A documentary shown on channel 4 last month revealed not just the professional but also the personal lives of dominatrices in ‘Pandora’s Box’. They seem to live in a different world to everyone else; a life of fictional role-play which can pay in the region of 7000 UKP per week to dominate and subdue men and women.

These institutions appear largely secretive and sordid to the outside observer however to the clients who use them they provide a valuable service. Scenarios enacted are pure escapism and a seeming release to inner wants and desires of the clients. Men and women of all ages, usually professional business people, come in during their lunch hour or sometimes for a weekend away. Some clients are completely encased in rubber with their air intake restricted by the dominatrix, some come to wrestle, others take on the role of pupil in a schoolroom setting. Even a medical room is provided with hospital bed, dental chair and general medical implements.

Clients come to enjoy pure domination in almost any form, whipping and caning are generally included with play instruments optional. Before the client is taken on however it is most important to find out exactly what they want, this means finding out pain tolerance levels whether low, moderate or severe, which settings they wish to enact and whether they want physical or purely mental domination. Some clients come in for purely racial abuse and others enjoy a concentration camp type scenario.

Slaves of the mistresses, carry out general duties such as shopping and cleaning in return for sessions. These ‘sessions’ however do not include sex and often at the end an orgasm is self-induced. As one mistress said, ‘these institutions are for role play not fore play, my dear’. Many people apart from just enjoying the pain and physical domination feel they are being in some way purged of terrible thoughts and desires, one man had thoughts of mass genocide and felt he needed complete subjugation as an outlet to this. Mistresses can make clients do anything for them, from acting as a human ashtray to cleaning toilets - with their tongues. This is the whole point however, there is a fine line to be drawn between fear, humiliation and pleasure, something which clients and mistresses alike make good use of. Mistresses make very sure before a client is taken on that they do genuinely wish to be dominated otherwise it is pointless them being seen since no pleasurable experience would be had.

A downside to this job would seem to be the draining emotional aspect. Mistress Raven who runs Pandora’s Box in Manhattan felt that instead of doing more sessions she would set up the now world famous Pandora’s Box. The majority of dominatrices are incredibly strong willed people and indeed this would seem to be a job requirement, unfortunately they find it difficult to sustain relationships out with their working environments. Most dominatrices having experienced monogamous relationships at one time or another genuinely felt these were not directly affected by their choice of career, although none of them were in a relationship which had lasted for any length of time, usually through no choice of their own. An exquisite seeming lifestyle such as this however would have to have its downsides, that would only be fair…..

Although these institutions will probably never be fully accepted in society for the role they play – it is nonetheless a very important one. It is a form of release and pleasure which if not unutilised may leave many frustrated and unaware of a potentially very valuable experience. In some cases this might lead to frustrations being taken out in a negative, rather than purely harmless and positive manner. An intriguing and pleasurable addition to the world of fetish such as this certainly needs to be given the credit and appreciation it’s due.

Lucy.