Artwork – Page 56 – Femdom Resource

A suspension scene (for my disbelief)

A few posts ago I made a remark to the effect that frequent use of a safeword suggested somebody was doing something wrong. Femi then left a comment containing this…

I know at least one submissive who sees ProDommes, and doesn’t feel he got this money’s worth if he doesn’t safeword. He wants to be pushed that far.

I found that interesting, as I’d never thought to play like that, and it instinctively felt wrong to do. I don’t mean wrong in a pejorative or objective sense. If that’s the way you play then by all means have at it and good luck to you. I meant wrong for me personally. However, I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. It took a couple of days of pondering to really get a handle on it.

I think it ultimately comes down to control. I like to be pushed in a session, but I also like to feel I have no control over it. Knowing that I’m always going to safeword gives me a decision point that will constantly be in the back of my mind. A session structured around a climatic moment where I take back control seems like the wrong focus. In reality I can always stop any scene at any time (despite having no official safeword when playing with Lydia). But I prefer to immerse myself in the idea that I have no options, suspend my disbelief, and let the domme decide when it’s over.

I suspect part of this is the difference between being a pure masochist and being a submissive masochist. I’m generalizing here, but I’d say the pure masochist is interested mainly in sensations. It’s an inward focus on his pain. I enjoy that as well, but I get off more on the enjoyment of the sadist. It’s an outward focus on her, almost to the point of becoming disembodied. My physical presence is no longer my own. To safeword therefore feels like taking something away from the domme and breaking that spell. To a pure masochist it’s simply an indication that a certain threshold in pain has been successfully reached (or not reached in some cases).

The comic is from the entertaining Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. I might start trying this approach in meetings and seeing what reaction I get. Although some of our more brutal design reviews might genuinely benefit from the idea!

Girls with slingshots

I recently stumbled across the Girls with Slingshots comic and have been enjoying catching up with it. And by ‘catching up’ I mean reading from first to last in consecutive evenings over several glasses of wine. It’s funny, smart and beautifully drawn. It also manages to treat sex as a normal part of life, rather than ignoring it or using it purely for shock value.

It helps that one of the characters, Clarice, is a dominant woman. In fact a geeky, smart, dominant librarian, which is a combination I wouldn’t describe myself as averse to. I also like the fact that her sexuality is treated seriously, in that it’s the basis for jokes but not the butt of them. However, it is a bit unfortunate that the artist chose to make her work as a part time pro-domme. As regularly readers of this blog are no doubt aware, I’m a big fan of pro-dommes, but the stereotype that dominant woman equals pro-domme does get a little old. It’d be nice to see a woman portrayed who can simply enjoy her dominant nature without feeling the need to turn it into a money spinner.

The BDSM lingo and protocols are pretty accurately depicted, but I do have to quibble with the first comic below. Either he’s a bad submissive and using his safeword incorrectly, or he’s wrong about her skills. Being a good dominant is not about how quickly you can get the submissive to cry uncle!

These three comics come from a short sequence featuring Clarice starting here. You can see the sequence where her friends discover her secret life starting here. There’s a few comics on her dating life starting here, and a storyline here where she deals with a very unsuitable suitor. However, I highly recommend browsing the entire comic. It’s a very well executed piece of art.

The dominant act

Several times in the past I’ve got involved in on-line arguments over what constitutes a dominant act. My view has always been that almost anything can be a dominant act. Context is king. The opposing view has been that sexual activities like handjobs or blowjobs cannot be a dominant act. They are always inherently a submissive act.

This opposing viewpoint is one advanced by some pro-dommes, and I do get where they’re coming from. They have to navigate a bunch of legal and personal boundaries, and set expectations for their clients. It’s much easier for them if the set of things globally recognized as dominant acts is equal to the set of things the majority of pro-dommes offer. That removes uncertainty and shifts the discussion from personal limits to external predefined cultural limits. But while I understand the desire to do this, I don’t agree with the definition. A dominant act is whatever a dominant chooses to do in each unique situation.

The lady below might be kneeling to give him a blowjob, but I don’t think there’s any question who’s in charge. I think it was particularly nice of her to bring her big knife in case he uses his safeword and she has to cut him free. Being able to free a bound partner quickly is all part of safe, sane and consensual kink!

The image is by the artist Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri and is from his Druuna series. You can find more images at the official homepage.

Happenstance

I always take an odd pleasure in discovering connections between seemingly unrelated posts. Humans are pre-programmed to look for patterns and stories, and I enjoy it when my random web browsing creates that kind of connection.

A few days ago I read this post from Tynan Fox (via a post at eros blog), where Tynan (a gay guy) gets a flogging from a pro-domme (Mistress Mara). I though it was interesting but not necessarily blog-worthy. The very next day, via a femdom tumblr, I came across the Garden Hose comic and the two comic strips below. Just in case it’s not clear, they feature a straight female top and gay male bottom. That’s not exactly a common pairing, so to stumble across these two posts in consecutive days was kind of weird.

The Garden Hose comic has sadly been on hiatus since late last year. If like me you’ve never encountered it before, it’s well worth a browse through the archives. I particularly liked this strip, along with this and this. In another strange coincidence it’s written by Fern, who I assume is not the same as this Ferns. What is it about Pteridophyta that make them attractive to dominant women? Clearly I should start cultivating a few on my windowsill.

Say it with flowers

I’m not sure if the rose was a gift and she’s now showing her appreciation, or if she’s using it as a fun way to torment him while they have sex. Either way it’s a nice image. They both look like they’re enjoying themselves.

The artist is Gina Biggs. It’s from the site Filthy Figments which carries erotic comics created by women.

I found this image on the Femdom 7 site.

On the edge of my seat

This will be a short post. I’m sitting very gingerly in front of my computer trying not to fidget around too much. Lydia gave me a good working over with a series of paddles, canes and straps earlier this evening. As a result my ass is a little tender. Although during the event itself it was my upper back and shoulder blades that took the real punishment. That is a horrible place to be caned.

Anyway, before I retire to the couch with a cocktail to enjoy my endorphin buzz and general feelings of happiness, I’ll leave you with a shot of someone trying to avoid a similar fate. This is obviously based on Tintin, and is by the artist Claude Mirande (English translation). Personally I was always more of a fan of Asterix than Tintin as a child, but if Claude had been illustrating I would have been very temped to switch allegiances.

I found this on the Femdom Style Counsel tumblr.

Added Barb to Femdom Artwork

As the titles suggests, I’ve added an entry in the Femdom Artwork section for Barbara O’Toole aka Barb.

I have to admit that her common themes of domestic discipline and older women with younger men doesn’t push my personal buttons. I like pain and submission for it’s own sake, not in a wider context of punishment. But I know she’s a very popular artist (RedRump and Underling are on record as fans) and she’s undoubtedly a deserving entrant in my femdom artist wall of fame.

Miss Deluxe

I’ll take a break from playing poker (badly) to bring you this entertaining piece of artwork. My research tells me it’s fan art from an animated series called Motorcity. I’ve never heard of the show, but the Wikipedia entry tells me it’s made by Disney, which suggests scenes like this are sadly unlikely to feature in the aired version.

I found it on the 24-7-Sub tumblr.

Rule 34

For those of you that have never heard of it, rule 34 states that: “If it exists, there is porn of it.” It’s often used in a negative way, implying that there is no limit to how goddam weird people can be. Personally, I kind of like the concept. It’s nice to think of people finding others who share their tastes, rather than spending years with only their imagination for company. Although I can’t say the typical mash-ups of popular culture and porn tropes typically does much for me.

I believe this image is an example of the genre. I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books, but from the tumblr comments, this is Hermione and Snape from that series. It’s a nice image, although I’m not sure as a pony he should be licking her boots. That’s more a dog thing. It’s always important to get your animal behavior roleplaying right when drawing pictures of fictional characters doing imaginary things in a parallel erotic universe.

I found this on the Mujeres Dominantes tumblr.

Good nose, a fruity body and a long lingering finish

The US media has recently been having fun with a story about college students ‘butt chugging’. For those of you that missed this vital news feature, it started with a Tennessee student being hospitalized with alcohol poisoning, after allegedly having a wine enema. Of course this being the US, the story quickly spun out of control, adding religion, lawyers and press conferences into the mix. And while it sounds exactly like the kind of stupid thing a frat house might try, the media also has a reputation for making up ridiculous scare stories about alcohol and young people.

I’m sure most people regarded this story either as an amusing freakshow or as a sign of America’s moral decline. However, I suspect there might have been a few of my readers thinking to themselves – “What a brilliant idea! I like alcohol. I like enemas. Let’s crack that bottle of ’96 Burgundy we were saving for a special occasion!” If you are thinking exactly that, then firstly please don’t use a ’96 Burgundy. That would be a crime against grapes, and probably an arrestable offense in France. Secondly, please be careful. As this older news story makes clear, it can be a lethal activity. Drinking alcohol has the natural limits of vomiting and unconsciousness. It’s pretty hard to order another round of shooters when you’re face down in a puddle of your own stomach contents. That doesn’t apply to a tube and an enema bag, so lethally poisoning yourself is much easier.

For all those enema fans who play safely, here’s a nice image from the artist known as German. While enemas are not my favorite kinky activity, I think I’d be willing to give the scene below a try should I ever get the opportunity.