Submissive woman = male dominance?

I was thinking about the word submission the other day...trying to think of the different meanings that i could attach to that word, researching on the various ways that it's been interpreted and used in everyday English language and everyday life. I thought about submission in terms of relationships, how a submissive woman is viewed, how her actions are perceived, and i decided to make a post about this simple word and its relationship with women.

Oftentimes people -both men and women- misunderstand the word submission to mean slavery, being receptive to dominance (with no freedom and no rights)...why? Because today's society synomymizes a 'submitting female' with women in the ancient days who weren't allowed to work, or allowed the right to vote, but stayed home, cooked meals, took care of the children sewed clothes, did the laundry, and had sex with their husbands whenever he felt like it. Because women have fought for their rights and are now considered 'equal to man', submission should therefore be unheard of and never tolerated in a relationship.

I'm going to point out the difference between being submissive and being a 'slave' - for lack of a better word, and I'm going to 'opinionize' on why i believe there's nothing wrong with being a submissive woman. Yes, i said i believe there's nothing wrong with being a submissive woman.. I know a lot of you don't agree, but hear me out first...

I'm no Dr. Phil nor a relationship expert, but I'll say this the way i see it to be: submission, the way I see it, is when a woman let's her man be a man, while allowing herself to be the lady that she is. From where I come from, i.e. culturally speaking, submission is standing behind your man and supporting him, because he IS the man in the relationship, and not you. It is the act of bringing your problems to your man (and not trying to solve it yourself), the willingness to take his advice, to comfort him when he needs to be comforted (ofcourse this also applies vice versa), the willingness and open-mindedness to act on your husband's desire[s] -with the acknowledgement that it does not and will not tamper with your integrity and dignity as a woman.

This is what submission is not and does not entail:
- Always doing WHATEVER your spouse tells you to do, no matter how negatively you feel about it
-fear of expressing your thoughts, desires to your husband/spouse
-never approaching him for help for fear of his anger/rejection/discipline
 
Now, having said that I stand with the notion of women submitting to their spouse, I will point out that I also STRONGLY believe she needs to take a stand and draw the line when necessary. We women have come a long way from the days when women were almost regarded as nothing but a piece of object that was created for man's satisfaction. I agree, we are supposed to please our spouses, but so are men supposed to please us. Yes, we are supposed to support our men and stand by them in decisions they make, but so are they expected to support us also. Even as we are willing to submit, so should men be willing to sacrifice, because both gestures show both parties' willingness to commitment and compromise. Both gestures show strong and functioning individuals in a committed and loving relationship.

I read somewhere where a woman complained of how her husband always asked her for, well, some sexual fetish of his, and she always gave in, even though she hated it and always felt awful and degraded afterwards. He knew she hated it, but then he would use the bible against her by saying women should always submit to their husbands in everything. 
     What a terrible misconception. Poor woman, what hell she must have been going through, stuck in a relationship where her husband uses her faith to threaten her so he can get off on his perverse and extremely aggressive sexual desires.  

Well, my point is, submission is not slavery or male domination, and should never be mistaken for either. Submission in a relationship is when a woman stands behind her man for the man that he is, but having her own mind and preserving her dignity as the strong-willed woman that she is.

Yes, this was what got me thinking today.

  Later, alligators.