Protection = dominace?

[coop500]

So on a discord server this topic came up in a friendly manner but now it has me thinking, is the predator devouring the prey to protect them a form of dominance still? Or totally separate? I personally can't decide and am just curious to hear people's thoughts on the matter.

[Midir]

I think it is very subjective and depends on a particular scene. I can see protection as a kind of dominance myself too, from the prey's perspective. The thing about predators and doms is that they do not always realise they are predators and doms!

[GramzonTheDragon]

toes the line, hugely depends on context. if there is not an immediate threat that could somehow be deterred from harming the prey better by stomaching them and that's the only option then maybe its not dominance, but considering there's usually way better ways to protect someone, doing it outside a super niche scenario remains domination, even if it's lite domination. Realistically if something is threatening say some warrior's apprentice, putting them in the stomach just hinders the predator and would open up more areas for any aggressor or beast to slash or otherwise attack, possible fatally wounding the predator or the prey inside, so the downsides would make it less practical than just getting the prey to safety or keeping them behind the would be pred, so they have to go out of their way and dominate the prey a bit by gulping them.

Of course, this can change based on size difference between rped and prey and how blatantly overpowered the predator is, or just having weird niche abilities to make it more viable.

Here;s an example i can think of off the top o' my head: Big pred is escorting small prey around the wilderness. they come under attack by a giant bird, a pretty strong one. however it's not strong enough to fly off with big pred. so it dives after small prey repeatedly. After holding off the bird the pred swallows the prey so he can't be taken by the giant bird and it just assumes it's a worthless effort now, leaving them along and letting pred spit prey out.

Outside of vore, protection often isn't dominance. for example, a soldier taking out a hostile combatant about to kill their squadmate isn't really dominating the other squadmate, just preserving the squad and doing their job/duty. It could go both ways over time, where vore typically has an already dominant and submissive character established for the scenario of protection to even come up. If one wasn't bigger and stronger then what good would eating the other do against most threats?

[Disable]

I've always considered dominance to be about agency, and after a prey has been eaten, what happens next is generally in the predator's hands. So, as long as the pred is willing, it's hard for me to not consider them to be in the dominant position.

[Scrumptious]

I answered 'yes', because while 'depends' is technically correct, it strikes me as implausible that it would be otherwise. The number of plausible* scenarios in which the capacity to protect and the capacity to ingest do not automatically give the balance of power to the pred strike me as dismissable.

Of course, if you want to imagine it - go straight ahead. Have fun with my blessing!

Also, this question just awesomely relates to this:

https://youtu.be/5pf4urTYRsg








*By plausible, I of course take for granted the objectively unrealistic scenarios that make protective vore possible to begin with.

[ZeeTheHellion]

A friend and I have practiced this on some occasions, and very often it's protective, however, sometimes it's a bait and switch. So it depends.

[Humbug]

It may not specifically be dominance, but there are certainly power dynamics at play there. Protecting someone means you're taking their safety under your responsibility, which is a HUGE indicator that you see them as weaker or less able to handle harm that may come their way, even if it's just for a short period of time.
Dominance might be a strong word, but it's not out of the question, necessarily. As said above, that's situational. But protection vore is almost certainly a show of power from the pred over the prey. Kinda like a parent-child situation.

[GentlemanlyShadow]

Honestly, I immediately wanted to answer yes, but after some thought, I marked it down as depends. Because while the predator is definitely the one in charge of the situation, as is the case in most vorish scenarios, in this one, there's a disparity in the power. The reason I say this is because if the predator is devouring someone in an attempt to protect them, then the prey has a lot more power in this scenario than one would think. The love/protective dynamic pushes a lot of control into the prey's hands, because the situation becomes less predator/prey, and more bodyguard/VIP.

To finish my thoughts in a less garbled manner, I'd say that while the predator in this scenario is immediately dominant in some aspects, but isn't inherently dominant in all aspects. In most cases, some power would still be in the prey's hands here. But I do like this dynamic, and think it's rather cute, if not interesting.

[EnderDracolich]

So on a discord server this topic came up in a friendly manner but now it has me thinking, is the predator devouring the prey to protect them a form of dominance still? Or totally separate? I personally can't decide and am just curious to hear people's thoughts on the matter.

It can be. I think that depends entirely on the relationship between the two individuals.

[blergle]

It totally depends upon by whose will this is occurring. If it's by mutual decision, there could be a balance of wills. If the swallowee convinces the swallower to do this for his protection and talks the swallower into it, it would appear that the "prey" is more dominant (hence my hesitation to even use the term "prey" without quotes). If the prey is hesitant and the predator insists, that would appear as a dominant predator. Like EnderDracolich says, depends entirely on the relationship.

[Jayezox]

The only way I can see a protective predator not being dominant is if the prey is by ordering or convincing the predator to do it or something. Power dynamics are never truly balanced.

[minakotomoka14]

I believe so. Domination doesn't always have to be cruel or BDSM-related. In this case, the predator is protecting the prey by devouring them and completely submitting them to their body. Even if the pred is protecting the prey and they have good intentions, the prey still can't escape, and they are essentially being trapped and held hostage until the pred decides to let them out. In that way, the protective pred is still dominating the prey just by the fact that he's eating them.

[Jayezox]

I believe so. Domination doesn't always have to be cruel or BDSM-related. In this case, the predator is protecting the prey by devouring them and completely submitting them to their body. Even if the pred is protecting the prey and they have good intentions, the prey still can't escape, and they are essentially being trapped and held hostage until the pred decides to let them out. In that way, the protective pred is still dominating the prey just by the fact that he's eating them.

This just got me thinking, this concept doesn't just apply to vore. I would consider this scenario kind of like a great leadership role of sorts. A pet owner or someone with a kid would and should be the leader of someone that isn't completely capable on their own. I would compare it to something like that or even a group leader that wants what's best for his/her group.

[coop500]

Oh wow this got more responses than I expected.

And pretty much everyone here has a point, although I'm still on the fence about it, I better understand what parts matter on this