The history of the dominatrix is argued to date back to rituals of the Goddess Inanna (or Ishtar as she was known in Akkadian), in ancient Mesopotamia. The term masochism was later derived from the author's name by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the latter's 1886 forensic study Psychopathia Sexualis.Įrotic photograph, circa 1930s, showing a dominant female music teacher caning the buttocks of a submissive female student with a violin bow Īlthough the term dominatrix was not used, the classic example in literature of the female dominant-male submissive relationship is portrayed in the 1870 novella Venus in Furs by Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The term was taken up shortly after by the Myron Kosloff title Dominatrix (with art by Eric Stanton) in 1968, and entered more popular mainstream knowledge following the 1976 film Dominatrix Without Mercy. It was initially coined to describe a woman who provides punishment-for-pay as one of the case studies within Bruce Roger's pulp paperback The Bizarre Lovemakers. Its earliest recorded use in the prevalent modern sense, as a female dominant in S&M, dates to 1961. Its use in English dates back to at least 1561. Since there is a large overlap between the BDSM and polyamory communities, where ethical conduct is a prime value, any hint of non-ethical conduct is highly frowned-upon.ĭominatrix is the feminine form of the Latin dominator, a ruler or lord, and was originally used in a non-sexual sense. However, while the term mistress is often depicted in the media, members of the BDSM community often avoid it, as it can be confused with mistress in the sense of a woman who is in an illicit relationship with a married man, a term which has the negative implication of cheating on a partner. Female dominance (also known as female domination or femdom) is a BDSM activity in which the dominant partner is female. The term mistress or dominant mistress is sometimes also used. The use of domme, dominatrix, dom, or dominant by any woman in a dominant role is chosen mostly by personal preference and the conventions of the local BDSM scene. The term domme is likely a coined pseudo-French feminine inflection of the slang dom (short for dominant).
A dominatrix is typically a paid professional ( pro-domme) as the term dominatrix is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene. Dominatrices also make use of other forms of servitude. In some instances erotic humiliation is used, such as verbal humiliation or the assignment of humiliating tasks. Dominatrices are known for inflicting physical pain on their submissive subjects, but this is not done in every case. A dominatrix might be of any sexual orientation, but their orientation does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. dominatrices /- ˈ n eɪ t r ɪ s iː z, - n ə ˈ t r aɪ-/) is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. Work from the 16th century.Ī dominatrix ( / ˌ d ɒ m ɪ ˈ n eɪ t r ɪ k s/ pl.