Humiliation, Part 2 - feminization
Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 8:36 pm
On 3/29/2015, I posted a Forum thread ["types of humiliation"]. This is the second in a series of posts about humiliation.
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I have always been fairly progressive (aka “liberal”), and also politically correct. Growing up, I was aware of two primary ways of viewing women (conservative male supremacy and feminist equality), and I always preferred the feminist view. But in my late 20’s, when I discovered BDSM, I became less of a feminist, and also came to have a better understanding of women.
Before I go further, I will describe two types of people:
Type I – This person is confident and brave, is comfortable arguing, and may be pushy, selfish and overly aggressive.
Type II – This person is kind and nurturing, avoids conflict, and may be insecure and clingy.
When I was younger, I would have said that the above categories described men and women, with men being Type I, and women being Type II.
Later, when I learned about BDSM, I would say that the categories described dom/mes and subs, with dom/mes being Type I, and subs being Type II. I liked the fact that, within the D/s framework, each person could be whatever he or she wanted to be. It may be that most men are Type I, and most women are Type II. But no one should be forced to be either type. Male dom, male sub, female domme and female sub are all valid roles.
Along with the roles of dom/me and sub, there can be other titles and roles (slave and master/mistress, boy/girl and daddy/mommy, pet and owner). Each of the submissive roles is a bit different, but what they have in common is that they are each subordinate to the position of the dom/me. Pets are subordinate to owners, children are subordinate to parents, etc. But there is another type of roleplay that may or may not fit this pattern: feminization.
Consider this captioned pic, from the tumblr account of Miss Lizzi:
http://misslizzi22.tumblr.com/post/107368525214
In various types of BDSM fiction (webteases, captioned pictures, etc.), I have seen feminization portrayed as something that a male sub is forced into by a domme, along with comments that the submissive is not a real man, or has a tiny penis. And I have several questions about this:
1) Is “woman” a subordinate role, in the same way that “child” and “pet” are subordinate roles?
I do not think so. If a domme had me play the role of child or pet during a scene, I would feel less powerful in that role. But if a domme wanted to feminize me and ordered me to put on a dress, I would not feel less powerful. I would think “Ok, so now I am Joan of Arc or Captain Janeway”. I would feel awkward and unnatural, though.
2) Is using feminization as a form of humiliation less politically correct than other forms of D/s?
I would say that it is politically incorrect. Since I support people being able to choose their own roles and relationships, I see many forms of BDSM as empowering examples of personal choice. But implying that the role of “woman” is subordinate to the role of “man” is, in my opinion, an insult to women.
3) If anyone would argue that “feminization humiliation” is ok, and is not politically incorrect, then… what about race play? What if some white domme wanted to tell her white male sub “Today, we are doing race play. First, put on blackface, then I am going to send you out into the field to pick some cotton.”
I, personally, would be unwilling to do this sort of racist play as either dom or sub. In fact, when I am a dom I prefer to use master/slave terminology. But I remember playing online around the year 2000, and one girl that I met in a D/s chatroom was African American. She and I started to do the same sorts of master/slave roleplay that I had done with various other girls… but I kept thinking of the actual slavery in America just before the Civil War. That ruined it for me, and I had to end the scene early.
4) How often is feminization linked to humiliation?
I think that Bruce Jenner and many other trans people do not feel humiliated as females. However, there are types of play that include both feminization and humiliation, which might be described as “self-hating sissy” play, and may be examples of emotional masochism. In this case, the implied message from the humiliatrix is not "you are now weaker because you are now female”, it is “OMG, you are a male who likes to dress up as a female - Ha ha you look pathetic.” On the flip side, there can also be sissy encouragement play.
5) Returning to the first question (about whether or not “woman” is considered subordinate to “man”), is there such a thing as “masculinization play”, and if so, is it considered a form of humiliation?
I know of some dommes who are female supremacists. For example, there is this post from the tumblr of Queen Lucia:
http://queen-lucia.tumblr.com/post/1163 ... e-a-better
I have never heard of a female supremacist domme humiliating a female sub, by ordering that female sub to assume the role of a man. But then again, over 90% of the material on Milovana seems to have been created for a male audience. If anyone is familiar with female supremacists doing any sort of “masculinization” play, I would be curious to learn about it.
**********
I have always been fairly progressive (aka “liberal”), and also politically correct. Growing up, I was aware of two primary ways of viewing women (conservative male supremacy and feminist equality), and I always preferred the feminist view. But in my late 20’s, when I discovered BDSM, I became less of a feminist, and also came to have a better understanding of women.
Before I go further, I will describe two types of people:
Type I – This person is confident and brave, is comfortable arguing, and may be pushy, selfish and overly aggressive.
Type II – This person is kind and nurturing, avoids conflict, and may be insecure and clingy.
When I was younger, I would have said that the above categories described men and women, with men being Type I, and women being Type II.
Later, when I learned about BDSM, I would say that the categories described dom/mes and subs, with dom/mes being Type I, and subs being Type II. I liked the fact that, within the D/s framework, each person could be whatever he or she wanted to be. It may be that most men are Type I, and most women are Type II. But no one should be forced to be either type. Male dom, male sub, female domme and female sub are all valid roles.
Along with the roles of dom/me and sub, there can be other titles and roles (slave and master/mistress, boy/girl and daddy/mommy, pet and owner). Each of the submissive roles is a bit different, but what they have in common is that they are each subordinate to the position of the dom/me. Pets are subordinate to owners, children are subordinate to parents, etc. But there is another type of roleplay that may or may not fit this pattern: feminization.
Consider this captioned pic, from the tumblr account of Miss Lizzi:
http://misslizzi22.tumblr.com/post/107368525214
In various types of BDSM fiction (webteases, captioned pictures, etc.), I have seen feminization portrayed as something that a male sub is forced into by a domme, along with comments that the submissive is not a real man, or has a tiny penis. And I have several questions about this:
1) Is “woman” a subordinate role, in the same way that “child” and “pet” are subordinate roles?
I do not think so. If a domme had me play the role of child or pet during a scene, I would feel less powerful in that role. But if a domme wanted to feminize me and ordered me to put on a dress, I would not feel less powerful. I would think “Ok, so now I am Joan of Arc or Captain Janeway”. I would feel awkward and unnatural, though.
2) Is using feminization as a form of humiliation less politically correct than other forms of D/s?
I would say that it is politically incorrect. Since I support people being able to choose their own roles and relationships, I see many forms of BDSM as empowering examples of personal choice. But implying that the role of “woman” is subordinate to the role of “man” is, in my opinion, an insult to women.
3) If anyone would argue that “feminization humiliation” is ok, and is not politically incorrect, then… what about race play? What if some white domme wanted to tell her white male sub “Today, we are doing race play. First, put on blackface, then I am going to send you out into the field to pick some cotton.”
I, personally, would be unwilling to do this sort of racist play as either dom or sub. In fact, when I am a dom I prefer to use master/slave terminology. But I remember playing online around the year 2000, and one girl that I met in a D/s chatroom was African American. She and I started to do the same sorts of master/slave roleplay that I had done with various other girls… but I kept thinking of the actual slavery in America just before the Civil War. That ruined it for me, and I had to end the scene early.
4) How often is feminization linked to humiliation?
I think that Bruce Jenner and many other trans people do not feel humiliated as females. However, there are types of play that include both feminization and humiliation, which might be described as “self-hating sissy” play, and may be examples of emotional masochism. In this case, the implied message from the humiliatrix is not "you are now weaker because you are now female”, it is “OMG, you are a male who likes to dress up as a female - Ha ha you look pathetic.” On the flip side, there can also be sissy encouragement play.
5) Returning to the first question (about whether or not “woman” is considered subordinate to “man”), is there such a thing as “masculinization play”, and if so, is it considered a form of humiliation?
I know of some dommes who are female supremacists. For example, there is this post from the tumblr of Queen Lucia:
http://queen-lucia.tumblr.com/post/1163 ... e-a-better
I have never heard of a female supremacist domme humiliating a female sub, by ordering that female sub to assume the role of a man. But then again, over 90% of the material on Milovana seems to have been created for a male audience. If anyone is familiar with female supremacists doing any sort of “masculinization” play, I would be curious to learn about it.