TPE vs. APE November 17, 2025
I know I’m about to ruffle a few feathers here but here goes. In the beginning, I believe that most people submitting in Power Exchange relationships live in is a state of strict servitude rather than slavery. While our choices may be few, we still have them. While our voices may be small, we still express ourselves and our opinions with a quasi-freedom. Not much is truly taken away and while we may occasionally suffer for our lifestyles, it is small suffering and generally desired to some degree. Our lives may be steered by our owners but to a large degree we are often still “backseat driving” and that’s fine. I think that in the beginning, at best, we are aspiring to TPE. It’s out there on the horizon, but we’re not yet there. Submitting in most things isn’t the same as submitting in all things. We may eventually get to it, but we don’t start there to be sure. In most cases, I think the best we can hope for is an Absolute Power Exchange.
I do not deny that I am my Master’s slave. This is what he calls me and that is how I identify in regards to our dynamic but I will tell you unequivocally that I am by no means Totally Enslaved. I am not brainwashed. I do not eat breath and sleep slavery. I do not live in a Total or Complete power exchange. To be honest, I don’t think I ever will. This is the truth. I do believe, however, that I live in Absolute Power Exchange. I believe that my slavery is Absolute.
“Kitten, isn’t that just semantics? TPE, APE, IE, isn’t it all the same thing after all?”
No, I honestly don’t believe it is. Here’s why. Take a look at the words themselves. On the surface, Total and Absolute seem to be interchangeable, but beneath their similarities lies a huge difference.
Total, as defined by the Merriam Webster means: comprising or constituting a whole; Entire: which is having no part or element left out. To me this means that in order for a Power Exchange to be a Total Power Exchange, the slavery must exist across every spectrum of life. In my experience, this rarely happens. I have never met a slave who is such an instrument of her Master’s will that she is this suppressed so entirely in every moment, to every person, in every way. When reaching for this “Total” moniker, most of us, myself included, are very quick to utter three qualifying words that give us permission to be in the Elite and unquestionable TPE club. “In Our Dynamic”. Well, to me, these word betray more than anything and point directly to the very definition of the words Absolute Power Exchange.
Thumbing back to our dictionary, Absolute is defined as first, “free from imperfection. pure.” (This is not the same as “Whole or Entire”, the definitions of Total) Secondly, Absolute is defined as being governed by, or characteristic of a ruler or authority completely free from constitutional or other restraint. This is where the words “In Our Dynamic” have the most weight. Masters, Owners, Dominants, are the rulers and authorities and it is by them that our slavery and submission are governed. This makes most every Power Exchange Absolute rather than Total. I do believe that we may be totally enslaved within the absolute authority of our Masters but that does not exactly mean the same thing as a total exchange of power, does it? Or does it?
Ponder.. Discuss. I’m interested in other opinions on this subject.
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