BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
August 08 2012
No shades of grey for fetish fan Felicity
Source: Stuff.co.nz. - Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand
NEW ZEALAND - NELSON - Nelson’s Felicity Maera-Wallace is a professional dominatrix who goes by the name My Lady Felicity. She gave a talk last week at Richmond Paper Plus’ Fifty Shades of Grey-themed evening
, about BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism and masochism) culture.
A day after her appearance on the television show 20/20, Felicity talked to the Leader.
What does being a professional dominatrix involve?Typically, it will involve somebody coming to me with a particular fantasy or scenario that they want to satisfy, and I’ll provide the equipment, the space, and the open mind for that.
What’s the appeal for your customers? Paying for pain seems counterintuitive.Pain is only a small part of BDSM as a whole. People who are into pain, that’s one part of it. Other people will be into cross-dressing, forced feminisation, or simply verbal orders or a dominant woman. There is an infinite variety of different ways to experience fetish. That’s why I call it ‘fetish’ rather than BDSM, because it encompasses lots of things. The reason I think people enjoy pain is because it produces endorphins - it’s a sensation that they enjoy. It gives them pleasure.
How long have you been a full-time dominatrix?I’ve been back in the industry for around four years fulltime, so that’s my sole support, but I have worked on-and-off part-time and done pro-domming in the industry for 20-plus years.
Have you always lived in Nelson?No, gosh no. I mean I’m a Nelson girl and I’m very proud of that, but I’ve lived and worked all over New Zealand.
Do you work from home, or do you rent a space?I have premises that I own and I live elsewhere. I’ve lived and worked in the same place before and anticipate doing that again, actually, in the new premises.
How did you become interested in being a pro-dom?It appealed to my sense of humour. It’s a very fun way to make a living. It challenges me on every level: physically, technically, emotionally, intellectually, all those things are in there. All the skills I gained through social work and interpreting and sex work, it’s all in there.
Does your family know about your career?Yes, and they always have. My wider family not so much, but my immediate family always.
Have they been supportive?They have, on the whole, been hugely supportive, in particular my parents. My father struggled with it because he is protective, he worried about my safety. However, he was unconditionally supportive as well, which was huge.
What did you do before you became a dominatrix?I was a sign language communicator. Prior to that I did social work and adult education teaching sign language, and I also worked at Whitcoulls.
Has being deaf affected your job as a pro-dom?I don’t see being deaf as a disability. I worked professionally in the sex industry when I was deaf, with my implant. It’s a different perspective, you know? Deaf Aotearoa will tell you it’s not about ability, it’s about access.
Nelson is a small community. What do you do when you run into clients?I actually don’t see clients - I literally do not see them. I often get told they’ve seen me and I think, ‘Oh gosh, when was that?’ Inasmuch as I do see them, we may glance at one another and virtually ignore each other, and small-town Nelson is great for that. Everybody does it.
The Fifty Shades of Grey books have been bringing the BDSM scene a lot of attention lately. What’s your opinion on them? The book I consider to be poorly written, it’s Mills and Boon with whips. I personally don’t like it, haven’t read [all of] it and will never read it, it’s not my preferred genre of book. If you want to read erotic fiction there are a lot of better options out there. Having been all negative about it, it is wonderful in that it has got people reading and talking about sex and fetish openly.
Do you have any steps in mind for harnessing all this public attention on BDSM?What’s come out of the Fifty Shades of Grey drama, and I’ll always be grateful to the author for that, is that people want how-tos. There’s a huge need out there, people want to explore, so I’m talking classes to [Felicity’s sister] Alexandra. I’ve worked with her facilitating classes before.
We envision a series of six workshops to start with, possibly for couples, and hopefully for eventually anyone. They would be tailored to the people that need them, covering those issues: sex, love, fetish. ‘How do you do it? How do you get it? What do you want?‘
See larger photo on:
www.stuff.co.nz.
Website My Lady Felicity.
