I had to employ the services of a lawyer recently. It wasn’t a major legal entanglement. Just papers I wanted reviewed before I filed them. Her fee for the work was $250 per hour. Oddly enough, that’s around the average fee per hour for a pro-domme in Seattle. That fact got me thinking about the contrast between the work. Actually, if I’m honest, the fact she was attractive, forceful and wearing knee high brown leather boots got my mind initially moving in a certain direction. The hourly rate just sealed the deal.
My legal session was conducted in a standard office. No fancy equipment, sound proofing or leather wrapped furniture required. After I left, I’m pretty certain she didn’t have to spend time rubbing everything with alcohol wipes and autoclaving the pen I used. Nor did she have to invest a highly specialized wardrobe that she can only wear to work or to secret lawyer parties. Touching was limited to a couple of handshakes and, despite a very warm office, I kept all my clothes on. At no point did she have to deal with a naked me in her personal space. Her only risk was paper cuts and possibly boredom from answering my dumb questions. Safewords weren’t required, and there was no chance of me asking her to undertake a dangerous legal maneuver that could have landed me in hospital and her in jail. I don’t know what her inbox looks like but I doubt it’s full of dick pics, badly written kinky fantasies or guys suggesting if she was a real lifestyle lawyer she’d work for free. Scheduling didn’t involve intricate planning to avoid clients bumping into each other and her firms web site didn’t require dozens of up to date professional photographs of her brandishing a pen and looking stern. Oh, and I could pay with a credit card, because banks don’t mind taking money from lawyers.
I could keep going, but I think my point is made. I’m not going to claim that visiting a professional domme is cheap, but it is good value. You get a hell of a lot for your money. Rates may be charged by the hour, but there’s an awful lot that happens both before and after to make those great moments in a session possible.
This is the actress Julianna Margulies who plays a lawyer in the series Canterbury Law.
Fortunately I haven’t had to use a lawyer but I see your point. I have a female dentist, she’s attractive, has a lot of specialist equipment, tells me off (for smoking and having sugar in my tea), inflicts pain and charges me for the privilege. It’s almost exactly the same as a visit to my Mistress but I enjoy one considerably more than the other.
Dental visits can definitely be interesting. I wrote about a similar experience last year: http://www.femdom-resource.com/2017/06/21/is-it-safe/
So far I’ve decided to avoid trying to mix kinky thoughts with dentistry. It might reduce the pain but might also get just too weird!
-paltego
Paltego – First, I totally agree the the rates we pay pro-dommes are, if not “cheap”, totally reasonable. And the fact that we pay them willingly and repeatedly validates that in market terms.
But the often-advanced comparison with (for example) a lawyer’s pricing and what that lawyer does NOT have to deal with (the alcohol wipes, dick pics, photo shoots for the website, our naked bodies.) is, I think, a false argument.
That lawyer had to get a four-degree. Many dommes have them, of course, but it is not a pre-requisite to their chosen profession.
That lawyer had to attend three-years of law school. Some dommes have done so or pursued similar studies (and perhaps used their pro-domme work to pay for it)…but three years of post-grad education is certainly not a pre-requisite for the domme.
The lawyer had to pass the bar exam, must take annual continuing education training, carry malpractice insurance, etc., etc., etc.
The best possible comparison, I suppose, would be between a pro-domme and a sole practitioner attorney who, like the pro-domme, has to pay for her own health insurance, rent her own space, buy her office equipment (rarely including leather corsets, boots and cuffs but equipment nonetheless) and invest unbilled hours in her own marketing. But even though this is closer to apples-apples, the barriers to entry for that attorney still involve seven years of school, exams, continuing ed, etc. The barriers to entry for an aspiring pro-domme aren’t quite so onerous.
None of the above is to diminish what it takes, financially, emotionally or in terms of skill to be a top-notch pro-domme. Neither is it to suggest that the fees dommes charge are excessive. Assuming competence and commitment on her part, they are definitely not.
I’ll add that for the very best pro-dommes, and I’ve had the pleasure of playing with some, I do think the fees they charge are “cheap” and that their services are well worth more.
But I think the common comparison of pro-dommes’ fee levels with credentialed professionals is a bit off-target.
Just my two cents.
So I kind of agree and disagree.
If I was focusing on starting out or the ease of entry into a profession, then yes. While a new pro-domme may have a bunch of issues unique to her profession, it’s certainly way cheaper and easier to get hired and trained at a dungeon (assuming the ‘face’ fits) than it is to do a law degree and pass the bar.
But I was thinking more of the daily job of two practitioners in their mid to late 30’s say, who have been working and polishing their skills in their respective fields for a decade plus. Their days of studying and taking exams are a long way behind them. What’s the contrast then? I guess you could say the lawyer should have a more relaxed day to day, because she paid a big painful cost upfront, but given the zillions of lawyers in the US, I’m not sure exactly how painful that upfront cost really is 🙂
I’ve got an undergrad and postgrad degree, but quite frankly after a few years in a job, they seemed kind of irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what I’d done recently. But maybe I’d think differently if I’d gone to school in the US and had to spend a fortune on my education. When you pay your tiny college debts off in a year or so, the cost doesn’t tend to stick with you in quite the same way as a 6 figure debt does.
Anyway, like most comparisons or analogies, they don’t stand too high a level of scrutiny 🙂
-paltego
A safeword might not be a bad idea when working with a lawyer.
Which is ironic, because one of the default safewords I’ve heard suggested to use (other than ‘red’ or simply ‘safeword’) is ‘lawyer’ or ‘lawsuit’. Apparently that focuses peoples minds 🙂
-paltego