D/s & BDSM Information - Equality, by DurLlwyd

by DurLlwyd - version 1.0

Equality is a brutally misused word. The concept behind equality is deceptively simple: equality is the quality of being equal. To be equal is to have the same measure, or the same value as another. Equal is defined as the measure of multiple things being identical.

This seems simple enough, so how can such a simple concept be so misapplied? Well, as with most of these sorts of things, someone took something out of context. Thomas Jefferson in the US Declaration of Independence wrote, 'all men are created equal' and it has been taken out of context ever since. When you take a single line out of context, it becomes possible to twist the line to suit most any cause. Jefferson's intent was to say 'The government should treat all people fairly and acknowledge a basic list of human rights.' He never meant to suggest that everyone was exactly the same in every way.

Obviously, it would be ridiculous to suggest that all people are perfectly equal in all regards. There are obvious and often profound differences that exist between any two people. For instance, it would be ridiculous to suggest that 'everyone' should be allowed to perform open-heart surgery because 'everyone is equal' to a trained heart surgeon. This may be a bit of a self-evident point, but it doesn't hurt begin at the beginning as they say.

The problem is: when we use the term 'equal' we must also define what specific qualities we are speaking about. For example, a glass that is two-thirds full of water is not equal to a glass that is two-thirds full of alcohol. But, you could say they are 'equal' in that they are equally full. As long as we are clear that we are talking about the volume of liquid and not the type of liquid, we avoid confusion. If we restrict the application of the word 'equal' to refer only to the level of liquid in the glass, then statement is true. However, if we try to generalize, and say just say 'they are equal', we are in error. The key is to clearly define what qualities are being referred to when claiming two things are equal.

So what do folks mean when they say 'everyone is equal'? Honestly, I don't believe most people have really thought about what they mean. They have heard it said enough times that they just accept it. Certainly there are some areas where people are 'supposed' to be treated as equals. For instance, legally, everyone is supposed to be the same under the law. However, we all know that how 'equal' you are in a courtroom is largely dependent on the quality of legal council you have managed to retain. The same goes for civil rights. They are represented as the same for everyone, but as quite a few minorities have discovered, it doesn't always work out in the same way in practice as in theory. To borrow from George Orwell's Animal Farm, "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others."

As a good portion of modern misunderstanding about the use of the term 'equal' started in American revolutionary times, it helps to take look at other comments of the period to get a more complete picture. In the federalist papers, James Madison wrote: "The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests." In essence, he was saying that although people may be considered equal under the law, there are large differences general abilities from person to person. And those differences affect human interaction at such a fundamental level that trying to make people equal is impossible and even undesirable.

The politically sensitive reality is that not all people are equal. Some are taller some are shorter. Some are stronger, faster, smarter, or what have you. Some are just generally more capable then others. The types of differences between individual humans are too numerous to count.

So what does all this have to do with D/s? In a society that has been inundated with the concept that 'all people are equal', D/s faces some pretty major challenges. Not the least of which is the 'offense' some people take at the suggestion that social status is directly affected by some these differences. There is a certain irony to this, because social status has always been affected by a person's abilities. Just ask any grade-school boy who has gone through the ritual of 'picking teams' and they will tell you that social differences based on ability are undeniable. Although, some that would argue that in an ideal world everyone would have the same social status, it just isn't the case in the real world.

The D/s Lifestyle is one that openly recognizes there are differences between people. It further recognizes that those differences cause a person to be more or less suited to a given role. It is a Lifestyle that recognizes the qualities and strength of leaders, while also recognizing the qualities and strengths of followers. But, at no point, does it attempt to make all people equal. The very idea of tying to force everyone into some common mold denies people their individual strengths and weaknesses.

It is understandably appealing to think that everyone is 'equal' in an abstract sense of the word. And while this may be a particularly appealing idea for those who find themselves 'less equal' in those qualities society presently values most highly, the fact remains, in every measurable context, human beings differ from one another.

Differences are not such a bad thing. It is differences that allow human beings to have individuality, without them we would just be copies of one another. We are defined by our differences; defined by our inequalities. The qualities, which allow one person to excel beyond the average and inspire others, are the very qualities that deviate from the average.

Perhaps we can finally put to bed the myth of equality. Perhaps we can stop idealizing the standardization of the human race. And just maybe, we can accept that there are those who are stronger, smarter and faster, and rather then attempting to make them 'equal' to us, we can learn from them.

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