Household D/s

Household D/s (HDS) is the name I use for my personal style of D/s and M/s. It centered on the traditional idea of the pre-20th century household and is influenced by Victorian and Edwardian structures and manners, but also includes positive attitudes to servants and slaves from Roman, Renaissance and Eastern models.

So far, I've written the following weblog posts which present these ideas:

"The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson's novel "The Diamond Age" doesn't deal with service, but it does present a Neo-Victorian world which I explore in this review.

The Medicis' slaves

How domestic slaves fit into the extended families of Renaissance Italy.

Slave training

A framework for slave training by internalising the household's structure.

"The Story of O" revisited

An essay about the SM classic, including descriptions of the various household protocols employed.

Collars, Tags and Marks

Some historical precedents and the modern use of collars in HDS.

Themes in Household D/s

A brief overview of the HDS themes of Hierarchy, Roles, Dignity, Respect, Stability, Ritual and Authenticity.

Roles in Household D/s

An explanation of how an HDS household is built up with different roles, one or more of which may be occupied by submissives at different times.

Commercial vs Domestic slavery

This essay introduces the distinction between models of slavery based on slaves as a disposable commodity, and those where slaves are part of the household as trusted servants, companions or lovers. This leads to the idea of developing HDS as a Western model of domestic slavery and service.

I've also begun collecting useful source material:

Mrs Beeton's "Household Management"

"Mrs Beeton" is famous as a book of recipies, but also includes a substantional amount of advice about servants and the structure of Victorian households. These pages reproduce the sections about domestic servants, and a distillation of the most quotable passages on one page.

The Up-to-date Waitress

Janet Mackenzie-Hill's Edwardian book covering everything needed to maintain good table service.