Artificial Leather

I continue to be intrigued by the progress of AI image creation. My anecdotal observation is that erotic image creation is lagging behind the best general examples right now, probably because the main tool creators are keen to avoid the legal/PR controversies that explicit imagery is likely to lead to.

That said, there are some good kinky examples around. For example, I like the shot below, published here on the Strict Dresscode Enforced account. You still might guess it was AI – the background is kind of wonky and the leather a bit too shiny – but despite that it’s a really well done example. There’s enough detail and nice touches that my brain doesn’t instantly reject it as unreal.

As I wrote before, I think kinky creators have a natural advantage here over regular porn. While straight porn is hard to mistake for anything else, kinky porn can sometimes look like something from a mainstream movie. This shot could be femdom or it could be a scene from the latest Netflix thriller. That ambiguity should allow kinky content creators access to the latest and greatest tools without running into censorship issues.

Blogroll Updates

I’ve done a little blogroll housekeeping. Cleaning up dead links and adding three new ones. It’s a little sad how few active femdom and kink blogs there are these days. Maybe if Elon succeeds in destroying Twitter then a few of the displaced tweeters might take up blogging. One can only hope for a silver lining.

The newly added ones are..

Hopefully there’ll be something of interest in those sites for all my readers to enjoy.

This fun photograph features Inanna Justice with Maîtresse Blanche. Sourced from this tweet on Inanna’s twitter feed.

Sade

Anyone interested in the history of BDSM and located near Barcelona may want to check out a new exhibition at the CCCB – Sade: Freedom or Evil.  As the name suggests it’s about the Marquis De Sade, the eponymous root of sadism. For those not in the area there’s a good review of it in the Guardian.

The exhibition features not just his work but also modern artists, including Maplethorpe, Dali and Susan Meiselas photographs of Pandora’s Box. It all sounds very interesting, which is more than I can say for Sade’s actual writing. That always struck me as repetitive and frequently nauseating. I can appreciate extreme kinky fiction, but there’s a level or brutality in his writing that verges more on serial killer fiction than erotica.

I’ll finish with a photograph of a very different type of Sade. This is Ms Sade, who used to work as a pro-domme in NYC. It’s one of my lasting regrets that I never got to play with her before she retired. She was quite the artist herself.

Lilli

I’m continuing the Barbie theme from my previous post with a post on her origin story. Apparently, while Barbie was named for it’s creators daughter, the original inspiration came from a German doll called Bild Lilli. That in turn was inspired by a German comic strip from the 1950’s.

The exact nature of the original Lilli seems to be open to some question. Descriptions online vary from a sassy and aggressive party girl, through sugar baby to straight out escort. She was obviously a male fantasy figure, but seems to have been portrayed with a lot of character and agency. There’s probably a PHD or two to be had in tracing and analyzing the lineage of the character from the original Lilli to the modern movie incarnation.

The caption apparently reads “Do you have time, Hugo? I’m in a horribly bad mood and I have no one to let off steam on.”

Domme Barbie

The Barbie movie opens this weekend. For a movie about a child’s toy, it seems to have taken on an outsized cultural significance.  Part of that is doubtless down to its juxtaposition with Oppenheimer, part down its very well chosen stars in Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

While the Barbie aesthetic doesn’t often cross over into BDSM, there’s certainly a lot of traffic the other way. There are countless Goth Barbie creations, with wardrobe and accessory sets straight out of the nearest dungeon. I particularly liked the one below, shared by Mistress Chloe.

Fixing Things

After my previous post on what not to do in a session, I thought I’d follow it with a more positive one. Namely, if things do go wrong, what are some good approaches to fix the situation.

Before doing that, I’ll add two important qualifiers. Firstly, these aren’t my brilliant ideas. These are what I’ve observed creative and talented dommes do in my sessions with them. Secondly, I’m purely talking about mechanical issues here. When the battery dies, the body won’t bend or the rope just won’t cooperate. Not issues in the scene dynamic or emotions. Those are a far trickier set of problems that are above my paygrade.

Those qualifiers out the way, here’s three tricks I’ve seen successfully employed when a domme’s plan A has failed…

  1. Playfully blame the submissive and use that to pivot the activity. A tongue in cheek – “Well look what you’ve done now!” – remark when the clip leaps off for the third time can a great excuse to set-up a new activity. After all, if I can’t keep those clamps on my nipples, it’s only fair she kicks me in the balls a few times. Most people don’t like being blamed unfairly, but a playful funishment for something that’s obviously not the submissives fault can be a nice way to shift gears and get away from the problem.
  2. Shift into problem solving mode, making the submissive simply part of the puzzle to be cracked. The objectification part of this can be very hot. Suddenly there’s not a one-on-one dynamic. It’s just a domme figuring out how to make some recalcitrant equipment do the right thing. I’m no more or less important than the hard points, ropes or carabiners.
  3. Ditch the problematic activity, shift gears to something totally different and loudly announce that fact. Most submissives will be so excited at the prospect of the new thing, they’ll totally forget whatever wasn’t working. If a domme announces she’s going to stop trying to get her humbler to fit me and instead is going to sit on my face, I’m not going to be lying there, struggling for breath and thinking to myself – “I wish we were still fiddling around the wingnuts on that humber. That was so much more fun than this.”

Speaking of face sitting, here’s some courtesy of the Mistress Land site. I don’t know what activity they were doing 10 minutes prior to this, but I think it’s a safe bet that he’s no longer thinking about it.

When a Scene goes Wrong

Kink Academy has a decent article here on what to do – or not do – when a scene goes wrong. The basic message is communicate, don’t blame and don’t forget the aftercare. All solid suggestions.

One ‘don’t’ that I’d add to that list, particularly for dommes, is don’t get angry. Faux anger in the context of a roleplay is obviously fine. I’m talking about losing your cool because the equipment isn’t working, or the subs body will not cooperate with the position or you can’t get the rope just the way you want it. I totally understand the desire to get mad in these situations. I curse like a sailor if some fiddly thing I’m trying to do isn’t working out. However, in a scene that’s all about the giving and taking of control, a domme that loses her own self-control is a red flag for me. I want her to be in charge, not her temper. If she can’t control that, then I don’t feel comfortable with her controlling me.

While I’m sure many dommes would love to grab particularly annoying submissives by the throat, this isn’t a recommended approach to resolving issues in a scene. I dug this image up via on an old tumblr archive, but some research took me to it’s source – a staging of Märta Tikkanen’s book ‘Men cannot be raped’.

Out and About in Paris

To continue my celebration of Summer, here’s one final post on the theme of ladies enjoying their lunch al fresco. This is, of course, the unforgettable Mistress Iris, dining in Paris with her gimpy. Her beauty and grace will turn heads at the best of times, but I suspect this dining excursion probably turned ever more than usual.

This image was sourced here from the twitter feed of Mistress Iris. You can find her professional site here, her Patreon here and her OnlyFans here.

Boring Lady Cafe

Continuing the theme of outdoor cafés and ladies taking an afternoon aperetif, here’s some fun artwork by Amlensky. I’m not quite sure why he chose to call it the Boring Lady Cafe – it looks anything but boring – but I like the playfulness of it. The tip or spank option is a nice touch for the waiters.

You can find more of Amlensky’s femdom artwork on DeviantArt or at his Patreon.

Morning Coffee

The weather is currently warm and pleasant in Seattle, which means I can take my morning coffee sitting outside a local café. It makes for a nice change, even if the litter and occasional drift of second hand weed smoke spoil it somewhat.

Miss ExtraVaganza has had a similar idea, but is pulling it off in a far more spectacular fashion. That’s a stunning outfit, which coordinates beautifully with her surroundings. No wonder she’s attracted a worshipful servant.

Miss ExtraVaganza is a Miami based pro-domme. This was sourced from one of her tweets.