Leash – Page 9 – Femdom Resource

Never interview naked

I thought this was an interesting article on how we intellectually react to an image of someone naked. The simplistic view is that we objectify them, treating them as less than human. The article claims that it’s more complicated than that, and that while we do consider them less intelligent, we also think they’re more sensitive.

In one experiment … the photo showed either just the head or also the shirtless torso. When presented shirtless, targets were seen as having less competence. This is just what you might expect from research on objectification: we’re easily induced to see others as mere objects, pieces of meat without thoughts of their own. But it wasn’t that simple. Shirtless targets weren’t seen as devoid of all thought. They were actually seen as being more capable of emotions and sensations than their less exposed selves. They didn’t have less mental life but a different mental life.

They even used Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Porn-Star Portraits book in one experiment and found that varying the sexuality of the pose simply moved people along the lower-competence/higher-sensitivity curve. True objectification never actually occurred.

Given that all the personal images posted on this blog feature a naked me, I can only assume my readers think I’m a delicate and emotional creature, who is thicker than a whale omelette. This also has interesting implications for the CFNM fetish. Often that’s treated as a power dynamic or a humiliation scene. I now wonder if there’s also a degree of subconscious role reversal in it for some men. Cultural cliches categorize women as emotional and men as intellectual. Based on the above finding, CFNM images would reverse that broken stereotype.

I thought this image (found on homer’s blog) was an appropriate one to use for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s obviously a CFNM shot. But it’s also an animal roleplay, and that seems to align with the intellectual/sensitive split. We don’t think of animals as competent. Nobody expects their dog to balance the household accounts or fix that leaky tap in the guest bathroom. But we do assign a lot of emotional attributes to pets. Dogs are seen as particularly dumb but sensitive, which is apparently much like our views on naked humans.

Kerfuffle in the blogs

One of the things I enjoy about blogs is watching opinions and discussions ripple out across them. As a medium they exist somewhere between a newsletter, a diary and a conversation. The dynamics are complex and I’m often surprised by what posts will sink without a trace and what will trigger a storm of discussion and controversy.

One recent example of this was a post by that well known troublemaker Ferns on the subject submission, consent and the D/s dynamic. That was followed by this post by kinkinexile taking issue with the definition of dominance used. That provoked maymay into a series of posts written with his usual tact and subtlety on the theme that ‘Dominants are Rapists’. You can read them in chronological order as post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5, post 6, post 7 and post 8. That’s a lot of posts, so if you’re short of time then 1 and 6 are probably the key ones to read. Spinning off from all that was this post by Tomio Black and this by gingernic, plus no doubt others I failed to spot.

I was planning to stick my nose into the debate, but for the moment I’ll play the role of the lazy college lecturer and simply throw it out there for discussion. I am, after all, a resource site. Possibly I’ll come back to it in a future post. It should also go without saying that a link here does not imply endorsement of any particular viewpoint. The set of things I find interesting includes many which annoy or infuriate me.

As a meta-comment on the debate itself, I will say that maymay’s case is not enhanced by his tendency to classify the emotional and angry responses generated as proof that he’s getting close to the truth. I could post that all submissives are sad losers who don’t deserve a real relationship and generate a lot of strong responses. That wouldn’t constitute proof that I’d hit a nerve and was onto something. It reminds me of the old joke – ‘Yes, it’s true they laughed at the Wright brothers, but it’s also true that they laughed at Bozo the clown’.

I wasn’t really sure what image to go with here, but seeing as Ferns mentioned chores, I’ll run with that particular theme.

Owner and pet

After a modern image and a funny image, here’s a pretty image to finish my trio of artwork posts. I think it’s kind of sweet. Other people go ‘ahhh, how cute’ at kittens and small children. I do it for pictures of leashed guys exchanging tender glances with dominants.

Based on the image’s distinctive style I believe it’s by the artist Kahori. I found it on the Elegant Femdom Art tumblr.

A cooling dip

It turns out that Hawaii is hot. Really hot compared to Seattle. Why wasn’t I warned about this? I was thinking it’d be a gentle warmth with a cooling ocean breeze. Instead it’s hot with a humid breeze. Many tall cold cocktails may be required to offset this.

When I first came across the image below a couple of days ago, it was the interesting opportunities for breathplay that caught my eye. The leash, piggback and breathplay combo is a rare one. Now I’m looking at it thinking ‘Wow, that looks like it’d be really refreshing.” The lady pushing my head under that cool water would just be a nice added bonus.

I found this via the Geek Domme tumblr. I’m afraid I don’t have an original attribution.

Battle of the brains

This is the kind of image that kicks off a fight between my lizard brain and my simian brain. It’s a nasty no holds barred affair that, unfortunately, is usually won by my simian brain.

The lizard brain always gets the first few shots in. It’s very shouty – “Naked Lady! Nice thick rope. Leashes are hot. Cute expression on him. Long legs! Butt! Boobs! BOOBS!” It does likes boobs.

While the simian brain is a little slower to start, it tends to finish stronger. There are less boobs and more – “Why are her legs shiny? Did she oil them? And, if so, why? Where did she get the oil from? They’re in some sort of derelict building or underpass. How would they end up naked there? Is she cold? That floor looks stony. I’ve got to think taking her shoes was an unwise move. His ripped jeans are a little dated. Although maybe they’re coming back. Did I give my ripped jeans to Goodwill? Am I too old for that look? I reckon I could still pull it off. Sorry, what was I looking at again?”

I found the image on the domina girl tumblr. I’m afraid I don’t have an original attribution for it.

Odds and Sods

I’m still sorting through the detritus of my vacation. Nothing coherent to blog yet, so this is a random collection of stuff that was accumulating in my brain.

I was hopefully on seeing the first few seconds of the Straightjacket Supermodel video that someone might have finally done a good femdom video. There are some nice tools on display and flashes of interesting imagery. Unfortunately it quickly turns to crap. There’s a stereotypical domme doing porny come-hither dance moves to the camera, right up to the point she axe murders her submissive. Obviously somebody didn’t tick the ‘not being axe murdered’ box as a hard limit.

This post on building a predicament bondage device out of a Mattel MindFlex toy is pretty interesting. Personally I’m skeptical it’ll work. I suspect if arousal was this easy to measure, scientists wouldn’t still be using these kind of crude devices. But I do love this kind of hacking and experimentation, so I really hope it leads to something cool.

A BDSM event had to be cancelled because some children may have been vaguely in the same zip code at some point. Clearly BDSM people should follow the same rules as those applied to sex offenders and always maintain a minimum safe radius from anyone under the age of 18. Which would actually suit me fine, provided it was the annoying kids that had to move.

I’ve finally caught up with my comment responses. Apologies for the delay on those. I always enjoy getting comments, but I’m frequently surprised by my inability to predict what will trigger them. I’ll write something that I think it’s interesting and provocative and get very little response. Then I’ll mention say nipple clamps in passing, and get a whole burst of comments. I’m certainly not complaining. As I said, I always enjoy feedback, whatever the subject. I’m just amused by how unpredictable it can be.

The image is by Sergej Medovikov. I found it on the Marquise tumblr.

With this leash…

I’m treating this as a continuation of the wedding theme from my previous post, although her dress isn’t exactly a traditional one. But then again, a leash isn’t exactly part of the standard ceremony either, so let’s just roll with the fantasy.

In contrast to yesterday’s shot this groom looks very attentive and eager to go. He has a bit of the ‘Squirrel!‘ about him. I wonder what the equivalent for submissive guys is? From what I’ve seen from most of them it’s probably ‘Boots!‘

I found this image on the subboy and mature ladies tumblr. I’m afraid I couldn’t trace an original attribution.

If anyone knows any reason why this couple…

Wedding themed shots crop up fairly frequently in femdom imagery. I guess that’s not too surprising, given there’s traditionally a power dynamic associated with a wedding day. Although I’m not really sure if they’re reinforcing or subverting a theme. On the one hand there’s the cliche of the blushing virgin bride on her wedding day being deflowered by her virile new husband. Clearly they twist that idea on it’s head. On the other hand there’s the cliche about the husband losing his freedom and being simultaneously emasculated and domesticated by his new wife. In that case they play into the idea. As an aside, I think it’s also interesting that they follow the traditional femdom porn clothing conventions. The woman is in a special outfit denoting her role (white dress/black leather) while the man is dressed conventionally (smart suit/naked).

Typically wedding themed shots don’t do much for me. However, I like this one for the barely suppressed smile on the man passing the couple by. That’s exactly the kind of half-smile I’d be sporting if I passed this pair in the street. There’s always an ongoing and never resolved debate about PDS (in fact Orlando was writing about it just this weekend), but in this case I think they’re spreading a little mirth wherever they go. Particularly if there’s a beaming bride to go with that grumpy groom.

I found this image on Red Head with a Riding Crop tumblr. My internet sleuthing leads me to believe the photographer is on flickr as m.o.n.o.c.h.r.o.m.e. Based on his portfolio it looks like a candid shot snapped in the street, rather than something posed. I also believe it was taken in Edinburgh in August, which almost certainly means it was something to do with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Given the leaflets the ‘groom’ is holding, I’m guessing they were drumming up support for a show they were staging. So it’s street theater rather than PDS. Does that make a difference to the debate?

Once more into the hornet’s nest

My previous post on male lingerie got me thinking about the topic of forced feminization. Specifically the always controversial variant that targets humiliation and embarrassment. It’s not my kink. I actually like the idea of transformation, but humiliation is never an interest of mine in any kind of play. However, I am confused by some of the opinions I see on it. As often happens, I find myself approaching it from a slightly different perspective.

A widely held view is that it’s misogynist. Why should someone be humiliated by wearing clothes than women commonly wear? If the clothes demean the wearer in the submissives eyes, and he expects women to wear them as a matter of course, therefore women must be always be demeaned in his eyes. There are lots of blog posts along these lines floating around. For example, two minutes archive hunting took me to this one by Stabbity and this one by Peroxide.

I think it’s certainly true that this type of play can be misogynistic, but is it always? That seems to make a very crude assumption about the transitive properties of clothing and context. Circumstances and social norms would seem to matter. For example, make me do a presentation at work tomorrow in Lederhosen and I’m going to be pretty embarrassed. Not so much if I was at Oktoberfest. Or stick me in a sparkly skintight leotard in the middle of some ice, and I will undoubtedly be humiliated. That doesn’t mean I look down on female figure skaters. Their abilities amaze me.

Being ashamed of very conventional everyday clothing would be a red flag. But typically it seems the people adopting that look are not into the humiliation kink at all. They’re trying to be as convincing and as feminine as possible (for example). The typical forced feminization outfit is the kind of over the top provocative clothing that’s hard for anyone to pull off with flair, let alone a hairy, overweight middle aged guy. Are they getting off on the humiliation of women’s clothes? Or are they getting off on wearing a highly sexualized outfit that makes them look silly (and happens to be women’s clothes)? If I think a french maid outfit on some guys looks ridiculous, does that make me a misandrist?

I’m not trying to argue this kind of play is always non-problematic. It definitely raises some complex questions. But I do think the logic of the view that ‘positive crossdressing=good’ and ‘forced feminization=bad’ is a bit simplistic.

The original source for this image appears to have vanished. I’m assuming it’s an Fm shot, but thanks to the hood it’s actually hard to tell. I think the anonymity of it makes it kind of hot. Is this the good or the bad sort of forced feminization?

Aahh, puppy!

This struck me as a nice follow-up to yesterday’s post. That had the sense of an eager puppy. This one seems more like a naughty puppy vibe. They make for a cute couple, but I get the sense she’s not entirely happy with him at this moment.

The title of the image is ‘Me and my mistress‘. It’s by the artist zephyrian Boom. You can see more of his work at Deviant Art (free login required). I originally came across the image at the Adore Femdom tumblr.