Title: They Call Me Ms. Cleo
Author: Miss Dee
Publisher: VCK Publishing Presents
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"They Call Me Ms. Cleo" by Miss Dee

My View of this Adult Content Read...

OK, less start on Monday it was Sylvester[white boy].... final instruction...'Leave'

on Tuesday it was Brandon [Midnight]...final instruction.....'Don't let that **** happen again'

on Wednesday it was Taylor [suburban wifey]...final instruction...'Lock the door on your way out'

on Thursday it was Thomas[dark knight] & Jeffrey[Trick and Treat]...final instruction...'Be gone...'

on Friday it was Maxine[Max] final instruction...'Pick up your ****and get the **** out'

on Saturday...Couples Only...[Marlo and Jacob]...final instruction...'I need to be alone'

and then would you know this author gives the reader ....a bonus read!

Now, to get the whole well told story... you will have to pick up 'They Call Me Ms. Cleo.'

So, what will the reader get from this read? A lots of laughter and a good feeling from a read that will leave you..... well again will have to pick this read up and see for yourself how captivating this read really has been presented so well to the reader.

All I have left to say is Wow to the author!

This book does a first class job of telling us the story of the Dominatrix and stating, on paper, what many of us already know but have avoided openly acknowledging. There are more than ten pages of references in there, particularly in the historical sections.

At the end of the day, the Dominatrix of the last few centuries has existed as a profession, to satisfy the clientelle who wish the service. It is a human demand that is probably baked in to our natural blueprint; as evidenced by the societies before the Abrahamic religions, that ran on those same principles. There is solid argument that these services also exist because of the un-natural restrictions placed on us by our, "binary thinking," societies; thus creating the un-balanced psychological states from which we need release, and hence the need to turn to extra services to redress that balance, away from societies judgemental eyes.

This work will probably be among the books that society as a whole, considers, when it justifies to itself the further removal of organised religion from our governance.

There is the question of the future of the Dominatrix, however. Society is taking the much stronger step of re-defining beauty; one of the very weapons of carnal desire that the Dominatrix relies upon. We may yet see the Dominatrix separate from the fetishistic and return to the core of emotional dominance. Cultures are changing, and the Dominatrix will have to change with them. After all, with corpral punishment now banned in schools, how many years will remain before people stop seeking the schoolboy scenario; or once India abandons the caste system, for example.

The way I see it, the core facets of submission and dominance are not unique to the sexes. It is merely that the patriarchal society has painted female submission and male dominance as normal and to be accepted; while the converse is to be rejected.

These traits, however, exist within us all and I forsee a future where dungeons contain Dominant and Dominatrix, working side by side, for the benefit of their clients of either sex, who wish to exercise various facets of their natural personalities.

At one point in chapter 4, one submissive was quoted as saying, "I would try my best to bury my desires, to pretend they weren't there, but it inevitably would pop up and I would feel guilty, then I'd try and push it back down again. But you can't, you know? It's part of who you are, a part of your identity and being. ... So eventually I told my wife. I was terrified and expected her to want to leave me. I expected the worst, and broke down and cried several times, explaining it all to her, how it started, how it affected me. And surprisingly she was actually really understanding. She's not interesting in whipping me or wearing leather herself, but she's ok with me seeing a Dominatrix professionally, as long as it stays within those confines, and I tell her when I'm going." - He was lucky, I guess. Not everyone who, "comes out," to their partner manages to get such a response and works a way forward with their other half. But I think understanding is generally improving as the years roll on.

As chapter 5 recalls Dumas' words, "Marriage is a chain so heavy that it takes two people to carry it - sometimes three."

Spouses frequently detect something, "not right," in their partner and on the occasions that this imbalance is outed, the spouse may not only aquiesse to them attending a Dominatrix (knowing that sex is not on the menu) but sometimes conspire with the Dominatrix themselves to guide their own spouse's treatment at her hands. There are many complexities to human relationships and this book does an excellent job of laying them as bare as possible within the confines of just short of three hundred pages.

This book is a cracking read which introduces the reader to things they very likely weren't taught in history class, and exposes the other side of power control in a responsible, researched and factual manner. Be prepared to see the occasional picture that might upset you; not on the nudity part as I think the only thing I ever saw was breasts ... but in terms of the bondage and more extreme power exchange that is depicted here and there. But then, a book like this should only ever be approached with an open mind.

Top read. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It should be required reading for anyone who is in a position of control concerning the censorship of our society.

Here are the links to the chapter reviews...
First -

http://msknight.booklikes.com/post/1201248/first-chapter-completed

Second -

http://msknight.booklikes.com/post/1201299/second-chapter-completed

Third and Fourth -

http://msknight.booklikes.com/post/1201426/third-and-fourth-chapter-completed

Fifth -

http://msknight.booklikes.com/post/1201905/fifth-chapter-completed

The last word to the author herself in a small section of her afterword..

Having spent much of the last four years in the "underworld" of Dominatrices' dungeons, and the dark and artificially lit interiors of museums and libraries, I have finally drawn to the end of my journey documenting the history and arts of the Dominatrix.
After all that I've learnt about their world and their practices, the Dominatricies have lost nothing of their mystique. I have great admiration for these highly independent, talented and free-thinking ladies who have made domination their professional craft occupation.

Chapter 5 - "The Seven Realm Arts"

There are a good many paradoxes within human nature; and I know some of them personally.

Freedom in bondage, elevation in degredation and relief in the breaking of taboos. It sounds like nonsense, but is actually obvious when you look underneath the hood at each of these elements. The issue at hand facing society is the people who don't want to understand these things; they would rather society attempt to go on about its fluffy, dream-like state and cringe when the pressure in the bottle builds and the resultant headlines splash across the tabloids.

The arts put forward by the book are thus...

• The Sublime and Powerful Woman
• Lowering The Man To Submission
• Bondage, Entrapment and Enclosure
• Discipline, Training and Punishment
• The Bodily and the "Out Of Body"
• Cross-Dressing and Subversion
• Fetish and Fantasy

Such play runs not along not only individual lines, but also cultural. Any experienced Dominatrix will anecdotally report, and the cliche runs (but some truth lies in it, however politically incorrect) that clients of Indian ethnicity often desire to be in servitude to wash, massage and worship feet, as feet have special association in Hindu culture as being lowly, and subservience is demonstrated by lower casts, or towards those of seniority, gurus, Gods and Goddesses, by touching the feet.
French clients may enjoy "puppy play" in which they are treated as a poodle or other dog, typically scolded and told off, but lavished attention upon, culturally by women. A common fantasy in England amongst a particular generation is public school role-play, derived from genuine childhood and adolescent experience, to be treated as a schoolboy, scolded and punished by a Head Mistress or Governess figure.
Such desires make up only a small portion of play and subtypes of client profiles, and should not be taken to classify a nation. They do, however, offer insight in to the degree to which elements of humiliation are culturally based and inform psychosexual play.

The provision of some of these arts, particularly the overly masculine male seeking enforced feminisation, make perfect sense once the work of psychobioligy is taken in to account. Professor Daphne Joel, Chair of Ph.D. committee and head of the psychobiology program in Tel Aviv University, gave a presentation on brain and sex which you can probably find on-line. At the conclusion of the fifteen minute presentation, she discounts the notion of the male or female brain at the biological level (I'm shortening this here) instead showing that we are each a collection of, "traits," forming an individual. It is up to society as to whether those traits are perceived as being masculine or feminine. Thus, it makes sense that people kick back against societies forced gender binary stigma; because such a binary classification isn't natural within humanity; nor are many other cultural restrictions and so called, "norms."

The application and career of the Dominatrix is not something so slap-dash that anyone can take out an advert and wield a riding crop. The book sets out the extended knowledge and skill that a Dominatrix must wield in her craft.

The Dominatrix takes in to account pre-existing medical conditions that the client may have, any medications that a person might be on, before agreeing to engage in such activities. She mitigates against foreseeable risks, turning down if necessary a session request she feels is inappropriate and unacceptable in its risk level for an individual. She needs to understand human anatomy and location of nerve endings. She watches closely for signs of circulation being hampered, for coldness in the extremities, listens to the regularity of breathing, and so forth, which requires specialised training in bondage.

The last thing I will bring to you from this chapter, is one of the demonstrations as to how closely the Dominatrix works within social norms. Those who think that the services provided by Dominatrices are outside what we are taught as being, "acceptable," are actually in for a shock when they realise just how tied in to our natural psychology and natural behaviors, these services actually are.

One of the interesting things about contractual bondage is how much of it aligns with the social construction of marriage - highlighting, in fact, the "bondage" of marriage. This may bring discomfort to those who are themselves married, in recognising that they have contracted themselves in bondage to another, which the language and symbolism attached to marriage plainly reveals.
Marriage is jokingly talked about as a "trap" or "cage." Wedding rings are described as "the worlds smallest handcuffs."

The subjects are, of course, a lot deeper than the snippets I'm presenting to you here.

Chapter three is, "The Bizarre Dominant Ladies Of The Twentieth Century Underground."

This is, without doubt, one of the eras from which many of us have formed our thoughts and beliefs about what Dominatrix work is like and how the profession interacts with society.

Close to the start of the chapter, it tells the situation like it is...

Trying to track these women down in the era prior to fetish magazine publications proves to be a challenging task. Upon retirement, a Dominatrix would typically sell off her equipment and simply disappear. It didn't take long for her name to be taken out of currency, unknown to the apartment's new tenants. No forwarding address was left, nor was a "real" name known by which she could be traced. In fact all that was left behind to show for her former existence was her image and memory in the mind of her colleagues, clients and women who apprenticed under her. Her former equipment and clothing would also often continue in use by those she had passed it on to.

 

Few avenues are available for researching these early, "bizarre," fetish Dominatricies of the twentieth century. Thankfully, however, fetish magazine editor David Jackson (of DDI Magazine) and Ber Wibo (of Massad Magazine) had met some of these early Dominatricies in the mid-twentieth century, or had heard a lot about their operations through their acquaintances. Recognising the future importance of this material, Jackson put together what he called the "Domina Files."

If the lack of information about working Dominatricies made life difficult, this period was also a time of much fetish photography, so there are a lot of models posing in magazines, etc. and the two were similar, but different. It was also a time where authorities would not only, "bust," working dungeons but the media of the time would see names and pictures splashed across countries in very short order.

One thing I have talked about in other blogs, is that fantasy has to go overboard in order to thrill. It can result in a disparity between fantasy and reality; or perhaps in this case, that should be between fantasy, fantasy and fantasy, reality?

Certainly, the publications of the day likely fed in to the desires of the new customers who didn't really know themselves that well, and would wander in with a page from a fetish magazine, until they learned more about their needs and grew to recognise their own wants.

To give the chapter credit, it does an admirable job spending a few pages on the fetish scene and the publications and artists therein. The worlds of fetish clothing and Dominatrix professions would cross pollinate ideas and designs; so it makes sense to understand how they interacted at this point in time.

It details the working lives of women in the US and the prosecutions faced there and then follows one Dominatrix who became a celebrity through her US prosecution and jail time, as she won her case and then traveled to Europe. The chapter then follows how women were able to dip in and out of the profession as needed, and how times and public attitude changed towards the end of the century.

Close to the end of the chapter, it highlights something which many might not have believed of women in that era...

Women in the mid-twentieth century carved out a career and a craft for themselves, in their choice of professional domination. Not only were they Mistresses in fantasy role-play, but Mistresses of their own lives and careers, at a time in which their choice of occupation was considerably taboo.

These are women who you wouldn't find chained to the kitchen sink! And I think that is an important statement to make, as a repeated emphasis that the Dominatrix is a challenge to the patriarchal society.

Chapter 4 is "The Contemporary Occupation And Arts Of The Dominatrix"

This starts with the artistic experiment and observations as a Dominatrix goes out in the street and has her submissive, in a business suit, don a leather hood and she leads him around on a collar and chain. The goal of this experiment was not so much to record the main players themselves, but the reaction of the various people around them.

Characteristically of Gornik's work, her goal is not (merely) to document, but to capture the essence and experience of the scene through her camera. What is fascinating about the works is that people wear elements of fetish attire as everyday fashion in New York without attracting a second glance. Costume-clad promoters hand out flyers and are part of the place. A "Dominatrix," however, identifiable and recognisable by her atire of shiny black latex and stacked knee-high boots, which (as Gornik put it) visually scream dominance, walking a hooded businessman around on a leash, attracts major attention and reactions.

It goes much further in to the lives, psychology and roles.

There are many stereotypes around Dominatricies, few of which are true. Many may be interested to know that the only real trends that hold true are that Dominatricies tend to be above average in intelligence, open-minded, independent, interested in sexuality and hold strong ideals. In a survey study by sociologist Danielle Lundermann, 39 per cent of New York Dominatricies were found to hold a graduate degree or higher.

That, I can believe. There is far more information in here as to backgrounds, skills, professions that people come in from and out to, and a good number of myths are blown to smitherines by this chapter. It also goes in to apprenticeships, training and reputation.

In chapter 2, we jump forward to a time where there is more documentation, imagery and writing. "The Female Flagellant Governess In The Seventeenth To Nineteenth Centuries." Forty five pages in this chapter, a little over two of which are end notes, and a few images with the occasional handwritten evidential note. (Hence part 2 has come quite quickly.)

There was a documented demand for flagellation, from those who required such to stimulate them sexually; a good number of these clients coming from high up in the social echelons of the time.

Flogging Schools and their Cullies

The Dominatrix profession appears to have originated as a specialisation within brothels, before becoming its own niche craft.

As far back as the 1590's flagellation within an erotic setting is recorded as in this rather crude epigram by John Davies:

When Francus comes to solace with his whoore[sic]
He sends for rods and strips himself stark naked:
For his lust sleeps, and will not rise before,
By the whipping of the wench it be awakened.

As clients would seek out flagellation and other fantasies within brothels, a large number kept a few birch rods and whips to accommodate the proclivities and desires of their customers. Some women within brothels gained a reputation for their aptitude at conducting scenarios. They were valued for their "command" of the rod or whip administered with an air of authority, and their refined technique.

The cat and mouse game of matriarchal establishments and the patriarchal establishment has been a long one and is documented.

Ward draws attention to the irony that the "Mistress" of such establishments risked being imprisoned and punished in Bridewell, exposed to similar treatment that they would normally be administering on their clients.

The chapter closes with perhaps a telling paragraph...

These were no "fallen women," but erotic entrepreneurs. They achieved wealth by the arts of their courtesanerie and domination, and were significantly, "in command, " of their lives, their sexuality, their skills and their own crafted self-image.

There is plenty within these pages that show just how the Dominatrix of the era worked and it discusses the censorship of written materials of the time, among other aspects of the subject.