Dominance and submission

Many of us write about shapeshifters that become animals with clear cut hierarchical dominance structures...wolves, cats, and even horses.

Usually though it's the male who is the dominant. He leads the pack or the herd. With my wolf shifters, I followed this "natural" dominance structure...mostly. In my world, though, females can be pack leaders. They can be alphas over males, but it's a tricky line to walk without emasculating the male character or making him appear weak.

This fine line can be handled well though. I haven't really read a lot of shapeshifter characters where the female is the dominant of the pair but I've read some awesome BDSM stories where the female dominant is strong (without being a bitch) and the male retains his strength. My favorite author for this is Joey Hill. I read Natural Law and was bowled over by her characters and how even though the male was the submissive, he wasn't weak or wimpy in any way.

Another author I've read recently who handles this well is Michelle Polaris. I read her m/m/f menage story Bound Odyssey and it blew me away. Mira is a strong dominant woman with believable flaws. The men, Roman and Jace were all strong and interesting. I loved all three characters and the complex relationship between them.

Do you enjoy stories that feature female dominants or do you prefer your males alpha and in charge? Do have have any favorite BDSM stories? Please share them with us!