Week Twelve: Diary of a Dominatrix

Diary of a Dominatrix was a pretty interesting, shocking ride. What's particularly interesting, though, is that much of the shock I felt as a reader was not so much born of the extremely explicit nature of the material, but more so the casual attitude with which the narrator regarded all of these explicit themes. The work gives instructions on how to properly sexually humiliate and torture cisgender men, and does so with the frivolity that a chocolate chip cookie recipe in a cook book might give instructions. And I think it's this attitude that the protagonist has that drives home the shock even more; as if seeing and reading about these intensely explicit and even taboo subjects wasn't enough, the one presenting it to us appears to be extremely bored or jaded by it all. I think that was one of the defining, and perhaps even weirdly charming aspects of this work.

Generally speaking I also just really enjoyed Zelda, the main character. It's not often you get such an intimate look into the life of someone who is a dominatrix (at least, I haven't), and the reader gets to see and experience so many facets of the character. We see her morning routine, where she likens herself to a coyote and to a beauty afterwards-- a transformation a good chunk of girls can undoubtedly relate to, myself included. The work simultaneously builds her up as an outlandish, harsh, and even violent individual, as well as a sometimes softhearted, simple girl, interested in having dinner with her boyfriend, being nice to old ladies, and eating ice cream. I also got a kick out of the pop culture references thrown into the work-- the nod to Jessica Rabbit where Zelda says "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" as well as the Star Wars reference where she says "Nowhere else will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy". We really get a sense that this is a very multi-faceted, dimensional character.