Domination & Submission: The BDSM Relationship Handbook by Michael Makai

extent.  His preference, however, is and
always will be topping.  
    Bottom-leaning BDSM Switch
    The Bottom-leaning BDSM Switch enjoys both topping
and bottoming but prefers bottoming, regardless of his other emotional and
relationship dynamic preferences.  Example:  William considers
himself a monogamous slave to his poly Mistress Victoria, who also has other
slaves.  Occasionally, his Mistress hosts play parties for the entire
clan, and even though William has no significant emotional connection with her other
slaves, he does sometimes engage in BDSM play with them, and often switches
with a preference for bottoming.
    Balanced BDSM Switch
    The Balanced BDSM Switch is equally attracted
to and finds fulfillment in the role of a Top or a Bottom in his kink activities. 
Example:  Sierra is a submissive in her primary relationship with her
Dominant Joseph, and that never changes.  However, at BDSM play parties,
Sierra equally enjoys giving and getting spankings, paddlings, floggings
and other forms of impact-play. 
    D/s-BDSM Switch
    The D/s-BDSM Switch is able to change his dominance-orientation in both his relationship dynamic and his kink activities, though the
switching may not be synchronized by timing, direction or
intensity.  Example:  Bob is a D/s BDSM Switch who is the hinge in a
poly “V” relationship, where he is Dominant to Sue, but submissive to
Diane.  His kink activities with each of his partners stays aligned with
his relationship role, but when he attends his local BDSM group play parties,
he is equally likely to assume the role of a Top or a Bottom.
    I am fairly certain that, as a result of what I have
written here, I will be deluged with countless letters, messages and emails
asking me to divulge the “authoritative source” that has served as the
wellspring for this unique method of categorizing Switches.  To those
folks, I can only point to the nearest bottle of tequila.  As far as I
know, I am the only one crazy enough to have made such an attempt and, frankly,
I’m beginning to think that maybe there was a darn good reason why people way smarter than me didn’t try it.
    If You Are a Switch
    If you are a Switch, or if you are beginning to
suspect that you might be one, my advice to you would be to embrace who you
are , and refuse to be pressured into having to decide between the
two ends of the dominance-spectrum , especially if you are perfectly
comfortable sliding back and forth along its length.  On a completely
unrelated side note, I probably shouldn’t get too comfortable saying “sliding
back and forth along its length.”  
    For most people, their dominance
orientation is no more a choice than their sexual orientation.  
It is simply a matter of who they are.   It develops and sometimes
changes as they mature, just like every other aspect of their
personality.  It is hardly the set-in-concrete, black-and-white
proposition that some people seem to think it is. 
    Virtually no one would feel justified in demanding
that a bisexual pick a heterosexual or homosexual preference and just stick to it , yet there has never been a shortage of people who think
it’s perfectly acceptable to make similar demands of Switches.  
    If you happen to be one of those people,
perhaps now would be a good time to rethink your approach. 

My Two
Cents on Switches
    I’ve spent much of my life completely mystified by Switches, on a number of levels.  When I was much younger, I was
simply baffled by their seemingly natural ability to do what they do . 
For someone like me , hard-wired since birth as a Dominant and tempered
by twenty years of military leadership training and experience, it was a completely foreign concept.  It might have been easier to convince me that a person
could just grow different sex organs at will , than to convince me that
they could willy-nilly change their dominance-orientation. 
    I’ve also gotten frustrated at times because some Switches seemed unable or unwilling