The Ultimate Body Language Book

space, leaning on their cars, putting feet on their furniture or desk or being overly-friendly with them.
Being intimate with someone they are close to, such as a current or past romantic partner, or as in a
father-daughter relationship, his daughter, are all ways to fight dominance head on! Obviously, you
must be careful what you choose, as head-to-head dominance struggles are the beginnings of war!
When there is an imbalance of power between dominant people, one party will quickly succeed to the
other, but when two parties are evenly match, or believe that they are, the struggle can draw out
indefinitely producing emotional of even physical injury. So instead of antagonizing your dominant
counterparts, instead work on building your own dominance independently of their through confident
body language, examples of which are peppered throughout this book!
Chapter 8 – Dominant and Submissive Gestures
Dominance By Setting And Breaking Social
Rules
Rules are always created by, and then in turn, broken by dominant individuals! Dominant individuals
are the rule makers, not the rule followers. It’s sad but true, that police officers enjoy greater luxuries
than regular citizens. Just ask any policemen what they do if the get pulled over for speeding. Do you
really think they get a ticket? I won’t get into absolutes here, but I do personally know two officers who
have explained to me that a flash of the badge gets them off every time. I would expect this to be the
norm, not the exception, but there is no empirical way to be certain.
This sort of logic all starts at home, as parents make and break their own rules routinely. Is it any
surprise that whinny children have whinny parents? Even small children can readily pick-out these
injustices, but since they are still highly dependent on their parents to feed, house and cloth them, they,
put up only a small amount of resistance. As children reach their teenage years, these inconsistencies
are tolerated less and less by them as they tend to set their own course. They are separating themselves
from their parents and taking on their own dominance characteristics, naturally, controlling inconsistent
parents see this as disrespect.
This isn’t unlike what happens when dominant people meet as adults. Dominant people will often
interrupt others or speak over them, casually swear in the wrong company and generally act
inappropriately without fear of consequence. Dominance can also take the form of belittling and
criticizing others, and holding thoughts such as “I’m more important then you”. It can also include
ridiculing others and their possessions, such as their cars or occupations.
Touching also has rules which can be broken in order to set others in their place. A pat on the back can
be disingenuous when used in certain context, whereas a light punch on the shoulder can be uplifting to
a buddy. Punching can be annoying if done repeatedly to exercise control. There is a pretty clear line
between being dominant in a good way versus being belligerent.