During childhood, boys obey women; mother, nurse, teacher. A strong woman serves as a source of guidance. However, for mature men, conditioned to take charge and provide for a family, the dominant female figure becomes obscured or out of reach. The male-ego takes over and if there is no feminine principle to temper it, an imbalance is created. At this point the presence of a dominant woman takes on erotic proportions. Here enters the shadow side of the personality: the wild unfettered longing that craves to be simultaneously expressed and controlled.
Society does not champion a man in Gloria Vanderbilt’s and sparkly pink heels, or kneeling head bowed, awaiting orders. A man has no haven in which to express these inner yearnings. Mistress describes her work as an act of compassion. She facilitates these expressions of these repressed aspects, allows him to channel the side of himself that needs a voice. “These appetites, if stifled, otherwise would sublimate into something else, “ she says. ” The dungeon is a place where he can constructively and safely express himself.” Emphasizing her point, Mistress raises a hand, offers her palm. “There is a popular misconception that you force them. What they bring is their surrender. It is an open giving that requires trust. People crave intimacy; to have a bond with a partner that allows them to be fully authentic. It is an internal impulse, an intrinsic hard-wiring to serve and submit.” Maybe that is why we worship.
Mercy: the word that a submissive will use when pushed to his limit.
Mistress does her homework. Before a client walks into her lair, she has taken extensive notes during a thirty minute phone interview. With a sexual personality profile of her own making she determines his experience level, nature of interest, and specific fantasies. ” In my interview, I ask ” If this experience were to be rewarding to you emotionally, how would you feel?” I get every possible answer: used, excited, objectified, nurtured, tormented, adored, obliterated. When he enters my space, it is into an experience in motion. I get an immediate felt sense-face to face, center to center. When I touch, even an arm brush, I can see immediately by the reaction how much resistance is being carried. If he is loose like a cooked noodle, he’s here. Ready to go. But if there is resistance, you go slowly.”
There is more to our sexuality than we give ourselves credit for.
“People ae very bright, very sharp. They think ahead. You have to keep them off-balance, so they don’t know what’s coming. You lead them, guide them.” Mistress has the capacity to be so tuned-in to individual consciousness that she can make seamless transitions. It’s all in a moment. With tremendous sensitivity, she walks the fine line so that an experience is surprising enough to be arousing, yet familiar enough that it does not generate anxiety. Anxiety means fear, and fear means “game over”.
There are tricks. External stimuli, language, position, apparatus. She will remove a normal sense like vision by placing a blindfold, ask provocative questions, or strap wrists and ankles to a wooden crossbar. Some sessions are complex, others are simpler. Some people know their triggers. For example a surgeon wants his hands bound, or a lawyer wants silence. “I’m like a director, creating a scene. But more than that I’m creating an emotion.”
I observe her ability to respond to such subtle nuances of the psyche is uncanny, and probably unmatched by the majority of human beings. She looks at me with disarming frankness. “It’s natural. I read it and understand it. But knowing what to do with it makes all the difference.”
* * * * * * * * *
The second time I meet Dom Dominique, I tour her workspace.
Centrally located in San Diego, nestled on a hill with breezy views of Mission Valley, the condo sits with 1050 square feet of specific purpose. It is on the ground floor, quiet, private, house plant at the entrance.
Release the limiting oppressive beliefs that our bodies are inferior; that anything besides missionary style between heterosexual married adults is devious, wrong, bad, or naughty. Come out and play.
I knock. She opens the door. The first thing I see is cleavage. Towering in black heeled boots that climb thigh high, she wears a metallic blue mini-dress the size of a sock. The sheer black jacket tied around her waist covers nothing, her already prominent breasts issue forth from the ensemble like prowling tigers. A long pearl necklace dangles between them. She is a Hollywood Starlet, pin-up girl, and sex goddess wrapped into one magnetic force of seduction.
It smells like a Buddhist temple. I walk into the parlor, and at first glance it looks like any ordinary living room. At second glance, however the particulars start to stand out. The black cushioned bench sitting neatly in front of the fireplace has metal hooks on its legs that serve as attachment points. The walls are covered with small female portraits and paintings, all nude, elegantly framed. A mounted television screen facing the entrance is turned on, and naked women rhythmically rub themselves in time with the jazz music being piped throughout the house. There are tracks on the ceiling: military-grade cables and cords for hoisting and suspending specially made chairs, harnesses and body holsters. Flip a switch on the wall and the entire apparatus can be raised or lowered, depending on individual preference. ” Everything is custom-made to fit the space,” Mistress explains.
self-expression is a wonderland. A multi-dimensional exercise: mental, spiritual, emotional, physical.
Behind me, a beautifully hand carved wooden structure stands between a counter top and the ceiling. It is a Harem screen for voyeuristic play, a tribute to the sultanas of the Ottoman Empire who observed women in the harem. Behind this screen there is a kitchen with a stove that has never been used. A peeper can go into the dark kitchen, and watch through the ornate screen as a hapless slave is suspended upside down and flogged in the parlor.
“We’re in a residential neighborhood and our hours of operation are from 10am to 8pm. No late night rampages. It is strictly for business-there is nobody hanging out smoking pot here.” Indeed, with fifty-thousand dollars in gear, this is a tightly run ship. Besides the parlor, and the kitched-turned-voyer room, there is a bedroom, a dungeon, and two bathrooms. My domination tour guide takes me into the bedroom next.
A king-sized bed takes up most of the space. It is a bondage bed: the headboard is riddled with various attachment points and tie-downs. Mistress lifts the black blanket on top to reveal a black rubber sheet beneath. ” For golden showers and when things get wet.” Then she opens a mirrored cross-dressing closet, filled to the brim with fantasy outfits, frilly panties, and lacy brassieres. There are high-heeled shoes from sizes 8-16. Dresser drawers are stuffed with lube, clamps and the like, some of which I recognize, others I don’t. Everything in the room has a function. Another television is mounted to the wall. Mistress informs me that the best BDSM movies are German and Dutch. dangling from hooks is a menagerie of whips, crops, ropes, and straps. Against another wall is a custom-built wooden seat with extended head, arm and leg beams, for a seated crucifixion. It is flanked with chains and hooks. There are hoists in the ceiling here too, and spreader bars of varying lengths in the corner.
Give me something I can feel. Out of the mind, into the body.
I ask her about the pain. Where is the reward in purple, throbbing balls ? What’s the appeal of nipple clamping and ass paddling ? Mistress considers briefly, then replies, “I’ve only known two real masochists. Many people just have a higher threshold for stimuli. In other venues, this is applauded; for example, boxers or football players. Some people are more corporeal, more kinesthetic. They give and receive information from the physical body. Often these physically gifted individuals have poor verbal skills, and vice versa.” It reminds me of the prototypical smart kid who can’t run the mile, or the star quarterback who can’t spell. Everything Mistress says makes so much sense.
The Dungeon is a work of art. It is completely sound-proofed and customized to Mistress’ exact specifications. The walls are mostly black, with red accents and mirrors. A body sling hangs from the ceiling in the dead center of the room. I’d wager it has the capacity to hold a small whale. Racks of hoods, ball gags, and handcuffs are within easy reach, along with an even more impressive collection of bullwhips, cat-o-nine whips, signal whips, cock whips, snake whips and lashes. In one corner of the room a large wooden cross leans against the walls. In another, the horse, a waist-high wooden bench with a black leather top, waits patiently for its next penitent mount. In the closet is a shoe organizer filled with dildos.
Suspended animation: out of time, into sacred space. Take me apart, so I can put it together.
“Afterward, some people are quite undone. I will lay a hand on their chest. If they are really shaken up I will lay my entire body down on top of them. This serves to re-ground, re-compose. Then they shower, dress and leave.” Out the door and back into the real world, neighbors are driving by, mail is being delivered.
* * * * * * * *
The third time I meet Dominique, we are not alone. “Tammy is a sixty-one year old male who looks very much like Anthony Hopkins. this session begins when he enters the parlor, as he is stripped of his polo shirt, Dockers and gold wristwatch. He is wearing pink polka-dotted underwear, and not all of him fits inside.
He greets me Mistress’ guest, by kissing my patent leather boots, stammering his appreciation for the opportunity. Then he is led into the bedroom. Mistress, in a red dress, breasts blazing, tells him to hold still while she applies foundation to his face with an airbrush applicator. When he flinches, she slaps him across the face. He quivers with bliss. I follow-up with blue eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick, transforming his thin hard lips into a red, puckering gob. With make-up complete, Tammy is instructed to tilt his head back and open his mouth for a reward. I spit into it. “Thank you Mistress.”
Selecting between several custom-made outfits, I begin to garnish Tammy like an overgrown, wrinkled doll. Pink satin dress, lacy socks, silver heels, blonde wig, a blue sash. When I am done he looks like Little Bo Peep. I tell him so. As he checks himself out in the mirror, I catch a look of amused satisfaction. Then Mistress and I sit on the couch in the living room while Tammy performs for us. Eyes shining, he recites nursery rhymes and curtesies while we laugh at him. All three of us are having a genuinely good time.
On my knees kissing the sky.
“It gives me great comfort to serve,” Tammy tells me later. He looks adoringly at Mistress. “Thank goodness for her. She does me so much good. I can’t even tell you.” In his seven-year relationship with Mistress Tammy has given up smoking and drinking. She councils him on his diet, chats about politics, listens to his workday challenges. She has a finger on his inner pulse, understands his internal workings. Unconventional yes, but it is as functional a relationship as I’ve ever seen.
Sit. Stay.
“I know this would seem wierd to a lot of people,” says Tammy, referring to his love for cross dressing and humiliation. Yet having witnessed it, and the positive impact it has on his life, I am reminded that individual tastes and preferences are beyond judgement. And when I look into the eyes of Dom Dominique, I see Mercy.