Because I am who I am, and because I have a need to understand the why...why I am different than most..... why I fit here, why TTWD feeds me, when I look at why I submit I have to understand if there is a biological/physiological/psychological component to submission. Guess what? There is.
We are all familiar with the term "Fight or Flight Response." Heck, many of us experience that response every time we know we have crossed the line and find that we have earned discipline or correction.
So how does fight or flight work? All emotional arousal is received in the amygdala (part of the reptilian brain). In the presence of stress and/or perceived danger sensory data from the thalamus sends sensory information to the hypothalamus, which activates two different body systems. It releases CRF (corticotropin-releasing factor) into the pituitary gland which releases ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) into the bloodstream. ACH arrives at the adrenal cortex (which mediates the body's stress response) and stimulates the release of about 30 different hormones into the blood to prepare the body to deal with the danger.The hypothalamus also activates the CNS (central nervous system) activating glands and smooth muscles, and releases epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine. All of this prepares our large muscles to engage, releasing glucose into the blood to fuel those muscles and contracting small blood vessels to divert blood to them (which is why you feel cold), our smooth muscles to relax so we can get more air in our lungs, our pupils dilate to allow more light in, respiration and heart rate and blood pressure increase.
Are you asleep yet? *POKE-POKE-POKEDY-POKE* well wake up! This is where it gets REALLY interesting!
Remember that emotional arousal? Let's look at another path it can take....in the presence of a socially dominant male - marked by things like voice tonality and posture, the scent of testosterone and other pheromones - rather than being interpreted as fear, that arousal is interpreted as attraction! Even though we are not experiencing fear, the physiological response is much the same. Our respiration and pulse accelerate, a tell-tale sign of arousal in women, though is that they will gulp. It is a subconscious reaction to male power, it is in our make-up. It is a submission reflex. Like most biological/physiological factors, I imagine it is more prominent in some of us and less in others. There are alpha females, they do however bow to the alpha male. Unconscious submissive gestures include, lowering the eyes, tilting the head down, making the body 'smaller'- in effect, what we would see in the animal word as a less pronounced 'bowing', drawing shoulders in and to the front, arms close to the body and forward with elbows pointed outwards and hands open, the eyes widen signaling vulnerability, gestures and movements will be slow and small to appear vulnerable, voice is soft and low.
I recognize myself in most of those gestures, without thinking, when Ward turns the key....I'll cover that in another post :)
HIS POV:
As I would savor June's response to my dominance, I must respond in kind to her submission. Her beauty, kindness, submissiveness, femininity, and general lusciousness are things that I delight in. She opens up to me, and gives me a way in and I see these gestures and her softness and deference speak to the dominance that is within me.
Hormones, coupled with natural response weave our story, a story older than time and more beautiful than an ocean of diamonds. Her submission is my ambrosia!
