Tag: F

Potent Female

One final post on the theme of British museums and collections. This time it’s from the Tate Modern that’s running an exhibition entitled Women in Revolt! It covers Art and Activism from 1970 to 1990 and based on the reviews, seems well worth a visit.

Unfortunately, the part most relevant for this blog has already been and gone. Earlier this month they ran a panel titled ‘Let’s talk about the Erotic Self‘, covering topics like ‘power dynamics, authorship, and the commodification of pleasure.’

The image was the cover image for the panel. It’s by Jill Westwood and titled ‘Potent Female.’ According to this Guardian article it was based on the famous painting by Whistler of his mother.

Westwood had first started making wearable latex sculptures as an art student and later explored the transgressive power of “dom” personas and London’s rubber fetish scene. This photo mimics the pose of James McNeill Whistler’s painting Whistler’s Mother, and was staged at home, which was “a shared short-life housing co-op with other artists”, she explains.

Epididymal Hypertension

You might not recognize the post title but, if you’re a male sub, you’ve probably suffered from it at some time. The colloquial name for the condition is ‘blue balls‘. I’d always assumed it was more of a mental state than a physical one, but amazingly there are actual medical articles on it. For example, here and here. Intriguingly the latter of those references an equivalent ‘blue vulva’  or ‘blue bean’ condition for women.

Happily it’s a condition that can’t cause you any harm. No matter how frustrated you might be. The recommended treatment is masturbation or, if circumstances preclude that, then cold showers and good clean thoughts. How very Victorian. If all that fails and you’re still feeling a little tense, then maybe a stern mature lady to beat the impure thoughts out of you?

I’m afraid I don’t have an attribution for this image. If you can help with that, then please leave a comment.

Updated: Thanks to the ever resourceful Bacchus over at Eros Blog I can now attribute this to the Perfect Villainess site and their model Marlene.

Album Covers

I’ve been enjoying a recent Twitter thread on pictures that could be album covers. A number of dommes have responded with some excellent suggestions. For example, this from Thea X, this from Mx Tomie and this from Violeta Felix.

I’ve picked out two of my personal favorites to feature here. The first is from Lily Kasai, a NYC based pro-domme. The second is from Muse Naadia, an LA based pro-domme. Eat your heart out Roxy Music. These are much cooler and sexier than even your best efforts.

Courtly Love

I’m continuing the medieval theme with a post on the topic of Courtly Love. This doesn’t refer to the lead singer of Hole, but the literary concept that became big in the 12th century, particularly in the castles and courts of France. It referred to love that was passionate, secret and adulterous. The relevance for this blog is that it often put the woman in a position of power over her admirer. As Britannica puts it…

The courtly lover existed to serve his lady. His love was invariably adulterous, marriage at that time being usually the result of business interest or the seal of a power alliance. Ultimately, the lover saw himself as serving the all-powerful god of love and worshipping his lady-saint. Faithlessness was the mortal sin.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that some of the most important literary patrons of the time were wealthy women like Marie of France. With marriages treated as business arrangements and a woman’s primary role seen as the production of healthy male heir, the idea of a worshipful and faithful lover must have been an enticing one. Tease, denial, worship and cuckolding all rolled into one.

The most famous example of courtly love is Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur. The original Arthur, if there is ever was one, was a 5th century British warrior and chief. In the 12th century the French poet Chrétien de Troyes came his stories a refresh and added the brave Sir Lancelot and his forbidden love for his master’s wife.

This is the great Helen Mirren in a publicity shot from the film Excalibur. It’s a highly entertaining version of the legend of Arthur, with Dame Helen in the role of Morgana. Absolutely zero historical accuracy but well worth watching.

Tweaking the Image

Before AI there was photoshop. A favorite tool for kinsters who wanted to modify an image to align with their preferences. I’m always amused when scrolling through tumblrs and I stumble across a photograph modified this way. In an internet awash in explicit BDSM imagery, dedicated kink fans still want to create new ones that speak to their passions.

Here’s an example I spotted on the Assertive Ladies tumblr. Originally it was from a photoshoot for a failed ABC show called Mind Games shown back in 2014. The actor is Jamie Ray Newman. I’m not sure who gave her the paddle. They did a decent job of the tweak, although there’s clearly something a little off about the pose.

Red Scare

If there’s one Femdom related word that sets my teeth on edge it’s paypig. Not sure exactly why. Just one of those things – like wacky capitalization – that grates against my eyeball anytime I see it.

I mention it because the word is scattered all across this Vice article on communist findommes. I guess it makes more sense in that context than most, given that capitalist pig is a well worn epithet. I’m very much not an expert on communism, but I was under the impression that neither Marx nor Engels were fans of sex work.

While most pro-dommes I’ve met are unsurprisingly socially liberal, a good percentage were also pretty capitalist. I guess it comes with running a small business and the constant hustle that requires. You need a fairly wide entrepreneurial streak to make a success of any small business, let alone one that faces constant legal and social hurdles.

This image has been manipulated and reposted a bunch, but I think the original source is DomNX on DeviantArt.

Bye Bye Max?

Max Fisch appears to have dropped off the net. It’s been flaky for years, but one has to wonder if this is the final goodbye.

For those that don’t know what I’m talking about- Max Fisch is (was?) one of the longest running Femdom forum sites and Domina directories. It first showed up back in the 1990’s and for years was  one of the primary sites for pro-domme information and discussion. Sadly, like a lot of these sites, social media sucked away a lot of the potential users and the admins and moderators lost interest in maintaining it.

The loss of internet forum culture to a few huge social media companies is a great shame in my view. It’s not that the quality of the debate was particularly great on the forums – online people are the same all over. But the forum’s were more focused, the conversations longer and the posts were both durable and searchable. You could post a review of a session and another user would be able to find it years later. Good luck doing that on Twitter. You also didn’t have to deal with all the algorithmically driven rage-bait garbage the social media sites throw out you.

Of course there’s nothing technically stopping someone running a femdom forum today. The problem is getting to critical mass when so many of the casual users gravitate to social media.  It’s hard for simple web base forums to compete with thousand of social engineers doing whatever they can to drive more swipes on a media feed.

If you’re like me and find the history of femdom and internet culture fascinating, using the wayback machine to browse old domme site can be a great way to kill a lot of time. For example, looking at the very first capture of Max’s domme listing from 1999, I spotted a link to the famous Ilsa Strix. That in turn led me to her archived site and old interviews with her. You can even still find her original contact protocol.

Attacking for the 3rd Time

I don’t have a giantess kink, but I figure I might have a few readers with a love for enormous ladies. If so, they’re in luck, as there’s a remake of the sci-fi classic ‘Attack of the 50 Woman’ on the way. This’ll actually be the third version, after the 1958 original and 1993 remake. The new one will be directed by Tim Burton. I’ve not loved a lot of his recent movies, but I thought his Wednesday series was fun, so hopefully this’ll continue that trend.

A Day with Countess Diamond

A day with a domme is a cheap way for publications to get some interesting and titillating content. They can often come across as mocking or poking fun at ‘weird’ kinks.

However, this Vice article by Eloise Hendy is one of the better examples I’ve seen. It features Countess Diamond and really captures some of the key components and dynamics of a professional session. I particularly like how it highlights the tenderness and thoughtfulness that experienced dommes can blend in amongst all the ball kicking and penis slapping. It also captures the arc of a well structured session, from the initial chat through to the aftercare. The only weird bit in it is the post-aftercare game of crazy golf. That’s definitely not a typical session experience.

This is a shot of Countess Diamond, source via her twitter feed. If you’re in London and interested in seeing her person, you can find her professional site here.

Kink on The Strip

Vegas isn’t a particularly kinky city. Big on sex work in general, not a lot of the kinky variety. However, I did spot one street performer doing her bit to change that.

Like other touristy places, the Vegas Strip has a lot of costumed street performers. For a few bucks you can get your photograph taken with a Batman, an Optimus Prime, a Donald Duck, etc. Vegas being Vegas, classic showgirl outfits are a popular get up, featuring lots of sparkles, bright colors and plunging necklines. Think something like this photo.

One enterprising performer I spotted wondering past the Bellagio had accessorized the classic showgirl look with a leather spanking strap. This wasn’t a brightly colored heart shaped play paddle. It was long, thick, black heavy leather. The kind of implement even a serious spankee would want to warm up to. I admired her attempt to appeal to more clients, particularly kinky ones, but felt she might want to pick a less fearsome weapon.  One that wouldn’t strike fear into the heart of passing tourists.

It’s pretty tricky to find a photograph of a dominatrix showgirl. Instead I’ll leave you with another costume I spotted on the strip – Catwoman. She didn’t have a leather padddle on her, which was a shame. I might have been inclined to stop for a whack or two.