The Art of Femdom by The Only Theodora

Femdom as an Art Form

Female domination is the kink where a presumably submissive male protagonist (or more rarely, a submissive female, queer, or gender non-conforming individual) is being sexually dominated by a dominant female figure. While this often brings to mind images of a leather or latex-clad woman castigator, with whips and chains and a dungeon to match, the modern reality of Female domination is far more diverse and equally intriguing…

Femdom in Fashion 

For years, fashion has been guilty of borrowing the “Dungeon Dominatrix” aesthetics, using its codes, sometimes twisting them during the process, and feeding them to the mainstream audience. We have all seen music videos starring pop singers wearing latex gowns, with sometimes added contradictory accessories such as whips or crops paired with choker necklaces. Fashion loves fetishism and its symbols, overuses and abuses them, but who can blame them? What’s not to love about luxurious, full leather catsuits or thigh high boots, mirror-like, glazed figure-hugging dresses or huge chokers and leather masks? Contrasting with the traditional concept of feminine fashion – think soft fabrics, drapes, light and/or pastel colors and a certain modesty, the Dungeon aesthetic is overtly sexual, with sharply cut clothes without intricacies. The most sensual French lace is replaced by patent vinyl and female curves are celebrated in either provocative plunging necklines with back décolletés or hugged tightly in animalistic leather or why not, see-through latex garments. With such great potential to empower female sexuality, it’s no wonder Madonna was one of the first ambassadors of the Dungeon aesthetic back in the eighties.

The Multiple Facets of Femdom

The Dungeon aesthetic has been gentrified to be sold to the masses. Simili-latex dresses are sold as party dresses, lingerie now exists in leather, and couture designers such as Jitrois or Thierry Mugler have dressed pop stars in search of provocative, superheroine-worthy scene costumes. But what about the other facets of Femdom? Do all submissives fantasize about Dungeon dominatrices? As a pro domme of eight years myself, being allergic to latex, and someone who doesn’t work with whips not to mention in a dungeon, I have encountered an interesting diversity of fetishes nonetheless. My tools are verbal humiliation and dirty talk, hypnosis and most importantly Neuro Linguistic Programming in which I specialize (my alias The Manipulatrix™ refers to NLP being the science of manipulation), and my weapons of choice are Louboutin stiletto heels, couture dresses and custom-made lingerie. My clientele is essentially composed of wealthy businessmen or politicians with a thing for sky-high stilettos, long, sharp manicured nails and female supremacy. Some of them have a fetish for Louboutin heels (yes, it is sexual and more common that you would think), for long nails, for pantyhose or stockings, for lipstick or even for armpits… The reminder of a motherly figure is often the root of such fetishes, which is why these apparently soft weapons can become extremely powerful tools in the right hands. Between the glamour dominatrix described above and her dungeon counterpart, a vast array of fetish personalities exists: bratty princesses, hypnotic sorceresses, tomboy humiliatrices, sensual cuckoldresses… There are as many possible Femdom personas as there are grains of sand.

Rewriting the Rules

As an avid creator and consumer of fine art photography, as an adult video producer and art director, it was only logical that I would produce a film of some sort someday. “The Manipulatrix” is a video self-portrait born from both my history as a professional dominatrix and my visual influences, namely Andrew Blake (an American fetish porn movie director), Jean-Baptiste Mondino (a French director and fashion photographer), Nick Knight (an avant-garde fashion photographer), Steven Klein and Mert&Marcus. It is an attempt at showcasing my own personal fetishes, such as shoe dangling, spit fetish, nail fetish, lip fetish, fishnets fetish and of course money fetish (Financial Domination is what I am most known for). If some of these fetishes seem very niche to you, it’s because they are. Shoe dangling for instance isn’t such a frequent request, but it’s something that I am good at, being an ex-ballerina and professional leg model, and love to do. I believe it is up to us, dominatrices, to reshape the landscape of contemporary Female domination, by bringing our own strengths, kinks and fetishes (for our own body parts, or for specific fabrics) in the picture.

~Theodora