Frozen

Lacking any children to entertain I’ve not seen the latest Disney hit Frozen. While I’ve no plans to remedy that anytime soon, I was intrigued to read about a set of handcuffs somebody had built based on those used in the movie. They’re apparently designed to prevent wizardly powers being invoked, and are therefore fearsome metal mittens that cover the entire hand. They even come with a fancy carry case. The effort put into them is impressive, but I wonder if turning up with a BDSM device modeled after a scene in a children’s movie might be more creepy than cool.

This young lady seems to have some wizardly powers all of her own. I’m not sure if she’s responsible for the snow itself, but she’s certainly responsible for making all the gentleman’s clothes disappear. I just hope she’s got an equally good spell for making those high heeled boots grip on icy ground.

Frozen

Following up on the flip side

Yesterday’s post featured a rather depressing article on the experiences of four dommes working in commercial BDSM houses. I thought I’d follow it up with some personal comments on the topic.

For those that are unaware of the professional BDSM business, I should explain that there are basically two types of pro-domme – independent and house. The difference rests in who actually owns the business. An independent domme is her own boss. She handles advertising, client screening, scheduling, sourcing equipment, providing a suitable playspace and (obviously) the session itself. In contrast a house domme works as an independent contractor for a commercial dungeon. The management of the dungeon handles the business side of maintaining the space and attracting clients. A domme will typically work a shift and negotiate sessions as clients appear. Anyone can show up at a commercial dungeon at almost any time and get to play, where independent dommes schedule in advance and may require days or even weeks of notice.

I always play with independent dommes. I’ve never seen any reason to do otherwise. My rational is simultaneously altruistic and selfish.

  1. I know where the money is going, and it’s 100% to the person I play with. A commercial house takes a large cut of a session fee and I’ve no way of knowing exactly who is getting that money.
  2. I get to play with someone who has demonstrated a degree of commitment to her profession. Managing a successful small business is hard work and, as mentioned in prior posts, I’ve endless respect for the skills necessary to operate as a successful pro-domme. In contrast the screening and training for dommes in a commerical house can be vague to almost non-existent. I might get someone with years of experience, or it might be someone who looks good in heels and just got handed their first whip.
  3. I can build a relationship with a domme. Dommes in commercial houses can have regular clients, but if I’m going to play with one person frequently, it’s much easier if I can schedule and negotiate with that person on a 1 to 1 basis.

None of this is to say that there aren’t talented dommes working in commercial dungeons. For example, readers of Miss Margo’s blog will be much aware of her undoubted BDSM skills, as well as her complex feelings about the space she worked. It’s also true that many independents started in a commercial dungeon, and that well run dungeons do exist. My problem as a client is that I’ve got no way of identifying those cases. Even if I was guaranteed a fantastic experience with a talented domme, I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere that mistreats its employees. Whether it’s my mechanic, lawyer or barista, I always bias to small and independent concerns, and I think that’s a particularly important policy when it comes to sex work.

NYC15527This is another image taken by Susan Meiselas at New York’s Pandoras Box in 1995. You can see the full set of photographs here (note that there are 2 pages worth).

The flip side

Over the last couple of years I’ve written a lot of posts about positive experiences of professional domination. That’s not a matter of selective editing. From my perspective, as a client playing with independent dommes, my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. However, I think it would be remiss of me to not feature articles that show a less positive side of the profession. One such article is ‘The Commercial Dungeon Experience: Abusive Management And Exploitation‘ hosted by the Tits and Sass site. It features four dommes who experienced some fairly horrendous treatment in commercial houses.

I may post some follow-up thoughts tomorrow, but for now I’ll just offer the link as reading material. If you’re at all involved in sex work (on either side of the transaction) then the Tits and Sass site is generally well worth reading. Although if you’re on the client side of the equation I strongly suggest limiting yourself purely to reading, and not butting into the discussion.

The image below is by the photographer Susan Meiselas and was taken at NYC’s Pandora’s Box in associated with the Nick Broomfield documentary Fetishes. Note that I’ve no idea where the four dommes in the article worked and I’m not implying a connection between the article and that particular house. It just seemed a suitable image to use, given that it’s one of the most well known houses in NYC, and the documentary is one of the most well known representations of a commerical BDSM house. This was from back in 1995.

Image by Susan Meiselas from her book Pandora's Box

Oh Joy Sex Toy

Fans of comics, sex and humor should enjoy the Oh Joy Sex Toy site. As its new reader page states, it’s a weekly comic that reviews all sorts of things related to sex, sexuality and the sex industry. Example comics include guides to cunnilingus and bondage, interviews with amazing porn stars like Stoya and Jizz Lee, a guide to strap-on harnesses and the artist’s experiences with pegging. It’s sadly low on kinky toys, with little for the S&M crowd, but it’s an informative and entertaining read all the same.

The image below is the first part of the aforementioned comic on pegging, featuring Erika (the artist) and her husband Matthew. The original is far longer and more descriptive. So consider this a small taster and click through to read the rest.

OhJoy

Snaps from SF

On my recent trip to San Francisco I was lucky enough to play with both Domina Yuki and Domina Ai-Li. Sadly we were too busy having fun (masochistically speaking) to take a lot of photographs, but Domina Yuki did snap a couple of shots of some CBT play we did. Those not afraid of pictures of naked boy bits can see one shot here and a close-up here.

She managed to create a really interesting set-up. The balls were pulled down and out by clips and twine attached to the chair I was sitting on. Then the nipple clamps were attached to clips on the head of the cock. This put everything into tension and, in a particularly devious touch, that tension changed as my physical arousal changed. The result was a sadistic perpetual motion machine: Softness -> pulled nipples -> pain -> stimulation -> errection -> less tension -> less pain -> softness. It’s an endless masochistic cycle, with the added factor of a talented lady squeezing, slapping and pinching all manner of sensitive body parts. Being caned on my inner thigh in that set-up certainly caught my attention.

I can’t leave a post with only shots of my naked scrawny ass, so here’s a beautiful and striking image from Domina Yuki’s tumblr.

Domina Yuki

Comic Con

The latest San Diego Comic Con just wrapped up. I’ve never attended but I would like to at some point. Spending a few days wallowing in that density of pop culture seems like it could be an interesting experience.

One of the new films being featured there was Sin City : A Dame To Kill For. Frank Miller has become (or revealed himself to be) a deeply unpleasant person with some of his later work and comments. Yet I still have a soft spot for his early work. The new movie looks par for the course, with ridiculous hard boiled dialog, lots of violence, brooding men and femme fatales in slinky outfits. Watching it will doubtless be a guilty pleasure.

The Comic Con articles I always enjoy most are those feature Cosplay. I’ve no desire to dress up myself, but I do love the effort and imagination some people put into it, as well as the obvious fun they have. The io9 site has some good photographs from this years event: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and final round-up.

The image below is actually from the 2011 Comic Con, but I liked it so much I just had to feature it. That’s Adrianne Curry as the evil commander holding Vader’s leash. If she’d been in charge those hippy Jedi wouldn’t have stood a chance. I’d certainly have signed up at the nearest Empire recruiting office.

Adrianne Curry — Comic-Con 2011

Well dressed pony play

While I’m on the theme of pet play, here’s an intense looking pony scene. They’re both particularly elegantly attired. I hope he’s been practicing in those boots, as they look pretty fearsome. It makes a nice change for the domme not to be the one risking her neck with challenging high heels.

PonyPlayI wish I could find a source for this, but I can only locate a bunch of unattributed tumblr reposts. If anyone knows the creator of the image then please let me know via the comments.

Kicks but no licks

I’m safely back from San Francisco after a very enjoyable weekend. Kinky fun was had, and potentially will be blogged about, but I did miss the major kinky event of the weekend – the Dore Alley Fair (AKA the Up Your Alley Fair). I hadn’t realized it was on until a friend who lives in the area mentioned it. He’s not kinky (as far as I know), and doesn’t know about my kinks, so I was amused to here the hushed tones he used to describe it. He made it sound like a cross between Caligula’s court and 120 Days of Sodom, and felt that I’d risk being traumatized should I inadvertently stumble into it.

I was less amused to read this guest post by Denali Winter on Kitty Stryker’s blog about some new rules in place for the fair.

Volunteers and cops alike informed Denali that “no touch that might provoke ejaculation” was allowed, but that they could kick or punch their submissive in the balls as much as they liked.

Even touching a penis in a chastity device was banned, which seems particularly odd given they’re specifically designed to prevent ejaculation. So anyone likely to be traumatized by sucking or fucking is now safe to attend Dore Alley, but those sensitive to people being kicked and beaten should continue to steer clear. It’s a strange set of rules, particularly for a San Francisco street fair, but sadly I’m not all that surprised.

DoreAlleyThe image above is from the fair itself. It features the post writer, Denali Winter (attempting to shoot material for her site Petplay Palace), along with Mistress Alice, Mistress Clair and her submissive Beau. If you’re at all into pet play you might want to check out the site.