Sunday, 2 October 2016

If the kink is for real, so are the ethical problems of submission: The Multiple Orgasmic Virgin

A British Catholic girl - still a very particular sexual type -
she had a simmering intensity that
promised fire behind the icy exterior.
A well-groomed British Catholic girl - still a very particular sexual type - she had a simmering intensity that promised fire behind the icy exterior of her conservative blouse and skirt.

She even wore a little silver crucifix.

Think Vanessa from Penny Dreadful, but a virginal Vanessa brimming with a rage directed against the patriarchy of the sub culture to which she belonged but could not bring herself to reject.

The promise of erotic fire coiled with anger! She only had to sweep into the room to ping all my 20-something Femdom fantasies.

For just the same reason, she seemed so utterly out my league that I relaxed around her enough to make a connection. It turned out we had lots of shared interests and passions.

And so we fell into a relationship and thus in love.

There really was fire behind the ice.

There really was fire behind the ice. 
Behind the layers, she was wildly sensual, multiple orgasmic, and addicted to my tongue. The only snag - from the point of view of trying-to-be-normal-young-Giles - was that penetrative sex did nothing for her other than scare her and threaten her identity.

She came to me a virgin - "deflowering" is overrated as a sexual experience - and always felt that on some level she was letting the side down to "surrender" not just to a non-Catholic, but to a man. She was also - I think - terrified of getting pregnant, and thus penetrative sex made her tense. There could be no relaxing with experience, no slow seduction into the pleasures of the penis.

And, there was so much wrong with the relationship!

She was naturally dominant, but I was cast in the roll of bedroom educator, and also felt the need to push back. I introduced her to BDSM - naturally - but to the wrong BDSM: bondage with me tied up when she was never going to be much of a service top! I got her off so easily with my tongue, but was obsessed with doing it "properly" with my dick (and of course most women can't come by vaginal stimulation alone).

And so it was messy and stormy, and we were young and I was crap, and we broke up. I imagine - hope - she has forgotten me, or has vague memories of the intense but immature young man who was her first lover.  

Looking back up at what I've written I feel like an idiot and a pig. But this was a long long time ago.

So ethics.

...her fantasies of being served orally
by a young man trained for
just that purpose
.
What would have happened if (a) I had truly listened to her, and (b) male chastity devices had been readily available?

Had I listened properly, I would have taken note when she shared her fantasies of being served orally by a young man trained for just that purpose. I would also have understood that my penis wasn't going to get her off any time soon, and that the more she loved me the more I irritated her.

At first, at least, she was happy to experiment with Femdom.

I could have put on a collar and served her as a slave, told her I was fine with jerking off as a finale and that was how I wanted it. I could even have invited her to discipline me for the real things I did that annoyed her - which would have made much more sense than the fantasy context I wrapped around it.

I wouldn't actually have needed a device, but suppose I'd had one? Something practical like the one I'm wearing right now.

....a really unambiguous way of
taking the penis out of play. 
Male chastity devices are a really unambiguous way of taking the penis out of play.

"Just ignore my dick," is all very well, but it's still there, standing to attention, both mutely demanding sex and acting as visible a performance indicator. A chastity device hides the intrusive member and demonstrates seriousness about penis-free sex. And, if you leave the key elsewhere, then the penis really is out of play, at least when hard....

So, I think she would have loved that: Me acting mostly normal, an ardent lover, but no penis, just a tongue. From time to time, I would have gone into deeper submission so she could be pampered and vent her anger on me.

She would have been magnificent.

Now the ethics.

Attracted to men, but angry with them.

In need of a relationship, but defensive of her autonomy.

Would my submission have offered her
the only possible true homecoming? 
Sensual, but nervous of sex.

She dated before me, and after me. I think she was on a heroic journey to shed her baggage and be herself; to lose her hostility to men, to trade autonomy for intimacy, to unravel her inhibitions and learn to like sexual intercourse.

And there I would have been saying, "Don't bother with all that personal growth. Your baggage turns me on."

Her issues were real issues, and my flavour of Femdom would have let her really square the circle without resolving them: she was free to vent her hostility with a whip; she could be in charge of the relationship and therefor autonomous; she didn't need to have actual sex, ever, but could have as much oral as she could take.

What if that had worked and we'd settled down into a stable Female Led Relationship involving a lot of male chastity? Would it have been a good thing?

Would my submission have offered her the only possible true homecoming? Or would it have derailed her journey, stopped her from reaching her full potential?

How much should a sub consider the effect of offering their submission?

Learn how to how to walk the Femdom path with your partner! 

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Friday, 30 September 2016

Why it would be nice if D/s was more mainstream...

"Oh, you do realise I'm very
dominant, right?"
Two high schoolers on their first date:

Her: "Oh, you do realise I'm very dominant, right?"
Him: "Yes. I'm cool with that."

And according to the user who posted this on Reddit, this was several years ago and they've been together ever since.

Reddit, however, is also full of sad stories where a long-term partner gives a decisive "no" to BDSM.

Wouldn't it have been better for both parties if, back when they started dating they could have casually had a conversation like this:

Her: "Oh, you do realise I'm very dominant, right?"
Him: "Oh? I'm not sure this will work out, then."

People would understand that they
can be D- or S-types and not be fetishy
all the time
Or...

Him: "You do realise I'm very submissive?"
Her: "Oh? I'm not sure this will work out, then."

Those rejections are also wins, since they save everybody precious time and avoid the later sadness of a long marriage (or equiv) coming to an abrupt end due to sexual incompatibility.

Alas, growing up with a D/s orientation is still a bit like being gay or bi in - say - 1930. You may have no idea about your orientation, or you may suspect it but be put off by the popular image and therefore be in some kind of exaggerated denial.

There are also more potential compatible partners around than you realise because you not only can't you see them, but also they may not be aware of their own D/s potential.

If D/s were just a little bit more mainstream, then people would be aware of and comfortable with stating their preferences. There would be more happy D/s pairings and fewer relationships broken or marred by kinky incompatibility.

"I'm looking for somebody who likes to be the alpha in the relationship/bedroom."
"I like to be the alpha in the relationship/bedroom."

Yes, it would still take years to find the right partner, but the process would be less awkward and more fun.

That wouldn't affect me, but it would make the world a better and happier place.

Which would be nice.

Learn how to how to walk the same Femdom path with your partner! 

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Thursday, 29 September 2016

It's OK if the Kink is For Real: The Exchange Student with Vaginismus

Greta: lots of black hair, round
face and rosy cheeks.
I think it was vaginismus. It might have been one of the other several causes of painful intercourse in women. But let me back up a bit.

Once, when I was at college, I got talking to this exchange student.... let's just say she was from one of those European countries where chastity devices are now manufactured and we'll call her Greta: big, buxom, lots of black hair, round face and rosy cheeks.

Greta was wearing a beret - honest! - and reading a student poetry magazine - as student intellectuals did back then - and we got talking about life views.

"I believe in transcendence," said Greta, all very European and sophisticated. "I want to transcend the physical world to attain perfection."

At the time I was full of 60s ideas... Hedonism as spirituality mingled with secondhand Existentialism plus a bit of Venus in Furs, and -

- and so very much loud certainty.

"No," I said, getting animated as I spoke. "We transcend in the physical world! We ride the storm. This is all there is, so we must grasp it with both hands and wring every last drop of experience from life!"

"Oh," said Greta.

Looking back, neither of us was being honest with ourselves or each other. An honest conversation would have been this:

Greta: I find sexual intercourse painful, so have embraced philosophies 
which enable me to feel fulfilled without the need to have sex.

Giles: I am a sexual submissive, so have cobbled together a whole philosophy
 to make me feel OK about it (and to seduce women into domming me).

I don't know about Greta, but my line of patter certainly worked for me. It was spectacularly easy to get girlfriends to tie me up, but much harder to make the kink sustainable because (a) I wouldn't shut up, and (b) I had sub panic.

However, right then I quickly established she had a boyfriend back in Europe and didn't make any advances.

A few days later, we're walking back from a class and she says, "You have caused me a problem with my boyfriend." Her accent was thicker than normal and her big round face was flushed deep red.

"Oh," I said.

As she talked, I realised that my half-baked hedonistic existentialism had punctured her transcendental philosophy.

"Now you have to show me," she said walking close enough that her big soft breast bumped my elbow. "I need to know."

"Show you?" I said, suddenly getting hard. "Let's go back to my flat."

And so we ended up in my room one sunny afternoon with the light streaming through the net curtains.

We started with kissing. She had a big squishy tongue that filled my mouth. Her blouse and skirt just kind of fell away, as did my jeans and T-shirt. I fondled her breasts, stroked her legs, worked my way to her thighs.

"Not in there," she said when my fingers probed between her panties. "It hurts to have sex."

"Oh," I said.

After a moment, I said, "Fine. We don't have to have sex." Then I thought, what the Hell, nothing to lose, "How about I be your slave and do everything you want?"

It was a risk, more than now days.

This was before the internet, before 50 Shades of Grey. This wasn't me suggesting she experiment with an edgy sub culture. This was me inviting her to be a pervert. These are very different things.

(My collar wasn't as nice
as this one)
Oh and we both still had on our underwear!

She looked amused. "Oh, OK. Let's try that."

So I dug out a collar, a leash and a riding whip.

She had me strip off fully, inspected me, then had me kiss her belly, the exposed flesh of her breasts, take off her bra and lick her nipples, then gnaw them with surprising strength.

Finally, with a look of determination, she stood up and slid her panties over her wide hips. This was the first time I'd gone into a first sexual encounter as a slave and as close to being a fantasy sex slave as I could imagine. I was horribly horribly turned on.

I'd expected wild black curls to match her hair. Instead she had a shaved pussy - my first and last encounter with such. "Go on," she said with a broad cat-smile, "Lick me."

So I did. She was a bit stubbly, to be honest, but I didn't care. I was her slave and I licked.

Dear reader, it was a long time ago!

However, I think she had more than one orgasm.

Afterwards Greta stood by the bed, still naked and magnificently statuesque. She flourished the whip - which she hadn't really used except to direct the action - and said with a her wide grin, "I was made for this!"

I was made for this.

I was young and didn't really appreciate the significance of what she said.

Looking back, I realise that she probably wasn't just saying she was made for adventurous sex because she was busty and horny; rather she was made to be dominant in bed.

I think she tied me up and got me off - apparently she had nothing against penises, she just didn't like being penetrated.

Then we talked about her problem with penetration.

Yes, Greta had sex with her boyfriend because it seemed wrong not to. Yes, we could have sex if I really wanted and if I could come quickly. However, it was always uncomfortable and sometimes painful.

Looking back, I think she was risk taking too.

I decided, but privately, that not being able to have sex would be a show stopper for the long term. However, we had only a few weeks.  "We'll just have lots of kinky fun instead," I said.

"Sounds good," said Geta.

After that, we had - I think - two more encounters. 

On the second we switched - because she was adventurous and I was insistent on being kinky rather than merely submissive. I remember having her on a leash and discovering her big mouth was ideal for delivering a very nice blow job.

On the third, which we both knew was our last, we did Femdom again. I think she beat me a little. Mostly, however, she got sensual service and oral sex.

And I can't remember how I got off - this was before chastity devices, so I'm sure I did. It doesn't seem important now, and probably didn't then.

An hour or so later, we lay around naked enjoying the afterglow. I started to feel horny again. With a resigned amusement, she let me examine her vagina with my fingers. I suppose I thought that all those orgasms might have loosened her up - I was young, remember?

It didn't feel right. The roof felt distended and wrong. And I could tell it was tender even without her reaction, so withdrew apologetically.

We talked. She was never going to enjoy penetrative sex. She hadn't, she said, been to the doctor about it. It was just who she was.

So no, even now with the help of the Internet, I've no idea what the issue was.

We talked some more, and she asked whether - hypothetically - that would bother me in the long term.

Being young and thoughtless I said, yes of course it would. I liked kink, but I needed regular sex just like any other red-blooded man.

And so she went back to Europe and her boyfriend.

We exchanged a few letters. A year later, she returned to tour England with her boyfriend. The three of us met up for coffee - I don't know what she'd told him - and she took the opportunity to bump my elbow with her boob.

And a couple of years later I met Xena and here I am, two decades later, typing this while locked into a chastity device.

So who was exploiting who?

Back to the pre-Internet 1980s and Greta and me experimenting with Femdom one sunny afternoon:

  • Greta didn't like sexual intercourse. I was... ambivalent about it?
  • Greta enjoyed being selfish without feeling guilty. I was a service submissive.
  • Greta liked being assertive in bed without feeling unfeminine (culture was a little different back then). I was a submissive who loved to be dominated.

If she hadn't dropped her "I was made for this!" bombshell, you could say that one of us was exploiting the other.

Arguably, Greta was exploiting a naive young pervert in order to get her rocks off. She wasn't turned on by dominance, or by topping me. She was merely using the power exchange to get an orgasm while "dodging" sex.

And arguably, 20-something Giles was exploiting a young woman with a sexual dysfunction in order to get his drooling kinky kicks.

You can also portray our encounters as an honest but coldly calculated trade: kink for orgasms.

And you'd be right, and you'd also be dead wrong.

Sometimes BDSM culture seems puritanical in its search for the perfect ethical bubble in which to enjoy "play".

Apparently, it's OK to give a whipping while pretending to be angry, but not to actually be angry. It's OK to pretend disgust, but there should be reassurance in the afterglow. It's OK to pretend to be selfish when being dominant, or to be weak and biddable when submissive, but only after extensive negotiations and talk, and more talk.

It seems, everything (between sane consenting adults) goes in BDSM as long as it's play.

However, we weren't playing.

Greta discovered she needed real things granted by power exchange: namely control without guilt, and thus "permission" to skip intercourse and security that she could, and permission to seek her own pleasure.

Put those together and you have a dominatrix. (There are other flavours as well, of course.)

So yes, she was exploiting me, but I wanted to be exploited and she knew it. That's what gave her permission.

And, though I thought I was merely role playing a fantasy, I was also doing real things: I was serving erotically for real without immediate orgasmic reward (though it did arrive). If I was exploiting, I was also genuinely serving. Certainly, the orgasms Greta had were real (well she did come back for more...).

I don't think of her very often, but I do wonder whether she has discovered male chastity and whether she has found somebody who appreciates her aversion to sexual intercourse as much as her sensual hunger.

What am I saying? Why am I telling you this?

 It's OK if the kink is for real.
Greta had some intractable underlying physical or psychological problem that gave her an aversion to sexual intercourse. We can speculate that that aversion generally made her feel unsafe in bed because there was an implicit cultural and emotional pressure to have sex.

Then I introduced her to Femdom. This gave her "permission" to not be penetrated and also the assurance of control over the action. The perfect storm. "I was made for this".

Greta is an extreme example and I'm not for one moment saying that Femdom would help all women with penetration problems, nor that their partners would all consent to power exchange or male chastity or whatever

However, Greta demonstrates that power exchange need not be an end in itself. It can also be a happy means to an end.

And looking back, I wasn't playing either. I was in the grip of the urge to serve, and the darker but no less real urge to suffer while doing so.

So, as long as things are safe sane and consensual, I think it's OK if the kink is for real.

Postscript: Suppose that we had been a long term couple and her problem had emerged - or been admitted to - ten years into the marriage? Perhaps when we had a shared life, children, a house...

Femdom with male chastity would have at least given us a safe holding pattern. I think it would also have made it easier to follow the typical therapist's advice to explore sensuality without penetration for a while.  

Greta was one of those woman who felt an obligation to have sex. Also, most people care about their partner's needs, even if they misunderstand them. Just as it did in my college room all those years ago, Femdom would probably have freed her from any sense of pressure and given her the space to explore her sensuality with no sense of guilt. 

You might think it in bad taste, but it would have made a kinky virtue out of her unfortunate necessity, so why not?

So I think that, though - of course - kink isn't for everybody, where it's present and people are comfortable and consenting, there's no reason why it can't be used for real, grown up purposes like working around or through a sexual dysfunction.


Learn how to how to walk the same Femdom path with your partner! 

CLICK HERE to download my Femdom Erotica (all written while chaste!)
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Wednesday, 28 September 2016

Four Things I Wish the Mainstream Understood about Domination and Submission

Being Dominant or Submissive doesn't
mean anything.
1. Being Dominant or Submissive doesn't mean anything. I mean, it doesn't imply a political stance - you don't have to believe in authority for its own sake, or in gendered authority, e.g. you can be a straight male dom or female sub and still be a Feminist!
Nor does it imply a life plan - you can be submissive in private and high-powered in "normal life". Subs aren't all losers. Doms aren't top dogs. (Though I suspect your orientation may affect how you go about what you do.)

2. It doesn't have to take over your life.  You don't have to be in a BDSM club. You can be dominant or submissive just in the bedroom and only some of the time. Dominating your partner in bed doesn't mean you get to chose your next vacation destination. You don't have to do it 24/7.

3. If you do do 24/7 D/s, it doesn't have to be 24/7 kink.  It probably won't be 24/7 kink actually. Real life just doesn't lend itself to that, and people like range in their relationships.
Even so, you can have an asymmetric relationship that works over the long term - FLR or MLR. We already know what the male dominant version looks like; basically an old fashioned marriage.

4. If your relationship is asymmetric it still doesn't mean anything. Hell! You can sleep in  a cage every night and go to work in a chastity device, and still be a take charge person at work.

Learn how to how to walk the same Femdom path with your partner! 

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Tuesday, 23 August 2016

New covers for my Femdom self help books!

 Femdom need not be trashy!
A little while back, I updated the covers for both my Femdom self help books!

I like the trashy retro paperback look I developed for my erotica. Sometimes, it's good to be old fashioned.

However, the look just didn't quite suit the self help books.

How to be a Roman Dominatrix needed... deserved to look  a bit classier. I wanted to project the idea that Femdom need not be trashy; that you could do it in an elegant and feminine way and your sub would still be happy.
In the end, it's the dynamic that matters 

Getting her to be your Vanilla Dominatrix... well I wanted to make the point that a dominatrix can look normal.

OK, the model isn't quite girl next door. However, she's not made up like a porn star either. Nor is she wearing fetish clothing.

You can be kinky sexy without latex or wet look leather!

In the end, it's the dynamic that matters, which is what both books are about; dropping the preconceptions and doing wild Femdom for real.




Learn how to how to walk the same Femdom path with your partner! 

CLICK HERE to download my Femdom Erotica (all written while chaste!)
(For ebook format, 
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Thursday, 18 August 2016

Consent isn't magic because submission is addictive

The vulnerable position of submissives means that consent
is simply not a magic spell that makes everything moral and OK.
I got 45 lashes last night.

Xena was wielding our new fibreglass cane and it hurt.

Each stroke hurt all on its own in its own right.

I'd wanted the whipping, deserved the whipping what with racked up demerits. It also turned me on almost painfully (bringing with it the knowledge that I have no chance of an orgasm any time soon). However, by the end of it, I just wanted it to stop.

I could have spat out my gag, said the safe word (well what approximates to it; "Xena Jesus that hurts please stop!"), but I didn't.

That wasn't a conscious choice; withdrawing consent was simply unthinkable.

I don't mean unthinkable in some porno-Femdom captioning BS way with caps, as in, "Disobeying Her, My Goddess was Unthinkable."

I mean safe-wording out just wasn't part of my frame of reference. Even if I were bleeding or badly cramped, or having breathing difficulties, those could all be handled within the D/s framework. There's no practical reason for breaking role.

I am addicted to submission and I like it that way.

I am addicted because of two issues -- or are they features? -- with being a submissive, rather than a bottom, or somebody who enjoys acting on submissive fantasies.

The first issue is that I am submissive.

We already had a vanilla domination
and submission dynamic.
 
We already had a vanilla domination and submission dynamic. Xena has always been the designated grown-up in the relationship. (A lot of non-kinky couples are like us: one partner naturally ends up in the leadership role and the other happily and actively facilitates this.) So I would tend to want to do what Xena wants, even if it didn't suit me, especially if it didn't suit me.

Now our FLR is explicit, everything about being our lifestyle reinforces this kinkier submission.

Just repeatedly acting out a role makes it functionally real over time, and we've been doing this for over two years. Even at the beginning we weren't acting anyway. The D/s worked best when it related to real things, like real domestic service and real orgasm denial that went on for days and months.

Then there's this thing that as a submissive I like to be "forced" into things I don't like -- this is where submission shades over into masochism. So I have no real will to resist things that take me out of my comfort zone.

Worse, looking back on last night's beating turns me on. Anticipating the next one is even more exciting. The more I don't enjoy it, the more satisfying the prospect and the resulting memory, and the less will I have to resist it.

I am so glad I did not safe-word.

The second issue is that I am in a poor negotiating position. 

 ...if I burst the kinky bubble, the
kink might go away for good!

On some level I've wanted this kind of relationship for my entire life. Xena, however, came to Femdom through me. She seems to be really happy in charge, and takes pleasure in the BDSM, but I know (she thinks) she could live without it.

It follows that if I burst the kinky bubble, the kink might go away for good!

This is not blackmail on Xena's part, it's just a relationship fact. If I make her feel awkward about being dominant, she won't feel like going to that place. Withdrawing consent might come at the price of her withdrawing consent forever.

Thus I am trapped in submission by my own submissive needs... which of course is a satisfying place to be.
The more I submit, the worse I suffer, the more submissive I become, the more I need the D/s relationship, the worse my negotiating position, the more trapped I am, the more submissive I feel...
(And yes, that might read better with some "tiddly-poms".)

The upshot is, though I consent to all of this, that consent doesn't mean very much. As long as we stay within the kind of sharp-edged hard limits that are enforced by lawyers or law enforcement and repaired by therapists and hospitals, my response is always going to be "Yes, mistress," or , "If that's what you want, Xena."

Really, I'm at her mercy.
That's a hell of a lot of leeway.

Really, I'm at her mercy.

If she chose to, Xena could make me suffer well beyond what would be remotely erotic.

Last night she could have whipped me until I was weeping and I would have accepted it as my lot. The other week when we were doing deep slavery, she could have made me sleep in my cell overnight then gone to work leaving me hungry (but with water) for the day.

The effect would have been the same. I would have accepted the suffering as my lot. It would have reinforced my submission. The memory would turn me on, as would the thrill of fear in anticipation of the next time.

What if Xena wanted something more extreme?

Nobody's cutting my balls off or feeding me hormones -- and she wouldn't want to. But what about a pierced penis? Or a permanent brand? Could I say no?

I would want to say no, but I would be aware of my poor negotiating position and I would consent in order to preserve the kink. The worst of it is that that lack of power would turn me on.

I don't want to be "cuckolded by a bull".
But what about another women?
Then there's relationship stuff.

Xena enjoys my company and doesn't seem to want to call up slave mode that often. But what if work became more draining? She could reduce me to a full slave for months on end and I would be unable to resist. The bleakness, the suffering and, frankly, boredom would trap me in a state of deep submission.

No I don't want to be "cuckolded by a bull". But what about another women?

Xena isn't bi as far as I know, but what if that changed? Yes of course I like the idea of serving more than one woman, or of watching. But what if she decided she just wanted to date another woman without me present?

I'd be trapped in the same loop.

And I'd give my consent. And that would turn me on.

And if she decided to push me, I have no idea how far I would go down into the darkness.

The moral responsibility rests with
the dominant.
All this means that negotiation and communication -- those shibboleths of BDSM culture -- don't really apply. 

Xena can't meaningfully negotiate for something she wants because my submissiveness and the power imbalance work together to make me consent to anything that won't destroy one or both of us.

Where's the moral responsibility?

In D/s relationships like this -- which are not unique -- the dominant partner is the only person who can really put the brakes on.

Unfair though this is, that means that regardless of the consent given by the submissive, the moral responsibility ultimately rests with the dominant.

Sorry! The vulnerable position of submissives means that consent is simply not a magic spell that makes everything moral and OK.

The take home for submissives is not just, "Careful what you wish for!" It's also, "Careful who you give yourself to!"


Learn how to how to walk the same Femdom path with your partner! 

CLICK HERE to download my Femdom Erotica (all written while chaste!)
(For ebook format, 
Lulu or iTunes.)

Monday, 15 August 2016

Is Angry Femdom a Feminist Issue?

It came up again today on Reddit: Is it OK for a dominant to administer a whipping in anger?

In the particular case, it was probably a bad idea.

However, one of the replies summed up the BDSM "establishment view" and went a bit like this:
Whipping in anger is wrong because you are out of control, and showing lack of respect and compassion for the other person. All this makes it abusive.
The implication is that you can only whip somebody if you are dispassionate, respectful and nurturing, in other words, a service top.

This is bollocks disingenuous.

What's happening is that dominants want to think of themselves as good people, and submissives don't want to think of themselves as losers.

Kinksters want the experience, but they want to pretend it's not real, as if the monkey brain that turns us on has a grasp of context and ethics.


Service topping is OK, but there are only three authentic dominant motivations for hurting a submissive (as opposed to scratching their masochistic itch from a position of power):


  • Instrumental: To get what you want, usually by punishing non- compliance or failure.
  • Anger: Because you feel angry with them or with what they are.
  • Sadism: Because it gives you pleasure to inflict pain.


  • None of these is a nice motivation. That's the point. This is the dark side.

    Despite the service assumption, sadism seems acceptable in most real world BDSM circles. However, can you be truly sure that your sadism is not tainted by... gasp... anger?

    Can you be truly sure that your 
    sadism is not tainted by... 
    gasp... anger? 

    Also, though there is debate about its efficacy, lifestyle BDSM people also use whippings as punishment. How can they be sure that their instrumental motivation is not mingled with irritation?

    And is sadism really any safer than anger?

    Aren't you actually more likely to get carried away if inflicting pain makes the blood rush from your brain to your genitals than if you are merely venting your anger, given that anger spends itself?

    Oh dear!

    The possibility of committing a thought crime! Better to attend a workshop on consent or do BDSM online than wield a whip if your motivations are not guaranteed 100% pure.

    Your pardon if as a submissive this service culture leaves me cold.

    I want to actually submit, not pretend-have-you-bean-a-naughty-boy submit.

    I like it when Xena wields the whip in anger. It's not just the thrill of genuine fear, it's also the reassurance that our D/s relationship won't just fall apart when things go wrong between us.

    And, if service top is the gold standard, what of dominants who have the urge to actually dominate with whip and flogger?

    Homing in on Femdom, I think there's a feminist issue emerging:

    Just as the Sexual Revolution mostly "freed" sexually active women to act like unpaid prostitutes, is the modern Kink Revolution in danger of "empowering" dominant women to act like unpaid pro-dommes?*
    *Not of course that there's anything wrong with sex workers! 


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