only decision not within the Master's purview is whether the slave chooses to end the relationship. Therefore, the Master is defined by their relationship with their slave: "Ownership rather than obedience is the defining quality of slavery; obedience rather than ownership is the defining quality of submission."

For myself, within these labels, I'd sit solidly within 4. That's who I am, as other kinds of topping are all about finding the sweet spot to inspire greater submission and furtherance of the relationship itself.

What are your thoughts?

Where do you fall as a top or as a bottom on these scales? Do you find them useful at all?

I think they are quite useful, and use them in discussions with others, to understand them better. Not because other (and more words) won't work, but because this gives a mutual starting point to discuss in further detail.

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