by Lori Perkins
As the book starts to draw toward its end, I find myself wondering how Christian reacts toward mastery in others, and specifically, how that would affect his growth if he were here at La Domaine. I can easily see how he grew with his former Mistress, the book’s only indication of his ability to accept mastery in others. I sense that as I continue reading, I will soon know what lies behind his continually veiled countenance and what is lacking in his mastery. The answer is here somewhere; I feel like I can almost see it; I just need to clarify, for myself, what the problem is. I sense it has to do with something that this stunningly handsome, rich, and powerful man is lacking. Two more days of reading and contemplating and I hope I shall be able to fathom his many shaded depths.
Day Six: I once again note how Grey’s use of arrogance interferes with his mastery. It is a simple observation; he does not thank Ana for anything. At La Domaine, we have a precept: thank you is always appropriate. I wonder how often Grey thanks those who work for him. I have yet to find any of that in the book. He has so many contradictions. He has shown the ability to give so much, but he really must learn to accept more.
Today’s Christian—the Grey of day six—once again has his hair tussled, his shirt open, and his pants hanging on his hips in that delicious manner that every Mistress, Master, and slave here would love. I know I would not even have to tell my slaves to be as seductive as possible with him throughout the day. Their eyes would all glaze over with possibilities. But I suspect that the young Master would go through the day hardly noticing.
At La Domaine, we teach our Masters and Mistresses and slaves to use all their senses. When a slave is told to offer, even from several feet away, a La Domaine Dominant can scent a slave becoming aroused. I would have no need to point this change in scent out. That is something a trained Master should be able to observe and utilize. On day two of my reading I could tell that one of the better components of Mr. Grey’s dominance is his use of his senses. He is a keen observer. Yet he still misses many signals. By day six, I have come to feel that Christian does this unknowingly, only as a natural occurrence, creating an emotionally unsafe place for both Dominant and submissive. La Domaine training would serve him well.
When Christian has his slave neatly tied, I can see that is for her pleasure, as well as, in some way, for his own sense of security. It also is one more indication of the extent of his implied technical skills, skills he shows throughout the book. Interesting: the more his slave becomes aroused, the more Grey’s eyes glow and, conversely, the more distant he becomes. He delivers a tremendous whipping and brings Ana to a devastating orgasm, and then, only momentarily, the reader sees the distance turn to warmth. He goes to her and lightly caresses her face. The way he touches her skin is very moving. It occurs to me that, except for his love for spanking and bringing slaves to orgasm, he seldom seems to touch. He releases the slave and sends her to take a shower. Oh, dear Christian, allow yourself to receive some warmth.
The book is drawing to a close, and although he has definitely made a connection with me, it seems he has not done the same with any other member of the Fifty Shades family—a family that includes his own blood family, Ana’s, and virtually everyone else who is drawn to him in the story. Perhaps his heart will not let him. One would think he would be entering people, other than Ana, much more deeply and far more sincerely.
Day Seven: The book is done, and now it is time for the Final Evaluation of Mr. Christian Grey’s Mastery, by Master R.
Mr. Grey has excellent technical skills, but he has too great a reliance on them. He has superb abilities when it comes to arousing slaves, and understands and truly appreciates his sexual gifts, yet he has far too many many ways to avoid being touched to allow his mastery to attain fulfillment. No contact on his chest and the constantly worn shirt—metaphorically covering his heart—are just two examples. The extremely powerful way he uses his eyes, both in observation and in the practice of avoidance, troubles me. That he uses his eyes for both purposes is a contradiction in dominance, and I have become certain that it is caused by his fear that he is irregular and damaged. This indicates, for all his accomplishments in business and sexuality, a lack of true confidence and self-acceptance. Christian’s mastery would be greatly improved by self-acceptance. I fully enjoyed and approve of how Mr. Grey uses his senses to feed his intellect; however, Christian must learn to channel the information he receives from those senses into positive emotion as well as into that appealing intellect.
If Christian Grey were a reality, and were here at La Domaine seeking counsel, I would end our week together by offering him the following thoughts and summation, based on our brief, albeit literary time together:
Mr. Grey, you consistently appear tense, as if you have accepted a challenge or are facing an internal devil. Yet I am drawn to several aspects of your person and reflections of your personality. Your clothing is impeccable. I love the fine line of your lips and I wonder if I am immediately drawn to that fine line because of its tension, because your lips imply a greatly repressed sensuality, or simply because you are portrayed as so intensely beautiful. Ana feels your hair looks like it needs to be tussled; by the end of my first day reading, I felt your entire demeanor needed to be tussled.
As the philosopher Santayana said so well: “Love is a physical drive with an ideal intent.” BDSM is nothing more (or less) than your type of loving. I suspect you are a wonderful man, with terrific potential as a Master. As you were revealed to me, I came to understand through Ana’s voice that, as Mr. Grey, your physical drive is superb, yet Christian has a great deal to learn about ideal intent. You need to learn to first reveal, next cherish, and then confidently share your love. In this process you will become the master of your own potential. I am certain, if you learn to open your heart, you can learn to love who you are, and that will make you a great master. In short, Mr. Christian Grey, you need to master love.
But then, don’t we all?
Our week together is done. My involvement with fiction draws to an end as I metaphorically show this young Master to the door. If this were a reality, I would allow myself the pleasure of a farewell touch to his sculpted face, and I know I would fully enjoy the excitement that small connection would generate.
A final thought, from a real Master to a fictional visitor: Goodbye, Master Grey—I hope we meet again.
MASTER R was a professional submissive in NYC in 1969. He began exploring his dominance in 1978. In 1993, R created La Domaine Esemar, now the world’s most respected BDSM training chateau, where he has been deeply involved in the training of hundreds of Masters, Mistresses, and slaves. His writings have appeared in kink magazines from around the world, including Secret (Belgium), Marquis (Germany), and Skin Two (Great Britain). His autobiography, Master: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Master R, is a well-received and compelling life story, which explores not only the gradual emergence of his Mastery but his work as an accomplished musician, singer/songwriter, free thinker, and political activist. In addition, as Robb Goldstein—The Troubadour—he had a twenty year career exploring the relationship between American fine art and American folk culture, a pursuit which led to his speaking at over one hundred and fifty museums and universities across the US between 1985 and 2005. R’s proudest moment was winning a major Free Speech/First Amendment decision in 1978, “Goldstein vs. Nantucket,” a decision that extended Free Speech protection to all the street artists in the United States. Although Master R has recently retired, he still, whenever his expertease is needed, maintains an active role at the extraordinary La Domaine, as Master EmeRitus.
PAMELA MADSEN
The Collar of Blue Stones
IT’S ALL MY FAULT. I’m not like Ana, an innocent accidentally falling in love with a dominant man. No, not me. I knew exactly who I was messing with the moment that I met him. Oh, I might have uttered “holy cow” a few times. But if there was any blush in my cheeks, it was there because he put the color just where he wanted it. I didn’t flee my sadist, a
s Ana fled hers in Fifty Shades of Grey. Instead, every day for three months now, I’ve put on a beautiful necklace made of blue crystals and stones. Not a day goes by without someone noticing it and telling me how lovely it is. Every time they do, my fingers wander up to the blue crystals and I smile. They think it’s simply jewelry, but for me it’s my beautiful secret. When they compliment it, I feel like they are telling me that my surrender is beautiful. That my commitment is beautiful. Of course they don’t know that it is my “day collar,” placed there by the Blue Flame, the man who tops me.
Blue Flame has a lot in common with Christian Grey. No, he is not a mega-millionaire, but he understands what he wants from a woman. These words that Christian utters to Ana so beautifully could easily have been spoken by my Blue Flame to me: “I have rules, and I want you to comply with them. They are for your benefit and for my pleasure. If you follow these rules to my satisfaction, I shall reward you. If you don’t, I shall punish you, and you will learn.”
My friends don’t know that every morning when I put my necklace on, it reminds me of my submission to him—this man who lives across the country and is not mine except for this agreement that we have. They don’t know that every night when I take it off before I go to sleep, my mind flashes to bits of memory of my visits with him: Sitting at a sushi bar with his ropes tied into a harness under my dress. His arm around me, gently tugging on them through my clothing. My body yielding to the push-pull of the ropes. Sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco, taking off his black heavy boots and rubbing his feet as he reads the paper and sips his coffee. The pleasure that I feel in my body when I please him. Me, on my belly, tied to a four-poster bed, completely open to him as he places a vibrator underneath me and canes me while I am having dozens of orgasms. The necklace is my constant reminder, the trigger of sense memories that feed me between the long stretches of separation, that stitch our visits together. The memories can hit like a smooth wooden paddle. They can land soft and smooth with a gentle caress or strike so hard that I lose all of my breath. Because, for me, being with the Blue Flame is all of those things.
Domination and submission, power and surrender, mean different things for different people. For some it’s about having a chance to trust someone else to take control. For others it’s the pure physical sensation—spanking, flogging, licking, restraints—that bends the mind, the antithesis of thinking in straight hard lines.
Being held in just the way you need to be by someone stronger than you are in that moment, being told what to do in the safe context of a mutually agreed upon power exchange, is pretty damn intoxicating. That is what Christian was trying to offer Ana. But she had too much resistance to truly understand the gift that he was offering. For her, it was an aberration—something that seemed broken and disturbed. For me, it is nothing less than perfection.
No one would guess that I am a submissive woman, that I take pleasure in serving. After all, in most of my life I am the one giving the orders or, at the very least, taking charge. Perhaps that is why surrender calls to me. It is the path not taken, or perhaps it is the path that, as an American woman, I was taught was beneath me. Something to be avoided at all costs. Yet I would risk a lot to have this.
There is a transformation that comes over me in surrender. A softening of the hard intellect and practicality that is my usual way of being in the world. I love my yielding woman. I find her bewitching. My collar leads me to her.
My mind wanders to my last visit with him. We are in my hotel room and it’s our last day together before we go back into our real lives. It will be many months before we’re together again. We are not supposed to be sexually intimate today, that was the plan—to make going home easier. We are in my hotel room. I offer him a glass of wine. I don’t want to transition. I am hungry for him. The heaviness of months without physical contact with him looms over me like a bad cold. I nestle into his body and implore him with my eyes. I take off the blue collar of stones. He reaches for our play collar. It’s made of leather with one blue crystal dangling. This is a good sign.
Blue Flame asks me to kneel. He likes to start with me on my knees. I am asked to kiss my collar. He beckons me to lift my hair. I can feel his strong hands. They are the hands of a man that does things, and they feel steady as he places the leather around my neck. There is ritual to mark this time of my submission. He always pulls the collar very tight at first before he settles it into a comfortable snugness. This always startles me, almost as unexpected as me finding myself on my knees. Yet I hunger for this, as much as my hunger embarrasses me.
I feel so self-conscious every time I participate in this ritual. Imagine, me kneeling. Kissing his hands in gratitude for whatever they will offer me in these moments. My eagerness to do this even though I almost have to force myself to my knees is unyielding. The freedom I feel in this physical expression of giving myself to this man so wantonly, the pleasure of my submission, rushes my body like a river overflowing a dam. And at the same time, I know that this scene would make some feminist somewhere completely crazy. Women getting spanked and men loving to do it? It’s scary for a lot of people. Miss Steele is not alone in her fear. It’s not politically correct, but it’s my desire. And that’s where decades of feminism should have brought us—to every woman being able to speak and have her own true desire. And I was claiming mine.
For all the pockets of sexual freedom in which people can and do have their desires met, there are vast expanses where people live blunted lives because this deep, dark stuff must be relegated to porn or fiction or TV or freak shows. Why is that? Is it because we conflate BDSM with abuse? Unfortunately, it is even linked there in Fifty Shades of Grey—and that is where the book fell short for me. We are once again hiding desire and sexual instinct behind a veil. The story that somehow Christian became a dominant man because of abuse is so unfortunate in that it perpetuates the myth that BDSM is a psychological disorder.
But that is not my experience with men who dominate women and the women who enjoy surrendering to them. BDSM and abuse are not the same, and we can’t intellectualize sexual desire away. Public discussion by “sensible” people inevitably harkens back to what a woman will put up with for “love” (especially if the guy is loaded and handsome with a buried broken heart just yearning to be held). I’m so sick of hearing that women do “this” to please their man, that they submit for love. They may. We do lots of things for love. But I think we hide behind “love” so we don’t have to take responsibility for our desire, which may have nothing at all to do with gushy emotion and everything to do with raw sexual pleasure. That is Ana’s story. It’s not mine.
How about the fact that lots of women want to feel dominated because it feels good. Period. And I was now on my knees and loving it even if I was debating my right to be on my knees in that very moment with my unseen critics. In this place, my pleasure comes from serving this man.
We find our way to the bed. Perhaps I will get what I want after all. He is smiling, lying back on the pillows, sipping his wine. He beckons to me. I make my way to his arms and he holds me. I feel his kisses on the top of my head, his hands playing with my hair. Oh God it feels so good! My body is on fire in an instant. I begin to kiss his body through his clothing. Soon, they are more than kisses; I am trying to get to his flesh. I want him to want me. I use my teeth and gently bite through his clothes. I feel his body relax, and he puts the glass of wine down. I have his full attention as I pleasure his body. I can feel his hard-on pressing against his blue jeans. I somehow try to give him a blowjob through his clothes.
“Please,” I ask softly. He knows what I am asking for. I am asking him to get undressed. He shakes his head no. I whine and moan softly. “Oh God … please?” He laughs at me.
“May I get naked, Sir?” I ask. He nods yes.
I pull off my clothing and rub my body against the coarse Levi’s, locked down with a leather belt and silver buckle. He pulls me to sit astride him, as if I was making love to him. He looks at me w
ith eyes that love and mock me. He loves my struggle to have him.
I know he wants me. I can feel his desire rock hard beneath me. His eyes never leave mine. And soon mine are full of tears.
“Please. Please. Please,” I beg. He shakes his head no. “Don’t you want me?” I weep.
“Yes, of course I want you. I want you just like this,” he says.
I collapse for a while on his chest, sobbing. I hate him. I love him. Why is he doing this to me? I cannot believe that I just begged for a man to make love to me. It was incredibly humiliating and he was enjoying the show. I wanted to claw his face. Instead I allowed him to hold me, as I moaned, and kissed his body everywhere and tried to find release like a cat rubbing up against a tree. My pussy is burning, hot and wet. How could he not want me? How could he possibly leave me like this, I ask myself again and again.
Blue Flame’s hands are mostly steady. He holds me as I tremble and he just asks for the same simple thing. He asks me to yield to him. To know that I am desired. His requests for me are to simply melt into that. Easier said than done. I can still feel the candle of my surrender fight against the flame with words and endless debate and pleading. Submission does not come easy for feminists with big lives and even bigger mouths.
His joy in my suffering is the only pleasure that I can find. And it is in the end the pleasure that I seek. He is a sadist, after all. But another wave of resistance bubbles up, even as I gently touch the pleasure. I want to pound his chest. I tell myself to stop. To yield. To surrender. I am the submissive, and he is the Dominant. He gets to call the shots. But I am used to the shots being called mostly around things that give me pleasure. Bend over? Sure! Where?
Canes always frighten me, but I am developing a taste for them because Blue Flame enjoys playing with them. I want his pleasure to be my pleasure. But can I find pleasure in my own sexual hunger? Can I surrender so deeply that I can find joy in my own pain if it pleases him? Can I allow myself to care about him like that? Apparently so.
