I am confused. Just a little bit. I read this article: https://www.autostraddle.com/service-tops-bratty-bottoms-and-pillow-princesses-other-words-you-use-to-describe-how-you-have-sex-426800/ and it explained the different nuances of the titular tags. Now I know we shouldn't be making decisions based on one random blog post on the internet, but it does arouse questions. Broadly speaking, do sexual dynamic tags have the ability to effectively exist independently of each other? Like of you take your standard descriptor tag like dominant_female and add +solo and the images it returns either look like they are not supposed to be in the query or do not give any immediate indicators that this is a dominant female except from external information or if they are dressed like a dominatrix (which I guess should be tagged as such). And it is even harder to tell with service_top because its wiki page would imply that a service_top is the opposite of the powerbottom. They cannot really exist independently of each other without a character self-identifying as one or the other in some capacity. Bottom line is I think some of these tags should either become invalid, or aliased to other tags. power_bottom and service_top should be aliased to one or the other or invalidated. dominant and submissive and similar tags like dominant_male and submissive_male should be invalidated or only able to exist dependently on tags that establish a dynamic like dominant_female_submissive_male. Subversive power dynamic tags like submissive top should be aliased to the aforementioned powerbottom/service top tag.

Or I am just wrong. That is always an option.

foolysh said:
I am confused. Just a little bit. I read this article: https://www.autostraddle.com/service-tops-bratty-bottoms-and-pillow-princesses-other-words-you-use-to-describe-how-you-have-sex-426800/ and it explained the different nuances of the titular tags. Now I know we shouldn't be making decisions based on one random blog post on the internet, but it does arouse questions. Broadly speaking, do sexual dynamic tags have the ability to effectively exist independently of each other? Like of you take your standard descriptor tag like dominant_female and add +solo and the images it returns either look like they are not supposed to be in the query or do not give any immediate indicators that this is a dominant female except from external information or if they are dressed like a dominatrix (which I guess should be tagged as such). And it is even harder to tell with service_top because its wiki page would imply that a service_top is the opposite of the powerbottom. They cannot really exist independently of each other without a character self-identifying as one or the other in some capacity. Bottom line is I think some of these tags should either become invalid, or aliased to other tags. power_bottom and service_top should be aliased to one or the other or invalidated. dominant and submissive and similar tags like dominant_male and submissive_male should be invalidated or only able to exist dependently on tags that establish a dynamic like dominant_female_submissive_male. Subversive power dynamic tags like submissive top should be aliased to the aforementioned powerbottom/service top tag.

Or I am just wrong. That is always an option.

Using a dominant_* or submissive_* implies the other and should be used together.

Don't use something like dominant_*_submissive_* because we already have tags for both of those roles. If you want to search for images of that particular combo, just search for both tags at the same time, like dominant_* submissive_*.

I won’t comment on the other terms as I’m not very familiar with them or how they’re used, but I can say that dominant and submissive absolutely should not be invalidated and can also apply to solo posts. They simply refer to a character’s behavior - a character exhibiting dominant or submissive behavior can be tagged dominant or submissive, even if there are no other characters in the image. This is often accomplished by the character acting submissive or dominant either towards an implied offscreen character, or more often towards the viewer. Here are some examples:

Solo submissive:
post #3480626
post #3474161
post #2041586
- submissive behavior, even though they’re not submitting to anyone who’s visible in the image

Solo dominant:
post #3481900
post #3295167
post #3293803
- dominant behavior, even though they’re not dominating anyone who’s visible in the image

scaliespe said:
post #3295167
post #3293803
- dominant behavior, even though they’re not dominating anyone who’s visible in the image

I won't disagree with your other examples, given the apparent offscreen character, but I wouldn't classify these two as dominant/domination. Looking at the viewer while holding a collar or handcuffs isn't being actively dominant.

I won't disagree with your other examples, given the apparent offscreen character, but I wouldn't classify these two as dominant/domination. Looking at the viewer while holding a collar or handcuffs isn't being actively dominant.

Perhaps these are a bit more on the edge, sure. With the first example, I would personally say it qualifies as dominant at least due to the fact that the character is not just passively holding the collar, but presenting it to the viewer in a way that implies putting it on. It’s reinforced by the dialogue, which makes the character’s intent clear. Perhaps you could argue against the collar implying submission - the collar is usually a symbol of submission, especially in a BDSM context, but perhaps it could be argued that it isn’t the case here. It would certainly be more direct if it was something unquestionably related to BDSM, like a ball gag.

With the second image, I’d say it’s enough on the fence that I wouldn’t object if someone removed the dominant tag. My own justification for counting it would be that the low angle view creates the implication that the viewer is on the ground, lying or kneeling beneath the character, with the handcuffs implying bondage. It’s certainly more subtle, though, I admit. With these two, I was mostly just trying to find examples that don’t involve the character pulling a leash coming from the POV, as that seems to be what most solo dominant posts (that aren’t mistags) seem to be.

With the first example, I would personally say it qualifies as dominant at least due to the fact that the character is not just passively holding the collar, but presenting it to the viewer in a way that implies putting it on. It’s reinforced by the dialogue, which makes the character’s intent clear.

He makes it clear they want the collar on whoever they're looking at. There's nothing to say they actually can or do put the collar on, and even if they do, whether or not it's dominant will depend; if it's their feral pet they want to put the collar on for walkies, it wouldn't be dominant.