Good topic OP! I have found myself in this quandary as well. I've always thought I was submissive and in my hobby dates I would say I am to an extent, maybe vanilla would be a better term for what I am in my hobby dates? However, as I'm becoming older I find myself leaning towards the dominant side. In my personal adventures it turns out I LOVE paddling, flogging, and dressing up men as little sissies. The more I spank and paddle them, the wetter I get. Freaked me out at first, lol. And no, I have had no tramatic issues that lead me to want to truly punish men in any true form and cause actual pain, think lite Dom. I have never gone full sub though. I have the spreader bar and all sorts of restraints but just can't bring myself to let someone use it on me or spank me, it has no appeal to let someone do that to me, so I can't know for sure if I'm sub potential or not considering I haven't tried. The thought of using all that on someone else though sends tingles to my lower regions, hehe. I'm finding that I tend to shy away from anything submissive, I think my true calling is most likely being the Dominant. That fine line between inflicting pleasure and pain on a Sub is exhilarating! Pleasurably torturing a male until he's so riled up and on the verge of exploding then bringing him to heel, then building him back up, and so on is quite the aphrodisiac. In conclusion, I never would have know about my dominate side had someone not wanted me try it on them. Could I do this in hobby dates? No clue, I have yet to try it on a client. I'm afraid I'll suck at it for a true seasoned submissive and having some one leave disappointed in a date isn't something I'm fond of. I need Dom training classes, lol!