Every working mum juggles their career with raising children. But what if your day job is being a dominatrix? Three women tell Cleo Glyde how they balance their kids with their kink
BLAKE, 40 HAS A SON, 13, AND DAUGHTER, 10
“I trained to be a dominatrix at a dungeon for two years, then started working independently three years ago. In my former life, I worked in publishing, was married with two children and had a house in the suburbs – but was absolutely miserable. When an old friend committed suicide, I realised life is too short to be unhappy. After separating from my husband, I became a receptionist at a brothel and threw myself into kink and BDSM [Bondage/Discipline/ Sadism/Masochism], which I had always been drawn to. Apart from the techniques, a dominatrix needs the ability to read and respond to people without them having to speak. Many clients want me to be cold and cruel, but there can be a certain intimacy too. I have a young deaf client who has very heavy sessions. Sometimes we’ll end with his head in my lap as I stroke his hair for 10 minutes. I also do fetish work and receive foot worship, which I love. But everything I do is CFNM (Clothed Female/Nude Male).
Sometimes I’ll be at a fetish event in thigh-high boots and have to rush home, take off the make-up and latex, then pick up my kids. Costume change! In the school holidays, when I need to work, the kids see me in full make-up, with jeans. My daughter thinks it’s great that I get to wear high heels. I always tell her, ‘That’s because I’m the boss!’
This story is from the August 2019 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 2019 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Annie LENNOX
She's been called the voice of her generation - not just for her singing career, but also for her staunch activism. In honour of the Eurythmics' frontwoman's 70th birthday in December, we pay tribute to a living legend.
Garden SECRETS
Richard Christiansen's Flamingo Estate has given Los Angeles a new appreciation of farm-inspired bath, body and pantry produce. Now the Australian is giving gardening advice that's actually about harvesting more joy from life.
JASMINE Chilcott
Solution-based supplement brand FixBIOME prides itself having an education-first platform and a natural approach to gut health
BIG LOVE
One photographer seeks to dispel vulva stigma with a book that busts open the very real issue of body shame and turns it into self love.
Time out
Skincare that focuses on inner peace is changing attitudes to ageing
LOVE YOUR LIPS
There's never a wrong time to wear a statement lipstick. marie claire puts the most-wanted lip colours under the spotlight to prove their pulling power, whatever the climate
JULIA
Hollywood's quiet achiever Julia Garner is making a career of defying genre
Club wellness
People are swapping happy hour for hyperbaric chambers and picking up potential partners in the sauna. Private wellness clubs, writes Kathryn Madden, are the new third places- if you're lucky enough to get in the door
LIFE in COLOUR
The world's most successful living artist, Yayoi Kusama, will have eight decades of art on display in a blockbuster Australian exhibition.
So you want to be a stay-at-home mum?
As the fourth wave of feminism rolls over social media’s tradwives’, can you still admit you might want to leave your career to raise a family? Adrienne Tam reports on the latest motherhood taboo