This week's video post is on First Meetings Safety.

When you are ready to meet your dream Dominant for the first time, what goes through your mind? Do you think about safety at all or do the nervousness and excitement overload your common sense?

You may not think that safety is necessary for someone you've been talking to for x number of hours, days, months, years but the person you meet could be very different than what is portrayed and you may not be compatible. How do you get out of the meeting safely and how do you protect yourself?

I encourage first meetings for any relationship to grow and develop. It's similar to a blind date, right? Normally someone else knows you are on that date and where you are going. Then they usually call you shortly after you get home to see how it went. This is commonplace in vanilla dating. Don't forget that the start of a D/s relationship starts with dating!

Be Prepared

It is the boy scouts motto for a reason; always know what you are getting into and have everything prepared, even if you may never use it or need it. For first dates, make sure you have basic information about the Dominant you are meeting. What color and make their car is, their license plate if they will give it to you (and why wouldn't they?), their name and phone number, address and other important information you have collected. Leave this information at home in plain sight and with your safe call (more on safe calls below). If something were to happen to you, then the authorities would have somewhere to start.

Of course, no one wants something to happen, but it is better to be prepared and never have to use it than to disappear and leave no trace of you behind, right? It's about common sense and personal safety; pure and simple.

Meet in Public

When you set up the first meeting make sure it's in a public place. You don't want someone coming to pick you up or meeting them at their private residence. I know being picked up could be romantic, but save it for future dates, this one is all about getting to know someone better.

Being in public gives you some security and having your own transportation means that if things go south you have a way home and aren't relying on someone else. Besides, public places generally have better food choices, beverages to enjoy and a conversational atmosphere. That's what gives first dates a good or bad vibe.

Set Up a Safe Call

A safe call is much like that friend who knows you are out on a blind date. You give them all the information you have collected on the person and then set up a call for a set time. Depending on your comfort level with the Dominant this call could happen during the date or immediately after it is supposed to end. Anyone can be a safe call person as long as they are available to call you or receive calls during the date. Many local munch groups have a safe call network in place.

This call is just a check in call. You can treat it any way you want. Some people have a code that they only answer yes or no questions and that gives the person on the other end a clue as to how things are doing and if you are in any danger. Others have specific phrases they use to clue the caller into what is going on. You don't have to be so cryptic if you don't want to. It's completely up to you.

A respectful Dominant should allow you to answer your phone during a first meeting. Those that don't should be warning to you and you should try to find a way out of the date. I know some Dominants that insist you have a safe call in place before meeting them, just to give you some sense of security in a tense situation. Never turn down the request for a safe call.

Do Not Play

Unless you want to develop a reputation for recklessness abandon, then do not play on the first date! Get to know the person better face to face, see if there is chemistry there and then you can schedule play dates. If you feel you are being pressured to play, call your safe call and/or leave. You should not have to get intimate with someone you have only talked to online or by phone.

Listen to Your Gut

Most of the time your gut is right. If you feel things aren't going well, get out. If you feel uncomfortable or pressured into doing something you don't want to, then get out. Listen to your inner voice.

Finally, enjoy yourself. All of these things I've listed above should be auto-pilot for awhile. You can still have great first meetings and have these things in place but never really think of them.