Mainstream – Page 53 – Femdom Resource

When no news is good news

The extended trailer for the movie Cloud Atlas was recently released. It’s a movie I’m really looking forward to, and it marks the return of the Wachowskis, who shot to fame with the original Matrix movie. They also released a short introductory video which is notable for featuring the first official public appearance by Lana Wachowski. She was formerly known as Larry until going through gender reassignment. As this Salon articles discusses, the real big story here seems to be what a non-event this was. There was no big media kerfuffle, just a lot of general positive articles that covered the facts in a non-judgmental way. What a pleasant surprise.

As far as femdom links go, there is a connection, as Lana was (and presumably still is) reported to be a fairly kinky person. She attended BDSM clubs and had a well publicized relationship with Ilsa Strix, a highly regarded pro-domme from LA, as described in an infamous Rolling Stone article. It’s an unwritten law of human nature that people tend to believe what they read, unless they happen to know something about the subject in question. In those cases the writing is invariably found to be horribly wrong and misinformed. Oddly enough, this doesn’t cause people to stop believing everything else they read. I have zero personal knowledge of any of the people in the Rolling Stone article, but it does seem like a lot of sensationalized gossip cooked up by people only peripherally involved. The BDSM comments and discussion of pro-domme behavior are also fairly ludicrous. My favorite was this one, describing how Ilsa Strix played…

If her submissive said, ‘I don’t really think I’m interested in needles,’ she might just come up and, boom, put a couple of needles under their fingernails

Any pro-domme who thinks that a good way to introduce piercing to a submissive is needles under fingernails is going to go broke in short order. By all accounts Ilsa was a smart and excellent domme, and so it’s quotes like that which make me doubt the veracity of the article beyond the very basic facts.

I’ll leave you with a couple of shots of Trinity, from the first Matrix movie. It’s one of my favorite movies, and the appeal of watching Carrie Anne Moss kick ass in slow motion never really fades.

Lessons in control

In the last few months there have been countless mainstream articles using the 50 Shades of Grey phenomena as a jumping off point to write about BDSM. I’ve commented on some of the poorer examples in the past. Today I’m happy to bring you one of the better ones. It’s by Vanessa Pinto and describes her experiences in a class on female domination run by Midori.

It’s a 3 day course and features lectures, a field trip and a lab session with a trainer bottom to practice on.

Something very primal came over me, and as I circled him like a bird of prey, I could see that he wasn’t as complacent as he once was. When I wound up to slap him in the face and saw the reaction that I yearned to see, one of peace mixed with excitement. I knew that he was mine to do with as I pleased.

It struck me that I’d absolutely love to be one of those trainer bottoms. And that’s not because I particularly like the idea of the play itself. I’m sure that an hour or two with a strange and novice domme is not going to compare to the regular sessions I enjoy with experts who have done it for years. I also don’t kink on semi-public play or exhibitionism. What makes the role so appealing is the chance to watch someone else discover the joy of BDSM. There’s a lot of discussion on femdom blogs about how the culture of kink puts potentially dominant women off. Just for once it’d be nice to see the other side, where a talented educator can help some women explore a repressed and potentially important part of their sexuality and personality. I think it’d be immensely fulfilling to be part of that process.

The image below features Midori and Mayan and is most definitely not taken from her introduction to female domination class. I’m fairly certain suspension scenes would be in the advanced school. This is from the movie Silken Sleeves by Maria Beatty.

Sapphic sisters saddle up

I’m not sure I can strictly count this as femdom, but it was such an amusing book cover and title that I just had to feature it. In my defense, the lady on the left with the boots, riding crop and oh so tight top, is definitely looking with dominant and predatory intent towards the demure lady on the right.

I found it via this article on some of the worst book covers of all time. Obviously in this particular case when they said ‘worst’, they actually meant ‘most awesome’. It’s available from amazon, should pulp fiction featuring sisters of sapphos and glossy coated fillies be your thing.

I was also tempted to feature this book cover, which might have appealed to all the castration fantasists out there. Unfortunately, I think it’s a photoshopped version of this book, so doesn’t really count.

Do you buy that by the pound or the inch?

Here’s a rather well muscled chap being measured in all the relevant areas. The careful shopper should always assess the goods carefully before making a purchasing decision.

Personally I find this kind of objectification of the male form rather offensive. The poor guy is being treated like a piece of meat. Not to mention making me feel insecure about my own slightly less studly physique. But don’t worry, our normal service of hot babes in skin tight leather will be resuming shortly.

It’s originally from a photo-shoot entitled ‘Only the handsome will survive‘ in the Russian edition of GQ style. The photographer is Alex Bego and I found it via the Vrouwelijke Dominantie tumblr.

Site Updates

I’ve been doing a little housekeeping. However, before I get into the changes, I’ve a request for information. Otto’s spanking art blog got killed recently by those good folks over at Google. Does anyone know if he’s set up home elsewhere? I’d like to link again if he has. Also Augustine seems to have closed his account at imagefap where he posted all his work. Does anyone know of a new site for him? I really enjoy his drawings and it’d be a great shame if he’s vanished from the internet.

That said, let me get to the changes…

I’ve done some cleanup to the Femdom Fiction page. I removed a number of dead links and added new ones to the BoundStories site and to Bella’s list of femdom stories.

On the BDSM Equipment page I added links to Cupid’s Bedroom and Chastity Heaven.

There are three new blogs lurking over on the blogroll to the right and on my main Blog links page. These are:

Unspeakable Axe written by Axe, a NYC based submissive, who is also responsible for the most excellent Masocast.
Pieces of Margo written by Miss Margo, who (among other things) works as a professional switch in NYC.
Post Modern Sleaze written by Electronic Doll, a female BDSM practitioner based in London.

And on the Femdom Image page I’ve added a number of tumblr links.

Finally, let me say one thing to those people who have sent (or plan to send) me links to their tumblrs or blogs. I love to get these. I always try and look. However, if they’ve only got a handful of posts (or a handful of pages in the tumblr case) then I typically just bookmark them and come back to look in a few weeks time. So many sites gets started and, after an initial burst of activity, quickly die. So either wait for a month or two before submitting the link to me, or expect that I’ll keep an eye on it but not post the link immediately.

I’ll leave you with an image I found on the newly added Dominant Ladies tumblr. I believe it’s of Maggie Q and taken from her new show Nikita. I’ve another shot of her in a more fetish outfit and brandishing a gun here. I haven’t seen the new series yet. The original film by Luc Besson was excellent. The American remake and subsequent TV series less so. Whatever the qualities of this latest series, as a beautiful but deadly assassin, Maggie Q certainly looks the part.

Celebrity Facesitting

The shot below feature Lenny Kravitz and Adriana Lima in a shoot for Vibe magazine. I assume it’s a pretty old image, given that the two of them dated back in early 2000. You can see other photographs from the shoot here.

I’d be interested to know how the shoot unfolded and who had the idea for this image. I suspect it wasn’t Lenny. In the other images there’s clearly a “I’m a cool rock star” thing going on. Only in this one, with his face hidden, does the dynamic change. I also find it odd that this image isn’t exactly the one featured in the published photoshoot. The original image is this one, which has her hair across her face and her hands in a different position. I guess this alternative version was rejected by an editor and then leaked by someone else.

I’m glad this version made it out into the world. I like to think she’s using her left hand to pinch his nose, and really get him to focus on the job at hand.

The usual lengthy visit

A few days ago I was waffling about image context, and how it can make a difference in how I respond to an image. Surround an image with other femdom material and I’ll suddenly see D/s elements that weren’t there originally. Well this is the post where I provide a counter-example to that theory.

I first came across the image below on the Alternative Femdom tumblr. Given that source my immediate thought was “Cuckold shot.” There’s a couple making out and a solo male looking unhappy. In femdom porn that combination always equals cuckold. Yet the more I looked at it, the less right that felt. It doesn’t seem to depict jealousy, tension or arousal. The overriding feeling I get is of loneliness and depression. I don’t think it’s his partner with her bra strap showing. I think it’s his roommates, and there lies the pain. If anything it’s thoughtless sadism and self-inflicted masochism.

The painting is called ‘The usual lengthy visit‘ and is by the Vancouver artist Andrew Young. I love his work, and this piece in particular. You can see some of the ‘in progress’ shots for it here, here and here. It’s not femdom, but I think it beautiful captures an experience and emotions many of us have felt at some stage in our lives.

Context is king

I’ve often observed that the context for an image is very important. Put an image in a fashion magazine and I’ll think of it as a sales pitch for a brand or a designer. My instinct will be to look at the clothes and the model from an intellectual, not emotional, point of view. Advertisements are about selling things, so there’s an inherent degree of mistrust in the interaction. Put the same image in a femdom tumblr stream and it changes how I perceive it quite dramatically. I’ll start looking for and projecting D/s elements. I might spin little stories about the scene in my head. I may think of myself in the scene, or how I’d interact with the model. It’s exactly the same image I’d flip past in a copy of Vogue, but somehow somebody else labeling it as erotic and kinky gives me permission to do the same. It creates a far more emotional reaction.

The two shots below are examples of the kind of images I’m thinking about. I found them both on the Strangely Compelling tumblr. The first was a shot for Numero magazine by Greg Kadel. You can see more images from the shoot here. The second is from a sequence titled Orchidee Noir by the photographer Jose Herrera for Oxxo Magazine.

Glorious

In this case the post title is also the title the artist gave this photograph. I originally found it on the Real Dominant Women tumblr, but some internet sleuthing led me to the original copy taken by Allison Redner. It’s interesting to read the comments which generally describe it as a cute, beautiful and romantic shot. I certainly agree with that, but I’m surprised nobody commented on the pose and the dynamic. Some ‘mainstream’ shot can have a femdom vibe in the context of a femdom tumblr, but seem very normal and vanilla when seen in their original context. For me, this one still retains an element of that vibe even when viewing it in its original and non-kinky flickr home.

Awaiting her moment

The cane flexing shot is a femdom porn cliche. It pops up all over the place, particularly with mistresses dressed in sexy authoritarian but non-fetish outfits (for example this, or this, or this, …) That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It’s a cliche for a reason. For a lot of submissive guys (including this one) it pushes buttons. However, I normally try and steer clear of the obvious femdom tropes on this blog. They are too easy to find in a hundred other places.

I liked this shot for doing something a little different with the idea. She’s not sneering down the camera lense, but looks to be lost in thought, flexing the cane as a reflex as she ponders the moment. There’s a nice ambiguity to it and it’s possible to imagine any number of storylines to accompany it.

I found it on the Poe’s Mistress (aka French Twist) tumblr. I believe it’s a shot by Ellen von Unwerth. She’s a fashion photographer who started life as a model before moving behind the camera. I suspect the image is therefore from a mainstream fashion shot of some sort.