Our lives are full of small tensions, our closest relationships full of struggle: between woman and man, artist and customer, purist and commercialist, professional and client - and between the dominant and the submissive. In "Dominatrix", Danielle J. Lindemann draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with professional dominatrices in New York City and San Francisco to offer a sophisticated portrait of these unusual specialists, their work, and their clients. Prior research on sex work has focused primarily on prostitutes and most studies of BDSM absorb prodomme/client relationships without exploring the professional aspect that makes them unique. Lindemann satisfies our curiosity about these paid encounters, shining a light on one of the most secretive and least understood of personal relationships and unthreading a heretofore unexamined patch of our social tapestry.
Upending the idea that these erotic laborers engage in simple exchanges and revealing the therapeutic and analytic nature of their work, Lindemann makes a major contribution to cultural studies, sociology, and queer studies with her analysis of how gender, power, sexuality, and hierarchy shape all of our social experiences.
- ISBN10 6613923419
- ISBN13 9786613923417
- Publish Date 7 October 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 2 October 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Not Avail
- Format eBook
- Pages 250
- Language English