Domina - Dominatrix - Mistress
The term domina derives from the Latin word domus (home) and refers in its original form to the mistress of a house, a convent or a monastery. In an erotic context, this means a woman who offers professional BDSM practices. She takes over the dominant part in role-plays in the areas of dominance and submission, bondage and educational games or sadomasochistic practices. Professional dominatrixes usually exclude sexual intercourse as part of their services to clients. Submissive partners usually address the dominatrix with expressions such as "woman", "madame" or "mistress". The submissive person does not necessarily have to be male. Role plays between a dominatrix and a submissive woman are also common. Nor is the role of a dominatrix limited to inflicting physical pain on submissive persons. The repertoire also includes verbal domination, humiliating tasks and servitude. Synonyms for the male counterpart of a domina are Sado, Master or Lord. Women who take on this role in the non-commercial sector are rarely referred to as dominatrixes. Here terms like FemDom or Domse have established themselves. It is noteworthy, however, that the term domina has been distinguished from general usage in relation to women, who are dominant in their private relationships, and has increasingly been given the connotation "professional".
The stereotypical image of the dominatrix is a woman who wears either a one-piece, tight-fitting latex or leather garment with high heeled boots or, in the elegant and more provocative variant, black underwear, stockings and high heels. Also a combination of both is conceivable. Many professionally working Dominas serve this cliché by wearing appropriate clothing to meet the expectations of their customers. This widespread image of the domina as "Ledervenus" has its origin in the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century. At that time, the meeting of several factors favoured the spread of the image of a domina as we know it today. On the one hand the demand for specific and highly fetishistic utensils increased, on the other hand there was an industry that was able to satisfy this demand. Also the beginning of the development of iconography helped in the definition and interpretation of motifs with sadomasochistic themes. These were made accessible to the broad masses through magazines, book illustrations and images. Especially the motif of erotic floggings achieved a boom in those years.
According to a recent survey, almost half of the professional Dominas enjoyed a higher education. On the one hand this makes them psychologically competent to perceive customer needs, on the other hand they have greater skills in exercising complex BDSM techniques such as ballbusting or other forms of bondage, discipline and torture role-playing. These practices require a high level of knowledge and competence to achieve a satisfactory outcome for the client.
