| abstract
| - One common romantic desire is the wish to be owned by one's lover, to be his or her property. Mutual ownership only goes so far, because at the core it is a kind of power dynamic where the "owner" stands for safety and responsibility, while the owned can relax and feel small in a good way. Often includes Freedom From Choice. To avoid Unfortunate Implications, a Property Of Love dynamic is often justified in one of several ways:
* A. Simply Romantic: Hoping that its cuteness will avert any hatedom.
* B. Supernatural: The reason Sookie keeps pointing out that she belongs to Bill is that she is his human, not that she is his woman.
* C. BDSM between Consenting Adults: It's not about gender or race or class or anything like that, it's about who happens to be dominant and who happens to be submissive.
* D. Cultural Relativism: The dominance is based on gender or race or similar. However, the story takes place in another time or on another world, and this is empathized in a way that can be taken as a hint that the Values Dissonance is intended or at least the reader's own problem. Regardless of justification or lack thereof: When this trope is played straight, it is about a heart freely given, without any coercion or big deceit/manipulation. However, in some stories a kidnapping can go from Stockholm Syndrome to genuine mutual love. Being a Love Trope, the Property of Love trope in itself has no inherent connection at all to tropes such as Sex Slave or Happiness in Slavery. However, these three tropes can overlap in at least two ways. First, as a benevolent consensual BDSM game, playing with the concept of slavery. Second, as the previously mentioned Stockholm Syndrome subversion growing into the real thing. Also, please note that justification C is most commonly used when BDSM is played for drama, comedy or similar, or when it's some kind of instruction manual. Actual BDSM fiction usually doesn't feature BDSM at all, so if a justification is used at all it's one of the other three. Often the authors prefer a straight unjustified Happiness in Slavery or For the Evulz - often with some Lampshade Hanging. That BDSM stories usually aren't about people doing BDSM is for the same reason as why computer games are very rarely about people who play computer games. The Inverted Trope, avoiding relationships out of fear of becoming "owned", is largely a Gendered Trope. In old works, it's mostly about men trying to avoid being captured by a woman. In contemporary works the situation is reversed, centering on women striving to be independent from men. Both versions are largely Truth in Television, due to changing social structures: A few decades ago, men typically had most to gain and least to lose from being single, and it remains true to this day. Note that Bob claiming romantic ownership over Alice (or vice versa) doesn't make her his property in any way. It can be an expression, or it can indicate that he's a Stalker with a Crush or a Jerkass boyfriend. Examples of Property of Love include:
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