A Response from Sandra Chang

Sandra Chang got back to me in fast time about my request to show her artwork in the previous post, and added an interesting reply about her experiences with being an artist interested in female domination. This is really worth reading:

I don’t have any more Japanese Bondage illustrations…some of my fantasy illustrations have gone more mainstream to be more commercial. The bondage/S & M stuff is fun to do, but is a very niche market. I tried to get a calendar published a while back and I think they felt threatened by the dominant women stuff. Not too long ago, I was warned by [a prominent online art organization] not to display any more content like that or else they will remove my online gallery. That made me angry because I’ve seen artwork on their site where the women were naked and nailed together. They were obviously dead and if that isn’t sadistic I don’t know what is. All I had were 2 women dancing around a naked man tied upside down. I think the imagery of women overpowering a man made whoever curating the exhibit uncomfortable. I’ve also had every female-centric painting rejected by [another prominent online art organization]. I’m not sure why. Maybe they are too sexy.

Heh. Well, I guess it is a niche market but it seems to be becoming a pretty big niche, I must say. I’m sorry to hear about these experiences with discrimination; which is basically what that is. I’ve chatted on e-mail with several other artists that have similar complaints. It’s a bummer for the artist and positive consumer, and is basically a form of censorship.

Personally, I like martial arts. I also have a 1st degree black sash in Northern Eagle Claw kung fu. I don’t spar any more after I broke my ankle in class…My husband forbids from fighting…although I miss it. Probably the part of me that likes beating up on guys…

Sandra: personally I wish you could beat up the guys who felt threatened by your work. But this is not a perfec world.

Thanks for your art and pics,

❤ Steve.

(PS – If you’re wondering why I didn’t just add all this as a comment to the previous post, it’s because this way, I have an excuse to put up another picture.)

The Wily Old Crocodile: An Interview with Eosuchus

Eosuchus has been about on the D/s internet scene for a long time, posting here, writing there, and slowly building up a profile as a fine eroticist. Recently (last year) he started up his own weblog, with samples of his femdom fiction and also some more theoretical writings on femdom in society.

I asked him six questions on e-mail a few days ago and he responded at length, making for a pretty good interview IMHO. I’ve saved my own responses until right at the end, where there is also a bunch of links to his stories on various websites.

Steve: Eosuchus. What’s with that name? A Permian-era crocodile?

Eosuchus: The crocodile family are old — and in their way, wise. 😉

Steve: Your stories are all over the net now, at the Femdom Desire forums, some on the site of a Ms Christine, some on www.shemaleas.com, and elsewhere. Do you have plans to unify it all on your blog or anywhere else?

Eosuchus: Not really. There are stories from various stages in the development of this work. I have examples of most of them, and maybe someday I might put them up on the weblog. I have a lot of stories to tell, and I’ve got a few hobbyhorses that I circle around, but I have also tried to break new ground. What I dream of is finding an artist, or even a Poser person, who would like to collaborate on some FD storytelling. Maybe even put up a pay site for such work. I think the form is best approached through fiction combined with some sexy graphics. I like the approach taken by Regime Imperia. If I were doing something like that I would try for a more “domestic” approach.

Steve: You are quite well known – obviously you’re not a big glory seeker, but have you thought about publishing your stories as a collection anywhere?

Eosuchus: I have, and my little weblog is a possible first step in that direction. I have a hard drive’s worth of other materials, including a piece of FD Science Fiction that is essentially a novel.

Steve: By the way, where is the full text of *Walter*? I see it referenced here and there but can’t find it. Is it still online anywhere?

Eosuchus: That story is a few hard drives ago. It should be on Ms Christine’s DOMestic site, if she’s still got the same story archive they had years back. I haven’t checked there in several years. When they first started up DOMestic I found it an exciting way to post stories as I began to develop my own style. But I haven’t posted on DOMestic in years and years now.

Steve: Permian systems is your own brand, I take it? Have you had copyright issues with any of your stuff? I know that people who put long fiction online tend to find this a problem.

Eosuchus: Oh, I really don’t know. I haven’t noticed any of my stories being put out under another name. What’s on the internet is pretty much free, so it wouldn’t be the greatest loss. I guess I can’t quite imagine someone else putting their own name on an eosuchus story. But yes, Permian Systems is my brand and copyright signifier.

Steve: What are you working on at the moment? Your more recent blog writings seem almost like a cultural analysis of femdom practices rather than fiction, and I have to say personally I don’t like them as much as your fantasies because I don’t see ‘real’ femdom as having rules or systems, just people. How do you respond to that?

Eosuchus: Real FemDom and male fantasy FemDom — different, but rooted in the same urges. Real FemDom is for real life (or paid sessions with a Dominatrix?) and if there are rules, then they are likely to be Her rules. They will vary from woman to woman, I would think. Male fantasies circle around the same ideas, the same acts of erotic power, over and over. But then– Female erotic fantasies do much the same sort of thing– at least if one goes by romance fiction.

My musings about FemDom tropes and art are just one writer’s take on things. But, you would have to admit, surely, that FemDom fantasies do seem a little, well, limited in range. Check Namio Harukawa’s obsessions, for example.  Some are much less likely to ever actually take place than others, but they retain an erotic appeal to submissive men. Wny is this? I can’t imagine– at least in 2009– that ladies clad in leather are going to take men out for walks, as if they were dogs, but that notion comes up again and again. I find that interesting.

I have put some stories up on the weblog, and I will put up more. I thought, though, that it would be fun to put up some ideas, select some of my favorite FD images and artists and discuss them. FemDom art is actually fascinating in a number of ways. Some stuff doesn’t work, even if it’s well executed. It just lacks the necessary erotic spark. Other works are mental dynamite, at least for submissive, masochistic men. This intrigues me.

As for what I’m writing now. I continue to try and perfect some favorite short scenes. I have a story about Pony Play– something that is very new for me. I have a group of stories– that I would really love to see illustrated– describing a relationship that moves from a kinky love affair to an all out FemDom marriage. I have also been working a bit on updating another story set that I first developed for Ms. Christine’s DOMestic list about a decade ago, titled  “Beneath Her Hem” which lays out an imagined, “perfect” FemDom married life. And I have this relatively huge, SF FemDom novel, that I don’t know what to do with!

(End interview).

So, looks like we have a lot to look forward to from Eosuchus – and I wish him good luck with publication. It also looks like another FD writer looking for an illustrator, somebody wanting to do high-quality FD illustrated narrative with a domestic tone. Funny, that’s exactly what I want to do as well. Good to now I’m not the only person interested in this! Maybe someday we can get past  comic-style representations of men in dungeons and get something far more sensual and realistic happening.

(Not sure why he’s rfeerenced Regime Imperia, though.  I see what he means in regards to their presentation of ongoing illustrated narrative, but personally I think their stuff is really tacky).

Want to read some Eosuchus? Here’s some links to get you started…

• Eosuchus Weblog
• Enjoying Stephen
• Sex Slave
• ‘A review of Walter’ at Mark Remond’s site
• On Mistress Adaires site (join to read)
• Free for A Day (On Ms Christine’s site – join to read).
• Free for a Day on The Domme’s View (includes brief bio)
• On My DommeSpace (join and search to read)

SUGASM LINKS (this was included in Sugasm 169)

This Week’s Picks
Clothespin Communion
“Surrender to the sensation.”

Remembering the Pain
“And it really was that bad.”

Short And Sweet
“Why don’t you turn over”

Sugasm Editor
Fetish Fridays: Financial Submission

Editor’s Choice
Belonging

More Sugasm
Join the Sugasm

(Sugasm participants should re-post all the links above within a week. The following links may be excluded as long as you include all the above links.)

Thoughts on Sex and Relationships
Absence
Evey Can Haz?
The Ghost of Sex Toys Past (Part One of Three)
“Boy, Girl, or In-between?” Princess Frida’s Fabulous Talk, and My Thoughts
“Work” Confession #297

NSFW Pics, Videos & Audio
Busty beauty Jenny McClain
Flash Spanking Videos
Leighton Meester Sex Tape
Pearls
Thrashed on their bared buttocks
Waiting for Tonight

Sex Humor
Fat Sex and Why It’s Good

BDSM & Fetish
Don’t Have Mercy on Me, Baby
Formalities, and, on second thought, greetings
The Going Away Present
He gave them pain like balm, and they begged him for it
High School Bully Part 3
Home Alone?
Mollena Williams added to 100 Divas
A Night In Bondage
Under instruction
The war of the sexes

Sex Poetry
At the movies….

News, Reviews & Interviews
The Independent lists “the ten best sex toys.” I fly into a rage.
Take Me Out to the Sapphic Sex Romp
Vibratex Pandora
The Wily Old Crocodile: An Interview with Eosuchus

Sex Advice
Anal Sex for Beginners
New At Sex Is Magazine: Foods That Enhance Your Sex Drive
Q&A with Dr.Ruthie – Asking for Better Sex
Starting At The Bottom: An Intro to Anal Play, Part 2

Erotic Writing & Experiences
Amber gives me a blowjob..in person!
From Behind
Its Morning…(The Last Time)
Just fucking.
A Matter of Taste
May i feel said he
New Man at the Lesbos Palace
The Problem with Thongs
The Raise
Randy: the new big cock
Stranger Fuck & Plough
Whore, Adulteress, Sinner
You can leave your hat on

Interview: Mistress Vanja’s Femdom Phase

Norwegian artist Vanja does all sorts of fetish art, in a style that combines anime with standard cartoon, and maybe a touch of naiive European folk art, too. Nowadays she seems to be mostly preoccupied with her new erotic magazine distribution network, Wildside Comix, and its flagship magazine, Ero-Mania. And while there’s a little bit of femdom art in that magazine, it looks mostly like a lot of ‘vore, furriness and general cartoon porn.

But luckily for me, she went through a notable femdom phase, all of which is available in the free gallery area. I noticed that these had all been added between 2006 and 2007, during which time, I figured, she either must have been commissioned to do a lot of femdom work, or just been feeling very dominant towards her boyfriend (she’s normally of a more submissive persuasion, she says.) Whatever, the result is a whole lot of the following…

She seems to have a thing for candles, and guys having their penises electrocuted too. The girls are hot, the boys cute, and there’s a humor pervading the whole thing that really appeals.

Anyway I figured I’d email her and ask her what made such a sweet girl turn so mean…as in, how come she started churning out stuff like this and then stopped again about a year later. Here’s what she said.

STEVE: Why did you draw so many female domination images between mid-2006 and mid-2007? What was going on at the time? Were they part of a commission etc? Or just for fun?

VANJA: First a note beside the answer: the pictures weren’t made those years, they were just added in my new gallery at that time…so some of them are actually a bit older than that. But I haven’t drawn very much femdom lately, so I can rather answer the question as “why has it been a long time since you drew any femdom art? :)***

A few years back I was experimenting a lot, trying to improve my art skills, and I covered a lot of themes and genres during this process. These were mostly made for fun, but along the way I found what I enjoyed most to draw, and unfortunately femdom isn’t on top of that list. However, I haven’t completely stopped drawing artwork with femdom themes in them, and I do occasionally draw femdom art.

STEVE: Do you have any long femdom narrative stories in your magazine, EroMania? Or is it just single images in the drawing galleries? Do you have any plans to do femdom narratives?

VANJA: So far there are just single pictures, but I actually have an episode-based comic project in early development focusing only on femdom. There’s no exact date when these issues will appear there though, but probably during this year.

STEVE: Do you have any other thoughts about the place of femdom in anime? It seems to me as though it is treated as “just another kink”, like yuri, yaoi, bukkake, etc. Is that how you see it too?

VANJA: Since I’m not dominant, and tend more to the submissive side, femdom art is something I draw for fun. But I know there are a few sites dedicated mainly to this genre (like the forums at www.hentai-femdom.com **note: I haven’t been there myself, just aware of it**).

And sure, you can use whatever pictures your want that’s displayed on Vanja’s World ^_^

I hope that was okay 🙂

Best regards,

Vanja

(End Transcript).

Yes, that was definitely okay. I look forward to hearing about the comic sometime…

One more thing about Vanja: she’s not adverse to the occasional artistic self-portait in flagrante delicto. Judging by her photo galleries, some of them were inspired by scenes from real life…

"I don't draw myself in bondage very often, but right now I felt the urge to do so ^^..."

See you soon,

Steve.

Curioser and Curioser: A Peek at Lickorish

Lickorish.com is a curious site indeed; imagine erotica conceived by Lewis Carrol and L. Frank Baum, and you are part of the way there. Some of the work makes me think of signboards for a Barnum and Bailey circus sideshow, but then, some of it wouldn’t go astray in an Art Nouveau exhibition, or even hung alongside M. C. Escher or Andy Warhol, and some of it is just…itself.

Is the creator a man or a woman? Yes, is the cheeky answer given in the Q and A section. Whoever it is, they have a fine eye for the female form, and don’t mind showing men in sexually subordinate positions, but will also portray women in bondage if the mood strikes them. So I am guessing it’s…a woman. Or a man. If you can’t tell, it shouldn’t really matter, but still, I am curious…

One aspect of this work I particularly like is the way that ‘erotica’ is depersonalized through the use of a style suggestive of old-fashioned modernism and mass production, and ‘kink’ is almost de-kinkified by being used as insignia for advertising. This is not done in a way that makes the viewer feel used or betrayed, or that kinky sexuality has been used to manipulate them into buying a consumer product. Instead, the style assists in the depersonalization of the submissive subject by rendering them as objects not only of the power of the dominant figure, but also of commercial exploitation, and of our own gaze.

The submissive figures on the site are often depersonalized to the point of being only semi-human, by being rendered as a conglomerate of body parts, or as human furniture; the dominant figures, although usually pictured as whole and normal, are also highly impersonal, their gazes uncaring and inhuman, their pleasure private and internal. This is perhaps the most highly stylized and ‘mass-consumer’ view of female dominant sexuality I have ever seen.

Some images here are taken from the member’s section. It’s free, but you need a password to get in there – this is obtained by e-mailing the artist and awaiting a response. In addition to the more ‘risque’ of the drawings, you will also get to take a look at the more revealing photo manipulations; another aspect of the artist’s style. Here, s/he gives full rein to the fragmentation and distortion of the human form into shapes that are at once submissive and provocative:

There’s plenty more, but hopefully you are curious enough now to head on over and see for yourself.

One final word – the artist has a Cafeshop site selling not just private wear like boxers and thongs, but very public wear such as t-shirts and hats, as well as mundane items such as coffee mugs, mouse-pads and even lunchboxes kitted out with kinky / female dominant insignia.

The sexy thing for me about this aspect of Lickorish is the way the taboo against female dominance hasn’t so much been challenged as blithely ignored, as though it never existed. It asks us: “what could be more normal, more embedded in popular culture, than a dominant woman?”