Estrogen and subspace

While I was writing yesterday’s post on the brain’s response to pain I stumbled across another related article. It addresses the hoary old argument of pain tolerance in men versus women. It’s commonly said that women have a higher tolerance and this article claimed to have found a reason for that – estrogen.

One way estrogen helps women to cope with pain, he says, is by increasing the availability of endorphins — brain chemicals that help dampen the pain response.
When estrogen levels are high, there’s an increased number of areas in the brain where endorphins can “park.” The more “parking places” available, Zubieta says, the more endorphins there are on call, waiting to flood the body with “feel good” chemicals capable of overriding pain signals.

According to the article in yesterday’s post, brains all react to pain in a similar way. How individuals respond is down to social conditioning and secondary factors like the production of endorphins. And based on this article, women have a natural advantage on the endorphin front. When it comes to bragging rights, I’m not sure this really helps. It implies that it’s not down to simple mental toughness or fortitude. Women (in general) just have more natural opiates floating around their brain.

More pertinently, for the purposes of this blog, it makes more wonder if women tend to experience a more intense subspace. The rush associated with endorphins is a big part of subspace, and having more on tap would suggest a potential for a deeper experience. The fight or flight reaction is also part of getting into subspace, and that’s another thing men and women experience differently. Both sexes produce cortisol from the adrenal gland under stress, but women produce more oxytocin which counters the effect of cortisol and creates more relaxing and nurturing feelings. I know from personal experience that my subspace contains elements of all these things, from the rush of endorphins through the edginess of adrenaline to the calmness of oxytocin. But if men and women typically produce different proportions of these it would suggest the subspace they experience might typically be different as well.

Whatever the science of all it – and I’m most definitely not an expert – it does give me an excuse to feature some hot F/f artwork.

You talk too much honey by Shiniez

This artwork is by Shiniez and you can find a lot more on his Deviant Art pages.

Definition of kinky

After yesterday’s celebrity post I figured I’d follow up with another kinky Hollywood story. I didn’t have anything specific in mind, but it seemed appropriate given I’m in the area. I assumed kinky stories about Hollywood celebrities would be a dime a dozen and therefore easy to find.

However, I was amazed to discover that in the celebrity gossip world, kinky = homosexual. Or at least that seemed to be the case based on my search engine investigations. Any ‘kinky’ story in the news always seemed to involve a same sex hook-up. Technically the definition of kinky means ‘unusual sexual behavior’, which I guess could cover homosexuality by some usages of ‘unusual’, but that seems pretty outdated to me. I can only assume the celebrity gossip is still stuck in the 80’s when it comes to sexuality. Gay women are titillating, gay men are outrageous and anything more risque than that should not be mentioned.

Ellen Von Unwerth image from her series 'Revenge'

The image is by Ellen Von Unwerth from series she titled Revenge.

Punk, porn and femdom

After publishing my post on the AVN awards a couple of days ago, I dug a little deeper into the background of the BDSM award winner, Rubber Bordello. It looked like it was made with more humor and style than is usual for porn movies these days. I noticed it also won for the best soundtrack and best song, written by someone called Fat Mike. It took a few seconds for the penny to drop that this was the Fat Mike – founder, lead vocalist and bassist for legendary punk band NOFX. Not to mention his very entertaining side project of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (famous for punk covers like Over The Rainbow). I’ve been a fan of his music for years, but never expected to hear a ragtime BDSM porn soundtrack from him.

It turns out his partner is Soma Snakeoil, domme, fetish model and director/writer of the movie. By all accounts Mike is a pretty kinky guy…

It’s something that I’ve always done in my life, but people think most of the stuff I write about is bullshit. “Oh, he must have made that up because there’s no way a Japanese dominatrix put out cigarettes on his nipples.” Yep, that actually happened. We probably have thirty hours of footage that didn’t make it onto Backstage Passport and it’s of me getting beat up in Japan by Japanese doms. That’s a double feature right there.

That’s taken from this interview on the background to writing the Rubber Bordello soundtrack. There’s also a more general one on his BDSM interests available here. I’m not sure if a punk musician can be described as mainstream (unless you’re Billie Joe Armstrong), but it’s nice to hear someone like him talking openly and honestly to the press about their kinky proclivities.

Cello shot featuring Soma Snakeoil

The image features Soma Snakeoil as the player and Perfect Miss Pixie as the cello. You can find more shots of Soma on her members website. Alternatively, if you’re in the LA region, there is the possibility of arranging a session with her.

Reasons to be cheerful

I felt like posting some happy pictures tonight. Democrats in the US are obviously going to be very cheerful over the election results. Republicans not so much, but that just means they’re in need of happy pictures to help cheer them up. For fans of marriage equality it looks like all four ballot measure are going to succeed, which is great news. And for everyone outside the US, I’m sure nobody will object to attractive smiling women having some kinky fun. Hopefully these shots will give everyone a reason to be cheerful.

Smiles
Smiles
Kisses
To find these I went to the obvious place for happy kinky shots, the Happy BDSM tumblr. They’re originally from Whipped Ass.

Intimate rope bondage

I’m feeling pretty buzzed right now from a great session with Lydia earlier this evening. I should have some photographs to share in a later post, but all I want to do right now is collapse on the couch with a glass of wine. Before I do that, I’ll leave you with a couple of very sweet bondage shots.

I found these on Natasha Gornik’s blog. She’s the photographer of choice for a lot of kinky people in NYC, and her blog features fetish/BDSM shots along with lots of photographs of food. Since those are two of my favorite subjects, it makes for a very enjoyable read from my perspective. The models are Erin Houdini and Athena. I loved the feeling of intimacy and affection between them. It’s nice to see bondage used in a sensual way, rather than the more typical restraint orientated S&M scenarios.

Erin and Athena, photographed by Natasha Gornik
Erin and Athena, photographed by Natasha Gornik

Nurse Ratched Revisited

Medical role play is pretty common in BDSM and particularly in femdom. It’s a natural fit with the dominant female authority figure and all those invasive and potentially painful medical treatments. Everything from needles and catheters through to straightjackets and dental gags have been appropriated into the kinky domain.

Most femdom medical imagery is pretty fetishistic, with lots of shapely nurses brandishing random medical equipment and staring into the camera. For example, this kind of shot. Pretty but not all that scary. For really disturbing kinky medical themed images it turns out the fashion industry is the place to look. Specifically this shoot for Interview Magazine by photographer Steven Klein featuring Karolina Kurková and Crystal Renn.

Apparently it draws heavily on the institutional white trend of Spring 2012 and features such designers as Jennifer Fein, Stella McCartney and Dolce & Gabbana. It’s certainly one of the most fetishistic and BDSM heavy fashion shoots I’ve ever seen. I’m guessing they must have hired a professional bondage rigger for the ropework shot. I think if a photographer for somewhere like Kink.com had come back with these images they’d have sent him away with the instructions to come up with something a little less fucked up next time.

Karolina Kurkova & Crystal Rennfor  Interview Magazine

Karolina Kurkova & Crystal Renn for Interview Magazine

Lessons in control

In the last few months there have been countless mainstream articles using the 50 Shades of Grey phenomena as a jumping off point to write about BDSM. I’ve commented on some of the poorer examples in the past. Today I’m happy to bring you one of the better ones. It’s by Vanessa Pinto and describes her experiences in a class on female domination run by Midori.

It’s a 3 day course and features lectures, a field trip and a lab session with a trainer bottom to practice on.

Something very primal came over me, and as I circled him like a bird of prey, I could see that he wasn’t as complacent as he once was. When I wound up to slap him in the face and saw the reaction that I yearned to see, one of peace mixed with excitement. I knew that he was mine to do with as I pleased.

It struck me that I’d absolutely love to be one of those trainer bottoms. And that’s not because I particularly like the idea of the play itself. I’m sure that an hour or two with a strange and novice domme is not going to compare to the regular sessions I enjoy with experts who have done it for years. I also don’t kink on semi-public play or exhibitionism. What makes the role so appealing is the chance to watch someone else discover the joy of BDSM. There’s a lot of discussion on femdom blogs about how the culture of kink puts potentially dominant women off. Just for once it’d be nice to see the other side, where a talented educator can help some women explore a repressed and potentially important part of their sexuality and personality. I think it’d be immensely fulfilling to be part of that process.

The image below features Midori and Mayan and is most definitely not taken from her introduction to female domination class. I’m fairly certain suspension scenes would be in the advanced school. This is from the movie Silken Sleeves by Maria Beatty.

Scene from Silken Sleeves starring Midori

Sapphic sisters saddle up

I’m not sure I can strictly count this as femdom, but it was such an amusing book cover and title that I just had to feature it. In my defense, the lady on the left with the boots, riding crop and oh so tight top, is definitely looking with dominant and predatory intent towards the demure lady on the right.

I found it via this article on some of the worst book covers of all time. Obviously in this particular case when they said ‘worst’, they actually meant ‘most awesome’. It’s available from amazon, should pulp fiction featuring sisters of sapphos and glossy coated fillies be your thing.

I was also tempted to feature this book cover, which might have appealed to all the castration fantasists out there. Unfortunately, I think it’s a photoshopped version of this book, so doesn’t really count.

The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories

Ropes and wax

Beautiful ropework. Wax torture. A vulnerable blindfolded slave. A teasing aggressive domme. What’s not to like?

Mistress with bound slaveI came across this shot originally on ‘An addiction to submission’ tumblr. A reverse image search took me to ‘The Purple Pulp‘ site, run by the photographer for this shot. There are some related shots in this gallery, including some more beautiful ropework and some very intense suspension shots.

Tickling those hard to reach places

The smiling strap-on shots in yesterday’s post put me in mind of this shot. Not sure it’s strictly what I’d call femdom, but it’s such a fun shot it seemed a shame not to share. It’s from the Cocksexual site, run by the always interesting Furry Girl, and features Calico Lane and Dylan Ryan.

I’ve actually been in this position and can highly recommend getting your feet bitten while being pegged. Getting nibbled and bitten on any part of the body is always exciting, but there’s something weirdly effective about this particular combination. Just make sure your feet are clean first. It really wouldn’t be wise to upset the top with a sweaty foot odor when in as vulnerable a position as this. I know angry make-up sex can have its attractions, but angry foot smell sex really doesn’t have the same appeal.

Cocksexual shot featuring Calico and Dylan