Dominatrix - Women - Women's Health

May 19, 2012


		1 Introduction 2 Professional versus lifestyle dominatrices 3 Notable dominatrices 4 Fictional dominatrices 5 See also 6 External links

Women's Health Women

Dominatrix

Wikipedia

cleanup-date|November 2005

A dominatrix or mistress is a woman who takes the Dominant_(BDSM)|dominant role in Bondage_(BDSM)|bondage and Discipline_(BDSM)|discipline, domination and submission and/or Sadism_and_masochism|sado-masochistic sexual practices, which are commonly abbreviated as BDSM. The male equivalent is Master_(BDSM)|master. A common form of address for a Submissive_(BDSM)|submissive to a dominatrix is "Mistress" or "Ma'am". Note that a dominatrix does not necessarily dominate a male partner; a dominatrix may well have a female submissive.

The term domme is a coined pseudo-French female variation of the slang dom (short for dominant). There is confusion on its pronunciation, with some pronouncing it identically to dom and some pronouncing the final e as a second syllable, e.g. saying dom-MAY or DOM-may. It appears that more BDSM authorities prefer the first pronunciation (identical to dom), by analogy to one-syllable French-derived words like femme or blonde. http://mistressmatisse.blogspot.com/2004/05/bdsm-word-of-day-domme.html http://www.fhp-inc.com/writings/essential_domme.html http://www.sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/writing/internetwriting.htm http://www.soulshaven.f2s.com/intro_terms.php3.

Older woman-younger man relationships are much more common in female dominant relationships than among vanilla couples.

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Professional versus lifestyle dominatrices

The term dominatrix is most commonly used to describe a professional dominant woman (or pro-domme) who charges money to engage in fantasy play with submissive (BDSM)|submissive clients, but in reality most dominatrices are not professionals, but Dominant_(BDSM)|lifestyle dominants. A lifestyle dominant is a person who is assertive and in control of their relationships both inside and outside the bedroom.

Women who engage in female domination recreationally are known as Dommes, Dominatrices, or simply Dominants, but are rarely referred to as Dominatrixes. A high percentage of dominatrices are lifestyle dominants, but some simply play the dominatrix role because it is a high-paying profession. The rates charged by professional dominatrixes vary depending on geographic location, skill and experience level, fame and reputation, activities requested by the client and physical appearance. Dominatrixes who have appeared in female domination videos tend to be well-known and can, therefore, command higher fees. Typical session fees range from $100 to $350 per hour in the United States, making them comparable to fees charged by attorneys.

It is common for professional dominatrixes who are also lifestyle Dommes to have both paying clients and a "personal slave" or slaves, who are not paying clients. A personal slave will typically perform a Domme's housework and run errands for her. A personal slave may or may not live with his Domme. Most Dommes engage in sexual activity with personal slaves, but this is not always the case. Some Dommes limit the sexual activity to the slave performing oral sex on them, while others engage in the full gamut of sexual activities.

Most professional dominatrixes do not consider themselves to be prostitutes. In fact, the slogan "domination is not prostitution" is displayed on the web sites of many professional dominatrixes.

Professional dominatrixes differ from other women in the sex industry in that they come in all shapes and sizes and ages, while most other sex workers tend to be young and at a healthy weight. There are professional dominatrixes who are overweight and in their 40s, 50s or even 60s. Most famous dominatrices (with a few notable exceptions) are professional dominants, since most other people's sex lives remain private.

The stereotyped image of a dominatrix is of a woman wearing a rubber catsuit and thigh-length boots with high heels. Many professional dominatrices do indeed wear similar outfits for their work in order to meet client expectations. However, for non-professional dominatrices, the question "what does a dominatrix wear" is best answered "whatever she likes".

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Notable dominatrices

The 19th century|19th-century British dominatrix Mrs Theresa Berkley, inventor of the Berkley Horse.

The American author, sex therapist, and counsellor Gloria Brame is also a lifestyle dominant.

The French professional dominatrix Ma??tresse Fran??oise (real name Annick Foucault) has written a book about her experiences as a dominatrix

Ilsa Strix is a Los Angeles based professional dominatrix who has appeared in female domination videos and has been romantically linked to The Matrix creator Larry Wachowski.

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Fictional dominatrices

The novel Venus in Furs, by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, deals with a man who is so besotted with a woman he becomes her sex slave. Also, the song of the same name by the Velvet Underground deals with the same subject matter.

The film Preaching to the Perverted, starring Guinevere Turner, depicts a dominatrix.

The television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has featured a recurring professional dominatrix character, Lady Heather, who is depicted in a sympathetic manner.

The film Eating Raoul features Doris the Dominatrix, who, when off the job, is a married mother.

The film Ma??tresse, starring G??rard Depardieu and Bulle Ogier, depicted a professional dominant.

The 1999 film Payback (movie)|Payback, features Lucy Liu as the dominatrix Pearl.

Several of the stories in the comic book series Sin City featuree the character of Gail, a prostitute and dominatrix whose speciality is knot-tying. She is one of the authority figures in Old Town, a part of the city run by female prostitutes. In the movie adaptation, she is played by Rosario Dawson.

The popular DC comics|DC comic books character Catwoman bears a strong dominatrix motif: her stylized mask, the skintight outfit and the whip, in combination with her strong-willed and at the same time sultry personality are the most striking of these characteristics.

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