The Submissive Stereotype Needs To Die.

If you read any amount of erotic fiction, watch movies or TV shows that feature D/s dynamics as part of the story line, or frequent any sites that claim to have the inside track on how to become the perfect submissive it's easy to develop an idea of who and what a submissive woman is. A stereotype, if you will.

• She's young and improbably good-looking (her parents were a Norse God and a super model). Her chest defies gravity, her hair is the stuff of Pantene legends, and her complexion would give a dermatologist wet dreams. She has big eyes (that tear up at the least provocation), a tiny button nose, and full lips (that she's prone to bite or which tremble in a most becoming fashion. She's also slender.
• She's naïve and most likely not wise to the ways of the world (or men). No matter where she grew up, what her life experiences are, or how old she is, she's innocent to the point of cluelessness. If she had a vanilla boyfriend, hand-holding was her equivalent of 3rd base and anything else had to wait until marriage.
• Conversely, she's a raging nymphomaniac who cannot get enough sexings to satisfy her wanton lust. She'll bang anybody or anything if it'll get her rocks off... Discriminating taste is something she's never heard of, much less possessed.
• She's always painfully shy. Asked to tear her eyes away from the floor to meet yours she's more than likely burst into tears with a charming lip-tremble thrown in for good effect. She never speaks above a whisper (if she speaks at all), and odds are very good she thinks she's fatally flawed- Her self confidence can be measured somewhere on a scale from zero to zilch.
• Indecision, confusion, and  aimless describe her to a tee. It's surprising that she's made it to whatever age she is (18 to 25, usually) without starving to death because she cannot decide between Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Wheaties for breakfast... In fact, if asked to make any choice she'll fail (and then cry about it).
• She has no will-power, voice, or desires of her own. Or if she does, she's willing to give them up or shut up because, well, she's a submissive. What she wants doesn't really matter to her or anybody else. She's a blank slate, a doormat (in the worst sense of the term), a mindless automaton who exists solely to fulfill another's desires.
• She has a submissive personality. If you approach her it's entirely likely that she will roll over to show you her tummy and then fear-tinkle on your shoes. If you thump on her for that, she might whimper but she won't tell you to get lost or even complain.
• She thinks that she's inferior to whoever decides to dominate her. Equality and respect are not words found in her vocabulary. 
• She has no limits. If someone wants to lock her up in their grody, damp, dark basement for years on end, feed her nothing but bread and store brand lunch meat, and share her with his friends- She's going to go along with it. She might not be happy about it, but who is she to say she deserves something more?

This is the picture that the media presents as a "submissive woman", she may not be quite as malleable, helpless, or inept as that list when they're all combined- But to some extent she will hit every point I mention. She's never portrayed as a whole, capable, person in her own right.

And while it annoys the ever-lovin' bejeesus out of me, I have to wonder why that is? Especially when absolutely none of the real life submissive women I know resemble that stereotype (and if they do, then it's something they've chosen to portray because it fulfills them on some level). I don't have any idea why the stereotype is so prevalent when it's blatantly untrue for most women who chose to submit...

Though, on second thought, perhaps I do.

Perhaps the reason that this stereotype is so popular is because it doesn't threaten the fragile egos of the D-types who couldn't handle a woman who was her own person. Maybe it appeals to their need to feel superior, to lead without question, to get their way without worrying about the thoughts and feelings of another human being? I suppose nothing would make that possible quite like a submissive who was a threatening to his manliness and had the emotional depth and desires of a tug toy (you know, like a Fleshlight, Pocket Pussy, or any other soft, squishy toy a guy puts his wiener in to get off).

Eww. The submissive stereotype is a tug toy with a pulse. That's disturbing.

But I guess I could be over thinking things. Maybe it's like any other negative stereotype- It's just easier for people to believe the worst than to ask themselves if perhaps this idea they have about an entire group of people is- dare I say it?- Wrong.

Meh. Regardless of where the idea comes from, it's still something that effects the lives of submissive women in a negative way. It's something new submissives have to battle against when they're trying to define who they want to be while not allowing others to define who they should be. It's does a great disservice to submissive women everywhere and it really just needs to crawl of into a dark wood and die.