Collins defines a dominatrix as ‘a woman who plays the dominant role in a sado-masochistic sexual relationship or encounter’ or, ‘a woman who dominates’. The use of this word dates back to the mid 1500’s, and has evolved over time to become a description associated with a certain type of empowered woman. The word dominatrix is often used to describe me, and this is something I am comfortable with.
How has the image portrayed by the word ‘dominatrix’ changed over the last century, and has the changing and liberation of personal and sexual identity affected this?
‘Faster, Pussycat ! Kill ! Kill !’
– Tura Satana – 1966 RUSS MEYER
The reason for this blog is a conversation I was having with a friend the other day; we were discussing the stereotypical image of a dominatrix (domme, domina et al) and how it has changed in recent years. For a long time over the last century, the visual image the word dominatrix would often conjure up would be synonymous with a Russ Meyer-esque lady, more often than not brandishing a bullwhip or similar, or perhaps a stern matriarch.
As such, the image of the woman herself has not changed, often powerful, sexual, confident and exuding an air of inaccessibility. The tools however seem a little different these days; whereas earlier conveyances were around pain (mild to severe) and denial, much more focus seems to be on the sexual and depraved (I use the word depraved in a non-derogatory sense here).
Societies and cultures have always grown and evolved by pushing boundaries and exploration, and it would seem that the same has happened in the world of professional domination. If you search for content online relating to female domination you are now just as likely to find images, and certainly videos of men being taken from behind with a prosthetic penis, performing intimate body worship or being ‘milked’ as you are to see someone being restrained or spanked.
Let me be clear, I am not putting these activities down; everyone’s kink is individual – look on my Twitter page, or at my films and you will see that I am no stranger to the odd strap-on myself, you might even say I look good in one…
What I am driving at is how the face of the game has changed. How the face of mainstream has changed and why.
Today there seems to be a large focus on the ‘female cock’. In earlier years, the thought of receiving a dildo either orally or anally would have shocked and appalled most males and I wonder how many dominas actually offered this type of thing, or indeed was there any demand for it. Nowadays, it seems more commonplace, with some even going as far as the real thing to please Mistress – notice the phrase ‘to please Mistress’. How many men have acts of penetration performed on them ‘to please Mistress’? Surely from the amount of requests I have had over the years to sodomize someone, or to arrange ‘forced bi’, it would seem that the act itself is something that a lot of men are keen on, not just doing it for the sole pleasure of their dominant. Why? Be