‘A world turned upside down’: Emotional labour and the professional dominatrix

Abstract

The professional dominatrix, who has been underrepresented in the literature on sex work, complicates our understanding of the emotional labour of sex work. The professional dominatrix is paid by clients to perform the role of the dominant in scenarios involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadomasochism, and 'fetishism.' Unlike other sex workers, who must often feign interest and act flirtatiously in order to make clients feel desired, the dominatrix is asked, at times, to express emotional displays such as indifference or displeasure. At the same time, our analysis of in-depth interviews, published memoirs, and blogs reveals multifaceted and dynamic constructions of emotional labour that would typically be considered contradictory and unpredictable from the point of view of normative emotional displays in work. While her job is defined by dominance and can at times involve aggression, compassionate and care-taking traits are perhaps just as important in defining her emotional labour. In contrast to research that poses dichotomous models of gender and emotional labour, we present a more fluid paradigm that resists simplistic connections between gender, emotions, and work.

Female-to-male to mistress: A layered account of layered performances

“…Khan (2009) analyzed representations of dominatrices in film and criminal trials, and found consistent emphases on women’s gender transgression. In an investigation of emotional labor in the field, Pinsky and Levey (2015) found that dominatrices were expected to demonstrate feminine-coded traits, such as compassion and shy flirtation, as well as masculine-coded traits, such as aggression and detachment. McClintock depicted the dungeon as a “house of misrule” where “woman is judge and jury [and] man is penitent” (1993: 106).…”

“…Two gaps in the literature are particularly important for this article. First, scholars have overwhelmingly focused on cisgender women professionals (Khan, 2009; McClintock, 1993; Pinsky and Levey, 2015). Wilson (2005) explicitly defined “dominatrix” as “a woman who, normally for financial purposes, participates in forms of sexually charged role-play with a fetishistic or sadomasochistic backdrop” (2005: 32).…”

“…In drawing attention to layered performances in professional BDSM, I hope to contribute to the literature on sex work in three ways. First, as others have noted (Pinsky and Levey, 2015), this field has received scant attention. Much academic knowledge on sex work concerns other sectors such as street prostitution, escorting, brothels, and exotic dancing (Bernstein, 2007; Brooks, 2010; Büschi, 2014; Lyons et al., 2017).…”

“…Prior investigations of professional BDSM have focused on cisgender women laborers (Khan, 2009; Lindemann, 2012; McClintock, 1993; Pinsky and Levey, 2015; Sisson and Moser, 2005; Wilson, 2005). This work has offered tremendous insights into the gender dynamics of these women’s paid dominance over cisgender men, including the paradoxical tendency for this practice to both challenge and reinforce gender norms.…”

Enhancing the study of sex work

“…The journal has showcased seldom aired research on BDSM (Lindemann, 2011) and professional dominatrix work (Pinsky and Levey, 2015), transgendered identities (Ocha and Earth, 2013) as well as men who have sex with men in a commercial context (Atkins and Laing, 2012;Hall, 2007;Smith, 2012).…”