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	TSR : O&P Wiki : Master: history This article is part of the O&P Wiki hosted by The Slave Register This is the version from 23 Nov 06, 12:21 AM. The full history of this article will show any more recent versions. Contents Gender Owner Casual usage Head of household Expert See also Master Master is a term used to describe or address the dominant partner in a relationship or scene. Because it is an honorific of the dominant, it is common for "master" to be written with a capital letter. Gender The term "master" is sometimes used in a gender-independent way, but is mostly used only in reference to males. There is not otherwise a male equivalent. The female equivalent is "mistress". Owner Typically, master is used to describe the dominant partner, or owner, in a Master/slave relationship. It is sometimes, less commonly, used as a title for the Dominant in a D/s relationship. Not all masters have equivalent skills, abilites, or orientations. For instance, a master might have little specific expertise, while another may have great experience, long-standing interest, and considerable learned skills, both physical (eg, skill with whips) and psychological (ability to 'get into' a submissive's head). To successfully maintain a Master/slave relationship, from the Dominant perspective, takes abilities and skills beyond or apart from normal relationship skills. The master has usually acquired the right to exercise authority over the slave (or submissive) in some substantial sense, within a relationship that may extend to a full time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or something less extensive (weekends as schedules permit, for instance). Casual usage Some people in a relationship, or just within a scene, enjoy the psychological impact of calling their dominant partner Master or having their submissive partner call them Master. Such usage is not by itself an indication that they are a Master any more than calling a partner 'honey' indicates that they are made of honey. This usage of the word master -- as an honorific when neither party in a relationship consider themselves to be owned nor owner - is a common source of confusion when trying to use or understand BDSM terminology, given that the most accepted usage requires no certification or formal training. Most especially, a Dom might be called Master by his sub in a D/s relationship. Head of household Master may also be used in its everyday sense as the male head of a household in some styles of D/s and M/s, especially those groups of people identifying as a House. Expert Not often used within the meaning of BDSM, but sometimes found in this context to mean someone who knows a lot about some subject, such as ropework or or computers or whips (as in "he is a famous whip master.") Historically, a master craftsman (sometimes called only Master) was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only master craftsmen were allowed to actually be members of the guild. An aspiring master would have to pass through the career chain from apprentice to journeyman before he could be elected to become a master craftsman. He would often have to produce a sum of money and a masterpiece before he could actually join the guild. Becoming a Master was often very hard. The usage of master in SM parallels this usage in some ways, as early practitioners used to go through an 'apprentice' stage, often having to act as a submissive or masochistic as part of the process. However, master in historical SM and Leather derived from 'Master/slave' rather than apprentive / journeyman / master. See also slave (This article incorporates text from the article Master in Wipipedia.) This article is published under the terms of the GFDL. People with profiles on The Slave Register can improve this article: see the O&P Wiki help page for details.