· Cleo 2008
· Kink-E 2005
· Feast Guide 2005
· Bound for Pleasure 2003
· Cleo 1999
Cleo
magazine reprint of 1999 with update interview - April 2008
'confessions of a bondage mistress'
"Mays Cleo is in store now. Publication will be placed on web site in a few months."
Kink-E 2005
magazine front cover
ISSUE 9 AUSTRALIA
Feast Guide 2005
magazine article
FEAST GUIDE 4- 27 NOVEMBER 2005 (page 37).
Xtreme Darque Bondage Workshops.
A thoroughfare of sensual domination, bondage and humiliation. Melbourne based Mistress Electra A’more, Domina Fettisha & (switch) Bitch Liema will delight the experienced & novices alike holding titillating & informative BDsM workshops.
THE EDINBURGH CASTLE HOTEL
(Upstairs) 233 Currie Street, Adelaide.
26 November, 12pm
25 November, 6pm
$15 & 2 for $25 bookings
Strictly through
www.xtremedarque.com
Bound
for Pleasure
magazine article - 2003
'samantha and electra show us the ropes'
Bondage
fan Eric took his camera when he interviewed two ladies who like
to practice bondage.
Electra
uses bondage as part of her profession, and takes every opportunity
to hone her skills. That’s why she’s such a good dominatrix
in spite of her youth. Put
her together with Samantha & you have the perfect pair. Why?
Because Samantha appreciates being tied up properly and firmly.
So
when we were invited to see Electra at work on Samantha we rushed
to her chamber in record time.
Electra
is petite, dark & radiates a sense of domination even before
she speaks. It’s something you can’t fake or acquire;
it’s the mark of true dominatrix, someone you cannot ignore
or take lightly. Outside
her work she is an alert and stimulating companion, an experienced
world traveler & is always ready for new adventures.
She
welcomed me, and as we waited she told me something of her training
in Australia – severe and varied enough to equip her superbly
for her work in London.
Samantha
arrived. She stood there, as beautiful as ever – slim figure,
longish blond hair, with that indefinable air of casual sophistication
which marks a true native of San Francisco, And she has that most
marvelous ability to switch completely between dom and sub, enjoying
each to the full.
We’d
been told she could be a severe mistress, and we already knew
from a previous photo session that she made an amazingly resilient
and patient sub. But now she worried us. She was smiling enigmatically,
and we couldn’t tell which mood she was in. Did she know
she was supposed to be sub?
Her
smile broadened, and she gave us a hug. Relief! Today she was
subbing. So we sat down to arrange the session. Simple! Just give
Electra 48 meters of soft, thick rope, put Samantha on the punishment
bench, and stand back.
You
can see the results. Electra started by lacing the rope into Samantha’s
hair to give a pulled-back head tie, and then added a rope blindfold
and gag. This is tricky, but – done carefully and with a
tight upper body harness – it keeps the sub firmly under
control.
The
hogtie began with Samantha on the bench in a full body harness.
We kept the rope gag but not the blindfold, so that when Samantha’s
ankles were firmly strapped to her arms and pulled up tight she
could see herself in the large wall mirrors. Gurgles of delight
for a piece of well-done bondage.
Cleo
magazine interview - Novemeber 1999
'confessions of a bondage mistress'
Mistress Electra
has been a bondage and discipline mistress for six years. She
runs Melbourne’s Lucrezia & De Sade dungeon, a specialist
b&d house and fetish boutique. Merran White talks to her about
her beginnings, her pleasure in inflicting pain, her clients and
what she does with those whips, spikes, gimp masks and that cling
wrap.
Strolling
down Brunswick Street, Fitzroy amid a chaotic blend of cafes and
clothes stores, my eye is caught by the window display featuring
viciously studded leather gear and a medieval-style logo. This
is Lucrezia & De Sade, Melbourne’s hippest S&M dungeon
and I am here to talk to a bondage mistress. I enter, trying to
look inconspicuous.
Mistress Electra is, I’m told, “busy with a client.”
So I browse among boned corsets, crotch less PVC underwear, patent
stilettos and bondage and discipline essentials: paddles, whips,
collars, cuffs, gags, blindfolds, leg-spreaders and “gimp”
mask.
Ten minutes later, a curvaceous brunette with blood-red lips and
big Elvira hair descends the creaky staircase. There’s no
doubt this fantasy babe in spiked boots, tight-laced corset, metal
bra-cups and immaculate make-up is the woman I’ve been waiting
for. She politely introduces her self as Mistress Electra and
offers me a tour of the dungeon. “There’s still a
bit of mess up there,” she comments cryptically as I follow
her meekly upstairs.
The kitchen has black PVC curtains and a tablecloth, polished
linoleum flooring, a table and a comfortable sofa. It’s
used, say’s Mistress Electra, for submissive who “prefer
a more domestic environment to a dungeon – such as cross–dressers,”
as well as for clients’ pre- and post-session chats.
Adjoining
it is a hospital room equipped with traction slings and pulleys,
IV drips, surgical implements, enema bags and medical diagrams.
“Nurse fantasies would be more popular if it was legal to
penetrate,” Mistress E says offhandedly. “Lots of
clients want enemas but we can’t offer them because penetration
is deemed a sex act and we’re not licensed as a brothel.”
And to categories b&d as prostitution, says Mistress Electra,
is offensive and demeans the mistress’s skills.
Next door,
a claustrophobic “schoolroom” features an old-style
wooden desk, blackboard, canes and paddles. “Corpora; punishment
isn’t part of the modern education system, So the young
ones don’t get into the schoolboy stuff as much as the older
clients,” says Mistress E. “Pity - it’s one
of the easier fantasy scenarios. Now they’re more likely
to be influenced by porn or by the gimp scene from Pulp Fiction,
so the requests often incorporate sexual acts. Lots of guys now
want to be tied up and given a head job, which I don’t do,”
she sighs.
“And
this is the main dungeon,” Mistress E announces as she strides
down the purple hall, heels clicking authoritatively, and throws
open the door. I’m confronted by a full-frontal view of
a paunchy, 40-something guy grasping his semi-erect member for
dear life and staring like a rabbit transfixed by headlights.
The particular
client is into public humiliation, so my presence is a source
of extra stimulation for him. Mistress E berates him for letting
two candles extinguish themselves in her absence and asks if he’s
been bad. “No Mistress,” he whimpers. ‘I doubt
that,” she replies archly, Tweaking a restraint before turning
away to re-light the offending candles. Slowly, torturously, she
drips hot wax on his nipples.
Lucrezia
& De Sade’s “deluxe” dungeon is certainly
well equipped – it has a rack, sling, a contraption for
suspending victims upside-down, a wall lined with pain-inflicting
implements, even a giant birdcage in which clients are locked
up. The guy on the floor – because “a slave belongs
on the floor” –moans weakly as Electra steps over
him and shows me to the door. The guided tour may be over, but
the lessons just beginning.
BORN INTO BONDAGE
“My interest in bondage and discipline arose when I was
about 13 years old and began horse-riding,” explains Mistress
E, who grew up in Tasmania. “Cleaning leather, handling
whips and chains, wearing the riding gear was a turn-on. The control,
the power of being in charge of something much bigger than myself
and with a mind of its own….it was more of a mind thing
than sexual arousal. But that’s where my fetish began.
“My
nickname throughout my late teens was Madame Lash because I was
extremely bossy and very sure of myself, and I would lose it over
anything. When I turned 18, a girlfriend suggested I become a
mistress instead of getting cross with my friends and getting
into trouble for it. The comment planted a seed in my mind: the
notion of being a B&D professional.
“I didn’t
think much about it until a few years later when, after moving
to Melbourne, I was working as a jeweler’s assistant and
began toying with the idea of becoming a stripper to earn extra
money. Then I heard about Sydney’s The Hellfire Club and
the whippings that went on there and I realized mistressing might
be just what I was looking for. So I rang up [Melbourne’s]
House of Domination and said I wanted to be trained. Finally Mistress
Britt agreed to see me and take me on. I stayed with her until
she sold the business.
“The
basic training period lasted about two months and involves learning
safety aspects and how to use and clean the equipment. But while
a “traineeship” usually takes between six and 12 months,
some girls are ready to work unsupervised sooner, whereas others
aren’t ready even after a year. In this industry, you’ve
got to have tolerance, you must have patience and, in my experience,
you’ll do better if you’ve got a dominant personality.
Clients can pick up if the mistress is faking.”
LEARNING
THE ROPES
“To
be a good mistress, you have to learn what the pain feels like
– that way, you know exactly what you’re giving,”
says Mistress E. “And, sometimes, a submissive wants to
switch during a session. During training, I had to submit physically
to a master/client in whatever way he chose. There was quite a
lot of pain and a bit of bruising involved.
“When
I trained mistresses, I will at some stage want them to submit,
but not till they’re ready to take it. In my case, I was
belted quite severely by a client while I was still in training.
“I was in high heels, leg spread, standing on a platform
with my wrist tied to a metal bar so it was pressing on my pulse,
which was becoming weak. I was saying “mercy” [a pre-agreed
safety word to end the session] but he would not stop. He was
using a riding crop and a whip around my genital area. I was crying
– bawling – and the more I cried, the more he hit
me. And the more he got off on it. Finally I said, ‘I want
you to stop this session right now, you’re really, really
hurting me.’ Even then, he didn’t believe ma at first.
He wasn’t sorry afterwards.
“From
then on, I’ve quizzed all prospective ‘masters”
who enquire about submissive. If they don’t have the skills
to whip and paddle someone’s backside properly without hitting
the kidneys, I usually suggest they hire myself and a submissive
together. Although it’s costly, it’s safe.”
EXCUSE
ME, NURSE
“You can’t do whatever you want in a session. You
have to respect the boundaries the clients set,” explains
Mistress E. “I put myself in their position: where would
I draw the line? Would I like to be branded or have hot wax dripped
all over me? Would I like to have my fingernails pulled out?
“Aside
from the pain, there’s quite a bit if risk involved, unless
you’re properly trained. If it’s a client’s
first time, I ask about high blood pressure, epilepsy, diabetes,
broken limbs, hemophilia, asthma, claustrophobia, even contact
lenses – especially it we’ll be wearing masks. It’s
important to know it a client has epilepsy because he could have
a fit while tied up. I a guy has high blood pressure and his hands
are tied above his head, he could pass out. With asthmatics, you
make sure their Ventolin is with reach.
“I don’t
do things a client won’t enjoy. I’ll take clients
to their limits, but never beyond them, because then they lose
trust in you. We always play using safety words of hand signals,
agreed on before the session. Even if a guy doesn’t know
when to call a halt, there are signs – twitching, body language,
redness and physical limits. I’ve done yoga for years, So
if I can see that a client’s not handling the pain well,
I’ll tell them how to breathe with me. That way they can
fully enjoy their pain
“The
more a person is worked on, the more his or her body can tolerate.
So clients tend to take things further each session, until their
body just can’t take any more. Then they usually experiment
with something else. I have one long-term client who was into
really heavy cock torture: attaching weights to his penis, trussing
up his balls and all that. After 10 years of it, he’d built
up such a high ;eve; that the pain had come to outweigh the pleasure.
He couldn’t take any more cock or ball torture, so now he’s
going more for the erotic, sensual side of B&D – being
tied up, blindfolded and teased.”
NAUGHTY
BOYS
“The majority of clients have pretty standard fetishes and
fantasies,” Says Mistress E. “Lots of them want naughty
schoolboy fantasies and most mistresses will play head mistress
or teacher. It’s a lot of fun.
“Police
fantasies are common, too. But for me, the hardest sessions are
those involving ‘baby’ fantasies – how do you
handle an overweight man in a nappy wanting to be cuddled? The
majority of regulars, though, especially the heavy – bondage
clients, come up with their own scenarios. Some even send me a
script a day or two beforehand, so I can learn it.
“Most
clients are smart, but you get the occasional dumb one. One guy
called up saying he’d accidentally received an electric
shock and it turned him on. He wanted to know whether he could
come in, hook his penis up to the electricity and be zapped with
240 volts. We refused his request.
“one
guy from Hobart visits me every year for a week and always wants
to be dressed as a French maid. I like to put him in the shop
window, polishing the shoes. I’ve also sent him down the
street in his maids outfit to run errands and buy my lunch. It
causes quite a stir. He’s like my personal house slave –
the only one I’ll allow in that role. I get about 20 calls
a week from people wanting to be live-in slaves.
“I get
many odd requests – everything from wanting to be walked
on as a mat to being treated as a dog, a lamp or an ashtray. But
I’m such an open-minded person, a normal person’s
‘bizarre’ just seem interesting to me.
“One
that freaked me out, though, was a client who wanted to have his
penis tucked up inside him with his ball sack stretched over it
and sewn up. I was still in training, so I didn’t do it
myself, but watched and it nearly made me pass out. He’d
brought his own needle and thread, and he got us to tie him up
and then sew him up. Then he went home and left it like that for
three or four days before unpicking it.
“That’s
always stuck in my memory. But I learnt later that Its quite a
common request and not all that difficult or dangerous. The client
would come back two or three times a year for the same procedure.
Now days, of course, we couldn’t do that, but the law was
different then. Still, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to draw
blood, and making a client bleed is something we try hard to avoid.
“there
are some request I won’t tolerate, such as ‘brown
showers’ [being defecated on or defecating on another person].
It’s a very common request, but I find it hard to do. Especially
on cue. I think it’s inconsiderate and impractical for a
guy to ring up and ask to be used as a toilet by a mistress 20
minutes. And I wouldn’t have sex with clients, even if the
law allowed it. But most clients do come. I demand it –
if I choose.
“Many
B&D clients are dominant in their daily life – top management
people, judges and so on,” reveals Mistress E. “The
typical client is in his 40s, married with a family. Most are
pretty normal guys. Often they’re professionals. But we
also get blue-collar workers. Probably 99 percent are men. We
also get more than our quota of Catholics, although most of them
are lapsed. We do quite a few nun fantasies.
“Most
clients visit mistresses to fill a need that comes from childhood.
One client likes to eat a big mistress’s faces: he says
that when he was a child, a large girl shat on him and he’s
never forgotten the feeling. Another client ejaculated when he
was caned by a nun as a teenager after he was caught kissing his
girlfriend – now caning is the only thing that gets him
off. A lot of the cross – dressers had aunties or sisters
who used to dress them up as girls, and they just want to replay
it because it excites them.
“We
even get the occasional female. Some are lesbians; some are heterosexual
girls looking to try something different. Being female myself,
though, I find it very hard to oppress and torture woman. Couples
I don’t mind doing. They usually come for guidance –
to learn how to play B&D games properly and safely.
“Very
occasionally, I think someone is psychologically disturbed. It’s
no specific behavior or request – rather, it’s a vibe.
Recently, a guy came in and something about his approach told
me he had a screw loose and might crack, so I made sure someone
else came in on the session. I’ve also been known to post
someone outside a dungeon door so that, if anything did happen
in the session, I could get help. And I’ve studied self-defense.
SLAVE
LABOUR
“It’s extremely hard work being a dominant –
you have to do all the thinking, use your information, practice
the skills.
“Sometimes
I get tongue-tied and often have a good laugh. I like humiliation
sessions because I can have a good laugh.
“I make
it hard for my clients, too. I make one go into the dungeon, lock
him in a cage, throw the key away just out of reach, undress himself
and tie himself up, before I even enter the room. Then I’ll
come in and deal with him when I feel like it, even it that’s
two or three hours later. He loves it. I always establish how
much time the client has beforehand, of course.
“Due
to movies and magazines, our job is being made much harder. So
many guys want to be tied up, then given a blow job, because that’s
what they see in videos, that’s what they think mistresses
do – tie you up and fuck you. I don’t have a problem
penetrating a guy with a strap [dildo] on, but the law [in Victoria}
does. It’s a shame – there’s a huge market out
there for that.
“Overall,
I do get pleasure from my work. I love seeing tears come to a
man’s eyes. I get off on seeing clients in chains. I don’t
actually orgasm, but I get that tingling feeling and I enjoy it.
I like a medium to heavy cock-and-ball torture session and I love
a long caning session. I love seeing guys in excruciating pain
during cock-and-ball torture. It doesn’t turn me on physically,
but I really enjoy it. I guess I am cruel: I want these guys to
suffer.”
LASHINGS
OF LEATHER
“Becoming a mistress involves a big outlay,” asserts
Mistress E. “Costumes are a large part of your persona and
some clients are super specific about what the mistress looks
like. All my mistresses have a leather outfit, one in PVC, another
in lace, something satiny, a suit, a nurse’s outfit, a school
uniform and a police uniform. That’s just the basics.
“Over
six years, I’ve spent thousands on outfits and shoes –
my dad says that with all the money I’ve spent on clothes,
I could have put a large deposit on a house. I also get my hair
done and have facials and manicures. I work out every second day
in the gym. This is very physical work, especially when you’re
doing heavy bondage sessions, wrapping people neck to toe in cling
wrap or hanging them from suspension units.
“One
of the good things about being a mistress is that age isn’t
a barrier. Lots of guys want a mature-age mistress, thinking the
older she is, the more experience she’ll have. Which isn’t
true: I’m only 26, but I’ve been doing this for six
years and I’m more experienced than many older women. In
fact, it pisses me off I’m still only in my mid-twenties.”
AFTER
SCHOOL
“I only get one or two days off a week,” Says Mistress
Electra. “Then I’m either out, full-on partying and
socializing or I’m at home totally relaxing so I have the
energy to come back to work. I like to spend time by myself, catching
up on sleep or doing yoga.
“All
my friends and family know I work as a b&d mistress. Mum and
Dad were worried when I started, manly because of the safety aspect
and the lunatics that I might have to deal with. But over the
years, as they’ve watched me learn and grow, they’ve
come to accept it very well.
“I have
a male friend who’s quite special to me, and who likes to
play. It’s the first time in five years I’ve had a
partner who wants to dabble in S&M. My past boyfriends have
all been very conventional in their sexual tastes – I didn’t
want a partner who was into b&d, I just wanted to do this
as a job, then walk out and leave it all behind. None of my ex-boyfriends
really liked the idea of me working as a mistress.
“Now
it’s become more of a lifestyle for me because I’m
continually here, working in a dungeon. So occasionally, if my
partner’s been especially good, I’ll reward him with
a bit of play.”
TOP 5 B&D FANTASIES
WHILE SOME B&D EXPONENTS HAVE VERY SPECIFIC SCENARIOS OF THEIR
OWN DEVISING, MISTRESS ELECTRA SAYS THE FIVE MOST REQUESTED BONDAGE
&DISCIPLINE FANTASIES ARE:
1. Being tied
up and sexually titillated, often with penetration of some kind
included as part of the discipline.
2. Being punished for being a naughty schoolboy by a stern teacher
or head mistress. This usually involves the “schoolboy”
being spanked on his bare bottom with a cane, leather strap or
paddle.
3. Performing a range of domestic duties for a mistress while
wearing a maid’s (or slave’s) outfit, and being punished
or rewarded according to how well the tasks are accomplished.
4. Being treated as a household object – a toilet, a mat,
a table or an ashtray – by the mistress. In the same ballpark
is the common fantasy of being treated as a dog – forced
to wear a collar, follow commands and eat from a dish on the floor.
5. Being “examined” by a cheeky nurse, who gives her
“patient” everything from a thorough penis inspection
to an enema while he lies helpless in a hospital bed. Of course,
the nurse shastises her patient if he gets too frisky.
THE DANGERS OF B&D
IT IS NOT SAFE TO “DABBLE” IN B&D. MOST PTOFESSIONAL
BONDAGE MISTRESSES (AND MASTERS) UNDERSO EXTENSIVE TRAINING THAT
INCLUDES FIRST AID AS WELL AS SAFE B&D TECHNIQUES. HERE’S
WHAT CAN GO WROANG WHAN THE PLAY GETS TOO ROUGH:
•
NERVE DAMAGE: overly tight restraints can stop blood circulation
in major arteries and veins located near the surface of the skin
in wrists, ankles, knees and elbows. This can lead to numbness
and even permanent nerve damage. If you use any type of restraint
in your sex play, always have scissors or the key within reach.
Similarly, numbness can be caused by arms being elevated above
the head for too long.
• SPRAINS, STAINS AND DISLOCATIONS usually arise when a
submissive struggles against this or her restraints. Finger and
wrist sprains occur when these joints are bent in an unnatural
direction; muscle strains and joint dislocations occur when there
is excess pulling and stretching of limbs.
• FRACTURES IN WRISTS AND ANKLES are most often caused by
steel cuffs used incorrectly. Fractured collar bones resulting
from the use of steel collars and head cages have also been reported.
• BREATHING DIFFICULTIES, even asphyxiation, can occur when
a mask, hood or gag is worn incorrectly and blocks both the noose
and the mouth. Gagging can also be dangerous if the submissive
has a sinus condition and breathes through his or hers mouth.
Overly tight binding, particularly around the chest, can also
restrict breathing by impeding lung expansion. This is a potential
problem with straightjackets or when the submissive is left for
any length of time in a fully stretched position.
• DAMAGE TO INTERNAL ORGANS, such as the spleen, kidneys
and liver, can be caused by beatings to the mid to lower back
area. This is rare, but it can be fatal.
• FAINTING, caused by decreased circulation to the brain,
can be a result of overly tight bonds or being tied in one position
for to long. While fainting is not, in itself dangerous, if the
submissive loses consciousness while restrained in an upright
position, the weight of his or her unsupported body can lead to
muscle strain and/or breathing difficulties.
