Dominatrix
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"To fall at the feet of an imperious mistress, obey her mandates, or implore pardon, were for me the most exquisite enjoyments, and the more my blood was inflamed by the efforts of a lively imagination the more I acquired the appearance of a whining lover." --Confessions (1782) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
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A dominatrix (from the Latin dominatrix, meaning a female ruler or mistress; plural dominatrices or dominatrixes) or mistress is a woman who takes the dominant role in bondage and discipline, domination and submission or sado-masochistic sexual practices, which are commonly abbreviated as BDSM. The male equivalent is Master. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "Mistress", "Ma'am" or "Maîtresse". 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. The correct pronunciation is identical to Dom, by analogy to one-syllable French-derived words like femme or blonde.
Older woman-younger man relationships are much more common in female dominant relationships than among vanilla couples.
The film Maîtresse, starring Gérard Depardieu and Bulle Ogier, depicted a professional dominatrix.
See also
- List of dominatrices in popular culture
- Fetishes (documentary)
- Fetish fashion
- Session wrestler
- Feminization (activity)
- Sadism and masochism in fiction
- BDSM in culture and media
- Master (BDSM)
- Male dominance
- Female submission
- Gender role
- Dominance and submission
- Male submission