Roaring Trade

These two images are from a stage play called Roaring Trade by Steve Thompson. Judging by this old review it’s about bond traders and the finance business rather than sex or BDSM. However, give these images, there’s clearly some sexual power and femdom dynamic involved at some point. I like the fact they added that element without invoking the stereotypical powerful and rich city guy sees a dominatrix in his lunch hour.

Roaring Trade
Roaring Trade
I found this via the Fashionably Femdom tumblr.

Pro versus Lifestyle

Stabbity over at Not Just Bitchy has me reaching for my keyboard again. A couple of weeks ago her comments on force in a scene triggered two different posts (here and here). This time it’s her provocatively titled Pro-doms V’s Lifestyle doms post. In this particular case I find myself violently agreeing with part of that post and incredibly puzzled by the rest of it.

The part I violently agree with is that pro-doms and lifestyle doms offer different things. That’s clearly true. A few scheduled hours of very focused intense play is nothing like a natural evolving organic relationship. Even if you play with the same domme very regularly (as I do), it’s not an approximation for a lifestyle interaction. The relationship you create may be a very positive and real one, but it’s established on an entirely different basis from a lifestyle D/s one and grows differently because of that. I also agree that the guy who expects a lifestyle relationship to play out like a 24×7 fantasy fulfilling professional session is an idiot.

Where I find myself confused by Stabbity is when she then goes on to divide men up into two very different groups…

If what a guy really wants is a dominant girlfriend, he’s not likely to have a lot of interest in seeing pro doms. Not getting to build a relationship with them would be a deal breaker, not a selling point. On the other hand, someone with an extremely demanding job who just doesn’t have time for a relationship but wants to get his kink on isn’t likely to get what he wants from a lifestyle dom.
Stabbity in Pro-doms V’s Lifestyle doms

I can’t speak for all submissive guys, but that perspective does not reflect either my own or the one I see most guys describing. It suggests that the two experiences are so different that it divides submissives into two distinct and non-overlapping types. I think it’s much more of a continuum than that, and that the differences between pro and lifestyle play do not manifest themselves in that way.

To draw a rough analogy: Some men only want sex in a committed relationship. Some men only want casual sex and wish to avoid relationships. But some men (a lot in my view) would be happy to have casual sex while they search for the right relationship. If they haven’t found Miss Perfect they’ll happily fool around with Miss Fun and her attractive sister Miss Available. Particularly if that fooling around doesn’t stand in the way of searching for Miss Perfect.

It’s certainly possible to build a relationship with a pro-domme. It’s also certainly not the same as a lifestyle relationship. And that is not a deal breaker for a lot of guys who’d like a lifestyle relationship because playing with a pro-domme is goddamn fun. I’ve had some of the best and most intense experiences of my life with them. I’m kind of hoping that doesn’t cross me off the dating list for any dominant women out there.

Ella Kros

Given the topic of discussion it seems only appropriate to feature a photograph of a pro-domme. This is Mistress Ella Kros. If you’re anywhere near Tel-Aviv her session information is here.

Tidying up the art gallery

After adding Jay Em to my Femdom Art pages I took the opportunity to browse through the other artists and do some clean-up. I was astonished how many dead links there were. It’s kind of depressing to see how ephemeral the internet can be. The anal retentive geek in me expects everyone to keep everything exactly as I found it.

On the plus side, as part of the updating process, I did discover a few interesting new links. In particular I found new sites for Gene Bilbrew, Bernard Montorguiel, Rubex and Eric Stanton. I also stumbled across the interesting Retroyguy site and a fine obituary for Eric Stanton. Hopefully every link on the three artist pages should now be live and useful. Feel free to leave me a comment should that prove not to be true.

I’ll leave you with a couple of images from Bernard Montorguiel. I particularly enjoyed the first one. There’s quite a lot going on in it. There’s a picture of a mistress with some strange floppy gloves, a bunch of animal faced slaves, a forceful maid and an excited slave. I can’t say it does much for me erotically, but I am intrigued by what buttons it was pushing for the artist. The second image is a little more conventional, apart from the odd burglar mask being worn. That looks about as useful a disguise as Clark Kent’s glasses.

Bernard Montorguiel Artwork

 Bernard Montorguiel Artwork

Red doesn’t always mean stop

I was intrigued to read this article on the relationship between color and behavior. Its basic conclusions are that color can have a significant effect on emotional response, and that people associated with red appear more sexually appealing. Women in red bordered images are rated more attractive, red clothes generate more hits on dating sites and hitchhikers in red have a better chance of being picked up. It apparently works for both men and women, although the article doesn’t cite any studies featuring men as the subjects.

Clearly this is where I’ve been going wrong. My wardrobe is full of blue, grey and black. I should have been modelling my style on Santa Claus or The Flash. Or possibly even Little Red Riding Hood, if I wanted to throw a bit of kinky cross dressing into the mix.

The mistress in this Divine Bitches shoot has certainly got the red look well sorted out. She’s even color coordinated her electroshock prod. I wonder if the attraction created by her dress is neatly offset by the pain of being shocked in his mouth? That’s the kind of useful survey that scientists never seem to get around to.

Mistress in a red dress
Mistress in a red dress

Nothing to be sniffed at

Over at the Pure Liquid Kink blog there’s an interest post up about scent. It ponders why scent play isn’t more common, and why it isn’t talked about it more. After all sense of smell is a huge part of our sensorium.

Offhand I can think of a bunch of different reasons for its limited usage. Firstly, it’s hard to control. It’s relatively easy to modify your appearance or the sounds you make. In contrast making your body give off a particular scent is more of a black art. Secondly, it’s tricky to schedule. It takes time or a gym visit to develop a good sexy funk and, unless you have immediate access to a shower, it can’t be removed instantly. So planning is required. Finally, it’s a tough thing not to share. What’s sexy for a partner might not be so sexy to share with your work colleagues. After all, you wouldn’t want them nicknaming you after a well known Terry Pratchett character.

…his smell has become strong enough to not only melt earwax but to acquire a separate existence. In fact, it outclasses him, and is usually referred to in text as being almost another character entirely, who occasionally arrives ahead of Ron, opts to stick around for a while after his departure, and even goes to upper-class parties without him.
Wikipedia entry on Foul Old Ron

While that kind of smell is a little more edge play than I care for, the overall idea of scent play is a hot one for me. The natural perfume of a woman is sexy. It’s both a very physical and very intimate thing. And while it’s true that scent doesn’t get talked about a huge amount, there’s clearly a lot of interest in it. Whenever I see pro-dommes or porn stars selling clothing items, smell is frequently a big advertising point, whether it’s funky sneakers or more intimately fragranced items.

Armpit licking

I found this image on the Adore Femdom tumblr. I’m afraid I don’t have an original attribution.

Me not think too good

It has been a long day. I did an intense and very enjoyable session with Cynthia Stone on the afternoon and followed it with an excellent dinner at Spago. I’m certainly not complaining, but my ability to write coherent and witty posts may have been curtailed. Not that there was ever a great potential there to start with.

While I attempt to sleep off this cocktail of adrenalin, endorphins and alcohol, I’ll leave you with a shot I found on the wonderfully named Food, Fucking and Femdom tumblr. That’s pretty much my favorite three things in life. In this particular case I love the blurred cane and the well marked ass.

Caning

The mystery of the disappearing dildo

I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books, but a reverse image search tells me this is fan art featuring two of the characters – Harry and Ginny. Presumably she’s showing him her latest magic trick. Using just an ordinary school tie and a completely conventional strap-on harness, she can make her magic wand disappear completely from view. It’s a neat trick, but I’m going to bet that Harry has a fair idea where she has hidden it.

Ginny Pegging Artwork

I’m afraid I don’t know the original artist. I found it on the Felm Cyber tumblr (originally larger version available here).

Guilt+Force=?

This is continuation of yesterday’s post on ‘force’ based scenes, originally triggered by this post by Stabbity. Reading those first will probably help this make more sense.

Force in a BDSM scene can undoubtedly be very hot. For one thing it suggests passion and emotion. As a submissive being on the receiving end of that is energizing. It’s hard to be forceful towards something you’re indifferent about. Force in a scene also brings in ideas of objectification and control. A lot of BDSM toys are about removing some element of control, whether that’s over motion, speech, sight or sphincter muscles. Force can be a further extension of that, removing the ability to control consent, albeit in a consensual non-consent kind of way.

I get all those aspects of force in a scene. The one associated aspect that does puzzle me is the idea of removing or shifting guilt. This came up in the comments to Stabbity’s post.

I also feel that the use of force enables a sub who is ashamed of a certain desire to experience it without guilt. I see it most frequently in regard to forced bi scenarios. The sub wants it but doesn’t want to admit (either to others or to himself) that he wants it. So by passing off the responsibility to the dom, he’s essentially free to indulge without worry.  – roo-roo

This is a view I’ve seen expressed many times in the past, and I have to say I don’t get it. And I mean that in the ‘I personally don’t understand’ way, not in the ‘it’s wrong’ way. Can guilt be really shifted so easily? Mixing the complex emotions of a forced BDSM scene to a genuine sense of guilt sounds like a combustible emotional mix. If a traumatic childhood experience with a Salvation Army lady had left me with fetish for stealing from charity collection boxes, I’d (hopefully) feel very guilty about that. Would dragging a domme into my coin pilfering schemes make me feel any better? Can guilt be shared or even shifted like that? It seems such a reductive view of an emotion. Perhaps it depends on someone’s ability to compartmentalize and buy into their own stories and fantasies. Maybe if I roleplayed in scenes I’d understand this better.

As I said, it’s not an unusual or uncommon view on force in scenes, but it does leave me scratching my head. Perhaps the fact I’m not an emotional masochist may have something to do with that. While I ponder that, I’ll leave you with another fun piece of artwork, this by Kami Tora. Not quite as overtly physical as the Stanton drawings from yesterday, but it does have some nice hair pulling and forceful pegging.

Kami Tora forced pegging scene