• MissesAutumnRains@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    38
    ·
    21 hours ago

    People will attribute masculine and feminine gender to ‘master’ and ‘mistress’ respectively, but I think master would be the ‘neutral’ pick here.

    Or you can shuck the dynamic with: owner, divine, ruler, royal, liege, or any number of ranks with which you attribute subservience! :3

      • cloudskater@piefed.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        9 hours ago

        Whoever uses that one needs to put on a British accent whenever they use it, even in the middle of sex. Sorry, it’s a requirement, I don’t make the rules.

    • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      18 hours ago

      Yeah I have to second the “master” as a gender neutral. People always think of it as masculine, but there is no feminine alternative for most uses of master. You aren’t your dogs mistress, for example.

      • Malgas@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        17 hours ago

        You aren’t your dogs mistress

        I’ll grant that it sounds a bit archaic, but “mistress” is technically correct there.

        But yes, agreed that “master” can be used in a gender-neutral way.

      • [object Object]@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        17 hours ago

        I’m not seeing the problem with ‘mistress’. Wiktionary cites the very first meaning as: “A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership”, and provides an example sentence: “She was the mistress of the estate-mansion, and owned the horses.” You know, the same way as ‘master’ was used.

        Apparently I’ve read more than my necessary share of US literature about the slavery times (considering I’ve never been to the US), because I have no trouble imagining a matron commanding the slaves.

        Moreover, further down Wiktionary explicitly cites ‘dominatrix’ as another meaning of ‘mistress’.

        • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          17 hours ago

          It’s not that they are looking for a feminine version of master, it’s that they want a gender neutral version. Which master already fills. As do any number of other options the person I replied to mentioned.

          • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.netOP
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            14 hours ago

            Yeah, that’s sort of what I landed on. Not “master” because that also feels weird for different reasons, but “Sir”. It makes me feel like a Captain in Star Trek (though I’m not sure yet whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing)

      • MissesAutumnRains@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 hours ago

        I think steward comes across slightly more like a ‘head servant’ type rather than a title of someone you (as a sub) are giving yourself to. You could maybe have fun with some roleplay elements in that, but for me SFF books have ruined the title as one which I would ‘worship’.