There always has been fighting about who or what is the difference between being a submissive and a slave. The initial biggest difference is freedom, freedom a submissive has to question the results or decisions they make with their Dominate, where a slave has no say so with any decisions made by the Dominate.
Another difference is attitude. Submissive lives their lives knowing their goal in life is to satisfy the Dominate yet knowing they do have a voice even though it probably wrong (lolol)
Where as the slave knows they not only has to satisfy the Dominate, they have to do it without and thought or voice in the matter.
To surmise, and one can be submissive, but a true follower of BDSM can be a slave, with the attitude that they place their lives in the dominates hands. The slave is truly a unique person, one you don’t find everyday.
unowned submissive, older but wiser. my last trainer was actually my wife , and it took me this long to get over her.