Friendships

I recently saw a thread on FetLife that asked whether an owner lets their slave have male friends or not. There were varying answers. Some don't under any circumstances. Others don't restrict their property's friends and most were somewhere in the middle.

That's where Master and I fall. Somewhere in the middle.

I have several kinds of friends. They can kind of be organized into little circles... like vanilla and lifestyle. Work friends and social friends. Close friends and acquaintances. And, of course, "couples" friends and "solo" friends. Most of the members of each of those groups are female. Sometimes the circles overlap and (more commonly) sometimes they are separate.

I have one close male friend who is not in the lifestyle, but he knows the nature of my relationship and is good with it.... His presence in my life also predates Master by at least a decade, perhaps more. I have several male friends who are in the lifestyle but they also know Master well and I don't see them frequently enough or chat about personal stuff enough that there are problems. One DJ'd our wedding (most excellently, I must say).

The other male friends I have are also friends with Master and are either "couples" friends or work acquaintances. Regardless, it solves the issue of boundaries quite nicely. I don't go places with them unless Master is there (my current job doesn't require a lot of work-related travel) and any socializing is usually done WITH Master there and as part of  a larger group.

I only have as much privacy as Master allows me to have. At this point, he doesn't ask to see my emails or my Facebook messages or private FetLife messages. He could, if he wanted to, but he really isn't interested. He has also put the same basic guideline into place for ANY of my friends, gender not withstanding.

If I have a friend who is causing drama or problems with my relationship, they are gone. That is the same whether they are Dom or sub, Owner or property, male or female. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Gone. It's a really simple and straightforward rule and one that works really, really well.