View source for Ownership

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'''Ownership''' is the power to control and use for one's own purposes that which is owned.  For practitioners of [[D/s]] or [[M/s]] relationships, a feeling of owning or being owned can be very fulfilling.  An owner is normally called a [[Master]] (male) or [[Mistress]] (female).  An owned person is normally called a [[slave]].

In terms of [[BDSM]], an '''owner''' is one who takes responsibility for, and has authority over, another person.  The other person is usually called a [[slave]].  The slave will usually live with the owner but not always.  This is a permanent relationship, not related to a [[play]] [[scene]], although people in a scene may like to act out a fantasy of being owner and property.  

Ownership of one person of another is not legal and there is no implication that this is an attempt at a legal position.  It is a [[Informed consent|consensual]] arrangment entered into by people who understand themselves and how they want to relate to another person.

==Owner==
To be an owner requires a high level of dedication, personal awareness and responsibility.  While the rewards can be great, it is something that few people are able to sustain.

Typically, an owner is referred to as [[Master]] (if male) or [[Mistress]] (if female) by their property, or [[slave]].  This is not universal, however, and there are Owners who prefer other titles or simply to have their name used.  The slave is not always referred to as a slave.

==Ownership Flag==
The '''Ownership Flag''' is intended to represent the [[Ownership]] subculture.

[[Image:Ownership Flag.jpg|right|168px]] 
The stripes of the flag and the red colour of the shield were inspired by the [[Leather Pride Flag]], with black and white chosen to represent the "cage bar" stripes of convict uniforms, and the sharp distinction between owners and owned.

The red shield and collar represent owners and owned respectively, and are part of the set of Ownership Icon
symbols for different orientations and genders.

{{Wipipedia|Ownership_flag}}
==Ownership Icons==
Icons created by the [http://www.tanos.org.uk/ House of Tanos] to represent the various roles in master/slave or dominant/submissive relationships:
<br><br>
<center>
<gallery>
image:Shield-male-80.png|<center>Male Master</center>
image:Shield-female-80.png|<Center>Female Master</center>
image:Collar-male-80.png|<center>Male Slave</center>
image:Collar-female-80.png|<Center>Female Slavecenter>
</gallery>
</center>

* For more information visit: http://www.ownershipflag.com/icons.

==Internal Enslavement==
The '''Internal Enslavement''' website aims to develop practical techniques which use detailed examination of a female slave's thoughts, emotions and past experiences to establish and maintain a solid and inescapable state of ownership. 
*[http://www.enslavement.org.uk/ Internal Enslavement website]
{{sa2|External enslavement|Internal Enslavement website}}
==Manumission==
Manumission is the act of freeing a [[slave]], done at the will of the owner.  It can be done very formally and publicly but is often done with little publicity and with many tears.

Manumission is a tenuous process at best.  Most slaves come to love their [[Master]] or [[Mistress]] deeply, even if the relationship did not start out based on love.  In addition to the emotional pain typical in any relationship breakdown, many freed [[slave]]s feel extremely bewildered and lost.  While they can normally cope better than most people in understanding and manipulating the bureaucracies that make up every day modern life, they are not used to making the decisions in their personal life and rarely have an inclination to do so.  Most slaves are very competent people so will cope well on their own but simply don't want to: they have a deep-seated need to belong.  This means that, once the emotional issues are cleared, they usually will seek out another owner, often one very much like their last, even though there was clearly some reason why the last relationship didn't work.

Many slaves who have experienced '''manumission''' do not want to go through it again and, once owned again, would far rather be traded or given to another owner of suitable gender so long as they can feel the new owner will take proper care of them.  This is not universal, however and most slaves who have not experienced manumission think they would prefer to be freed rather than passed to a different owner.

The term is Middle English and is derived from the Latin ''manumittere''.

{{Wipipedia|Manumission}}
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==See Also==
* [[Power exchange]] and [[Total Power Exchange]]
* [[Master]], &amp;nbsp; [[Mistress]], &amp;nbsp; [[Ownership#Owner|Owner]]
* [[Slave]]
* [[M/s|Master/Slave]]
* [[Mistress]]
* [[Ownership#Manumission|Manumission]]
* [[Ownership - Personal Experiences]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.enslavement.org.uk/weblog/126700/ The Transferability of Ownership] at the '''[[Internal Enslavement]]''' site.
* [http://www.ownershipflag.com/ Ownership Icons &amp; Flag site]
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