The fetish world is generally viewed by its inhabitants as a place where the normal rules of society do not apply. As long as the play is safe/sane/consensual, the BDSM philosophy goes hand-in-hand with the Wiccan rede: "An' it harm none, do what ye will." (Although sometimes "harm" is sort of the point, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.) Men can become ponies for their Mistresses to ride, and girls can literally become footstools for their Masters. Some vanilla folk regard femdom/submale scenes as shameful emasculation at worst, and empowering role-reversal at best. Femsubs, on the other hand, are living out a role that is viewed as horribly treacherous to many feminists.
From the popular feminist blog, I Blame the Patriarchy: "BDSM is patriarchy in a black latex nutshell. BDSM's get it all: sex, power, rape, pain, domination and submission, false pretext of freedom, delusions of superiority, sublimation of orgasm, women who think it liberates them, a conservative orthodoxy, compulsory conformity, exaggerated gender roles, and a silly dress code. It is anti-feminist, anti-intellectual, anti-individual, and unattractive."
It's easy to view 24/7 femsubs as throwbacks, especially adherents to the Gorean or Christian BDSM lifestyles. Goreans are influenced by the science-fiction works of John Norman, depicting a patriarchal society with sexually trained slavegirls. (Think L. Ron Hubbard with a cat o'nine.) Christian BDSM centers around the concept that the husband is divinely ordained to be the spiritual, as well as sexual, head of the household, and that his wife should submit to him in every way, even if it means being hogtied on a rubber sheet. I would argue that these two lifestyle choices remove the "sane" from SSC. No offense, but they are a very small subset of what is a minority in the BDSM world to begin with: 24/7 lifestylers who make their d/s relationship part of their daily lives. Certainly, a woman choosing to be June Cleaver in a PVC apron and 7-inch heels, keeping the house sparkling and obeying her Master's every word, may seem a puzzling choice to vanilla feminists. But maintaining those roles on a daily basis requires the ultimate in trust and caring between master and servant. It is not something entered into lightly by knuckle-dragging womanhaters and dim-witted fuckdolls.
24/7 lifestylers aside, is maledom/femsub play antifeminist? Is the image of a woman bound, her breasts squeezed purple by the rope, orally servicing her leatherclad Master, a horrific step backward into female subjugation? No, and yes. Many femsubs are proud feminists and simply get off on being dominated, not because they have daddy issues, just because that's what "does it" for them, the same way candlelight and a sensual massage might "do it" for a vanilla girl. Some femsubs feel freed from the boundaries and expectations of their gender, but many just love the feeling of giving up control, whatever the gender of their dominant. It is female subjugation, but it is subjugation by choice. It's the girl who chooses to walk into the dungeon or crawl into the cage. She wasn't voted in and placed there by a panel of periwigged Colonial chauvinists.
Many d/s relationships, of course, are lesbian in nature. In fact, the most popular bondage and strap-on porn favors femdom/femsub scenarios. Kinda takes the patriarchy out of the question, no? Some girls choose female dominants because they feel safer with them, freer to be their sluttiest selves without gender politics rearing its ugly head. Many bicurious women fantasize about being dominated by another woman, and for some, the first taste of Sapphic love is also the first taste of BDSM. Honestly, whether a sub chooses to worship a cock or a cunt, it has more to do with their sexual preference than any sort of sociological gender trauma. I don't want to dominate men because I hate them, or want to exact my revenge on behalf of womankind. I do it because of my love for and erotic fascination with men. I imagine the same is true for maledoms.
Ultimately, feminism is about women having the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as men. If a woman's happiness comes from kneeling at her Master's feet, more power to her.
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