Category: Uncategorized

Stress

I probably didn’t pick the best week to schedule a bunch of job interviews. Combining those with the US elections has put some major pressure on my stress level. Hopefully I can make it to the weekend without a cardiac arrest.

As a stress reliever, I did enjoy some audiovisual candy in the form of a video – My Bloody Valentine by Machine Gun Kelly. It’s silly pop nonsense, with attractive people bouncing around and indulging in some light kinky fun. It features Megan Fox doing some tease and denial, which is just what I needed to get my mind off Wisconsin voting and questions about intra-team conflict resolution.

My thanks to blog reader Gary for the pointer to this.

Big Day

Warning: This post focuses on politics, a topic I usually avoid here. I’m granting myself a rare exception in unusual circumstances. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

America is choosing it’s next president. As elections go, it’s kind of a big one. As a newly minted American citizen, I got to vote for the first time. I can’t say I got all emotional over it, but it did at least feel like an important rite of passage. Thanks to the weirdness of the electoral college, it probably won’t count for anything, but I at least did my bit.

I think this is the point where I’m supposed to urge my readers to go out and vote. Which, if you’re a Biden support, I absolutely urge you to do. Particularly if you’re in a swing state. If you’re thinking of voting for Trump, then my suggestion to you is best summarized by Bill Hicks and his views on Marketing. Seriously though. You are Satan’s little helpers.

At this point it’s not even a left vs right thing. It’s a basic question of character, competence and human decency. I can respect a right wing political view, even if I disagree with it, but Trump is something totally different. Something from a horror movie. Don’t make me regret adopting this country as my home.

To connect back to this blogs purported theme – let me direct you to this Rolling Stones article on pro-dommes encouraging their clients to vote Blue.  The story even made it into Colbert’s monologue. They’re probably not going to swing the election, but every little helps.

This is one of the domme’s featured in the Rolling Stone article – Mistress Orion. She’s an NYC based pro-domme. You can find her twitter feed here and her OnlyFans here.

Spooky Time

This is traditionally the time of the year when my social media feeds are full of kinky people in spooky outfits. I’m on record as not being a fan of Halloween, but I do enjoy the costumes. Sadly this year has been somewhat lacking in that regard. Not sure if that’s due to a Covid related lack of parties or if the upcoming US election has put too much stress on everyone.

While there might have been less Halloween dress-up overall, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some great examples. My favorite is probably the shot below from Maya Midnight. It’s doesn’t feature a complicated outfit or fancy special effects, but it is a wonderfully moody and atmospheric shot. That’s the kind of Halloween I could get into.

Ms. Maya Midnight is a NYC based pro-domme. You can find her professional site here.

Public Play Concluded

Here’s my final post (for the moment) on the topic of public play.

One hard and bright line that’s often invoked is based on the idea of consent. Involving random strangers in your play without their consent is clearly violating some pretty basic BDSM norms. That’s a relatively easy call to make when it comes to physical or psychological involvement. If you’re getting off on strangers getting upset, then you’re getting off by violating their consent. A clear asshole move. But what happens when that’s not your intent, but people get upset anyway? At what point do you need to seek consent from someone?

This isn’t specifically a problem for kinky people. I was reminded of that when I spotted this story on some very well done but very gory Halloween decorations. As a kid, that front lawn scene would have traumatized the fuck out of me. I’d have had nightmares for months. Even now I find it unpleasant to look at closely. So at what point should that home owning Halloween fan have to seek the consent of his neighborhood? Or indeed the consent of anyone who might come down the public street outside his house? At what point should we constrain public freedom of expression? It clearly has to happen at some point, because there will always be someone who pushes a boundary to the breaking point.

I guess my bottom line is: Be wary of blanket statements or simple rules when it comes to public play. It’s always dependent on context and content. I think the leash scene from my original post was over the line, but the scene in the images in yesterdays post is completely fine. Yet it’s very hard to come up with a simple easily applied rule that separates the two.

This photograph represents the kind of ‘public’ play I could get behind. The feel of being outside and exposed, but a big closed door to keep the rest of the world out.

More Public Play

There’s one comparison that always annoys me when the topic of kinky public play comes up. Inevitably someone will liken it to gay people kissing or holding hands in public. Which is a stupid comparison. The problem of straight people complaining about that isn’t the act itself, it’s the double standard. A valid act for one group can’t suddenly become perverted if a different group does it. That’s obviously not analogous to leading a semi-naked slave on a leash through a public space. Nobody else is doing it and it’s very different to a simple hug or a kiss.

On the flipside I think it’s important to be wary of the idea of pleasing everyone when it comes to public behavior. There’s often a framing that suggests people need to compromise so that everyone can enjoy the space and nobody is upset. That’s not a compromise. That’s using the lowest common denominator to set the standard. It makes everyone conform to the most conservative person in the room. A true compromise is when you’re annoying an equal number of people at either extreme. That’s when you know you’ve got it right.

I’ve no idea where these shots were taken, but I do like the mix of expressions in the second shot. If they were aiming for public humiliation I think they failed, as most people in the crowd look to be having a great time.

Playing in Public

A scene featuring a domme leading her puppy submissive on a leash through a supermarket recently went viral on Twitter. If you missed the hoopla, then it was later covered on the Daily Dot. That article is at least 50% advertisements, but it does cover the basics of what happened pretty well.

I have thoughts to share, but no time right now to do so. In the meantime I’ll leave you with  this twitter thread on the topic, which I found surprising nuanced and thoughtful. It’s rare in social media to find a viral tweet trigger a construction discussion. In fact, let’s be honest. It’s rare is social media to find a constructive discussion at all.

Here’s a different example of kinky public play. At least I assume that’s what it is. It could just be the most obliging boyfriend ever. Or, even hotter, she’s texting her boyfriend and he’s just a supportive (quite literally) friend.

I’m afraid I don’t have an attribution for this. I fished it out from deep within my tumblr archive.

On Her Way to Work

Just a regular morning start for your typical busy dominatrix. On her way to work clutching her trusty single tail. Those slaves aren’t going to whip themselves.

I suspect the identity of this leather clad lady has been lost to history. All the references I could find simply say generic things like ‘vintage dominatrix’.  If you can help me attribute it then please leave me a comment. I’d love to rescue her from anonymity.

Theophilus, the dirty dog

For anyone who enjoys the coarser parts of history, I recommend this thread on the graffiti found in the Roman city of Pompeii.  As the author – Marina Amaral – points out, people really haven’t changed a bit. My particular favorite was this one…

“Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog”

It’s an intriguing mental image. I’m assuming it doesn’t mean that the dogs of Pompeii were particularly licky, but that Theophilus liked to get down on all fours to perform the act. An early Roman example of a submissive perhaps?

This photograph is by the Ukrainian photographer Ruslan Lobanov (deviant art, instagram and artlimited site). Hopefully, a million tons of hot ash isn’t about to engulf this particular couple.

Heartwarming

Somehow I missed this heartwarming story from back in May – Quarantine Leading To More People Taking In Foster Gimps. Quarantine has been tough on a lot of people, but it’s nice to know that many abandoned gimps  have found dungeons of their own. Remember, a gimps for life, not just for quarantine. Note: Main story starts about 1:40 into the audio segment.

Artwork is by Sleinad Flar. You can find his Deviant Art site here and his BDSMLR site here.

Small Changes

What is it about putting cuffs in a slightly different place that makes them so much hotter? Ankle and wrist cuffs are great, but there’s something so much more exciting about thigh and calf cuffs like these. It’s a similar story with toe bondage. Toes are small and fiddly to tie up. Objectively less efficient for anchoring someone in place. Yet it’s a very hot type of bondage. Is it simply the rarity value? Or is it the care and attention to detail that non-standard bondage suggests?

This is by the German artist Voizel, found via this tweet. They have a Patreon you can follow here.