I have recently come to the realisation that this is total bullshit. The act of submission or service is as much an active choice as the decision to lead. Its not passive, meek or pathetic.
My son and I recently saw Despicable Me and he loved it so much that he got the book out of his school library. We were reading it last night when the book described the minions as 'pathetic'. We were horrified. They weren't pathetic. They were awesome! They loved Gru (who wouldn't) and saved him from himself (ballet ticket scene) and that awful Vector (minion chain of rescue moment). They were heroic!
But a leader is nothing without minions. So where does the power truly lie?
I have recently, thanks so Amazon's recommendations feature and my penchant for vampire porn, found some great bdsm-lite erotica in the form of the Shadowlands series from Cherise Sinclair.
Its been bloody interesting reading. The submissive characters are not portrayed as weak, fearful creatures who don't know what they want. For them the act of submitting gives them as much, if not more, power than those they submit to.
Its been mind-bending for me to see the relationships between the characters as an active, participatory power game (emphasis on game) rather than in the simplistic aggressor/ victim frame. To see the roles as choices rather than pre-determined darwinian paths gives me hope that I will one day take the power of the follower and not the leader.
Anyway. I am not sure I have expressed myself properly here actually. The thoughts are quite new. I have been a believer in the power of the strong willed decision makers for most of my life.
But perhaps its time to take a step back from all that and just submit, actively, to something I believe in rather than feel the pressure to always produce something worth following.