It’s been a while since I did a Cut video! They were nice enough to invite me back to guess who is a virgin. I wanted to make a point of guessing who I thought was going to be the “obvious” choice with the intent of highlighting how cultural biases are often incorrect. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did when filming it!
Everyone has to start somewhere, this is a BDSM toy guide for anyone starting a collection. I wanted to share my favorite BDSM toys and gear I think is essential for any kit in an easy format. Whether you are a domestic dominatrix in training, a couple looking to spice things up or a loyal sub with dreams of having the perfect toy kit, this list is for you.
Every dominatrix needs a good harness that fits well, is comfortable and gets the job done right. For the beginning dominatrix you might think “I will get a kit” but that is a mistake. Strap on kits usually come with a nylon strap harness and dildos that are so-so (usually too big or too small.) It may take a while to figure out what you like best but my favorite is The Jag by Aslan Leathers I like thong harnesses that can be converted and the leather is treated so it’s easy to clean and doesn’t break down over time.
It will take a while for anyone who is a beginner dominatrix to figure out what kind of dildos they like but I recommend materials that are body safe over jelly toys or PVC. I think it’s important to make sure it’s easy to clean/cover as well. Tantus has a great selection of toys to choose from that come in a variety of colors and sizes.
Restraints are very personal in their appeal. Maybe you’re a leather fan, or perhaps you enjoy the art of rope bondage. For those who are first exploring bondage, I have enjoyed Hemp Rope by Twisted Monk. It’s more expensive than what you will find at a hardware store but also more versatile. For example, you can use rope to tie a set of handcuffs or a create a cuff that you can attach anywhere. I began with rope and still find its meditative process to be grounding and a great way of building energy and anticipation within the scene.
Everyone loves the mental image of the dominatrix with the whip, right? It’s classic and unforgettable. However, learning to use a whip takes a lot of practice. I suggest starting with something like a riding crop, paddle or flogger first. I love Cane-iac for their creativity with unusual materials and their superb execution of the classics (like a cane, for example.)
Oooh, sensory play. There are so many different ways you can take this- Pokey toys, soft floggers, electro play… It all depends on the vibe of the scene. Sensory play increases suspense when you use it to build a scene or it can push the experience over the top. You can’t go wrong with a wartenberg wheel, honestly. I like playing the game of keeping myself to oe random toy and seeing how much I can do with it.
Hoods and such aren’t for everyone, some people feel very claustrophobic in them but I think they are a great tool to have in your tool kit. You can surprise someone with sensations or take complete control of them. Personally, I like hoods with the mouth exposed like the Cocksucker Hood by Mr S but in a pinch an eye mask for sleeping is great.
Surprisingly, many don’t know about the benefits of exploring nipple play- They are an unfortunately overlooked erogenous zone. I like to warm up with plastic clothes pins which are easily cleanable. If you want to leave the realm of sensory exploration, you can make them squirm with a strong set of clover clamps.
Are they too noisy? Plug their mouth with a gag to really make them feel helpless! I like ball gags personally but a good dental gag or even a ring gag has a place in my dungeon. I love versatility in all my toys so I find that the options provided by Bondage Webbing to be a perfect fit.
How will they know that you mean business unless you can really give them a good, hard spanking? I prefer paddles from Cane-iac. They have a variety of paddles in many different kinds of wood (yes that makes a difference. Let’s say it “hits different.”) More importantly, I’m yet to break one of their products. Save for canes, of course.
Lead them around and help them find sub space by locking a collar on. Many subs have told me how a collar has a been emotional impact on them, why not use that power to control them and pull them exactly into the headspace that you want? A formal leather slave collar is wonderful but so is a dog collar. What is your preference? I think quality is very important, so one of my favorite stores is Leather By Danny. You may recognize many of the designs there, now you have found the original source of the creativity.
Image by Tantus
What is the ultimate slave task? Understanding your Mistress. Think of your research into her/their preferences as slave training. Are you trying to impress your Mistress? Make her happy? GOOD. That is exactly what you should be doing as her loyal servant. A birthday shouldn’t pass without you celebrating with your Mistress.
I’m turning 30 in the middle of April so I decided to create an easy guide for my loyal subs to find me a gift that we both will enjoy.
As with all gift giving, you should ask yourself “is this for them or is it for me?” The latter is fine but you should acknowledge that you are giving them a gift for you rather than investigating what they might want. If you want to knock it out of the ballpark, your best methods for success are research and paying attention. I think that successful gifting is based on how well you know someone’s love language which relates to their gift preferences.
Does your dominant talk about wanting to be able to do something or have something done but they don’t have the bandwidth, time or energy to do it themselves? Easy. If you can make it happen for them, do so. Ask questions if you aren’t sure of something. A great example of this is The Garden Path that one of my subs commissioned for me on my birthday a few years ago. I enjoy it immensely and it was one of the best gifts I’ve gotten.
Everyone loves having that magic thing that fills a hole in their life or solves a problem, maybe one they didn’t know they had. In order to achieve this, you must know them well. A great example from my life is receiving a very nice set of knives when I started cooking. I didn’t know how amazing good knives are compared to the crappy ones I was using.
Finding something practical that someone needs or wants is a pretty easy gifting opportunity and they will think of you whenever they use it. I have gotten tennis shoes, a sofa, clothes, kitchen items, things for my cats, gift cards that enabled me to complete a project or simply enjoy something.
I feel that anything outside of the realm of what someone will normally spend on themselves is a luxury gift.Or an upgrade to something they already have. You usually have to ask or do research but it can be immensely exciting to get a gift that you wouldn’t buy for yourself. I’ve received jewelry, shoes, lingerie, dungeon furniture and a NAS set up to backup all my media.
Do they talk about wanting to go somewhere or do something? Perfect! Whether it’s a trip to the spa or a trip to the beach, experiences are precious and the memory doesn’t fade. I’ve been taken on trips, taken to events, done crazy things and had my spa trips paid for. Big or small, I’ve loved every experience.
Image (c) Forbes
I have violated the consent of others, likely so have you. I am an edge player, that means I coax my bottoms to test their own limits- I do not test them but I give them the opportunity to test themselves and the only guidelines I have for this are what my bottoms tell me is and isn’t okay: Verbally and otherwise. I choose to believe that people are responsible for themselves and their actions. That being said, I am incredibly manipulative and I’m pretty sure I could convince people to change some pretty fundamental things about themselves.
I like to break the rules, especially ones that I think give us a false sense of security: In the sex work community this means to always use references- I did that once and he was a man who nearly killed a woman in Texas. Of course he was. Why would a predator not have good references? Sadly, that is just assuming the best case scenario which would be that people are completely predictable and never change their behavior or attitude with a change of company; I would be a fool to believe that for a second.
When it comes to negotiation I almost never do it in such a way that anyone else would recognize as anything more than a conversation or a sharing of stories; In my professional and personal play, I rarely ask for hard limits in a direct, verbal and concise way but I do ask. Just not in ways that you would expect or often even notice. Often in my professional play people will ask me how I knew something, often something they didn’t even know about themselves. Because I choose my partners carefully and curate my experiences, almost all feedback has been positive. Unfortunately, perspective is fluid.
The last time I used explicit verbal consent for everything I did, I had invited the friend of my partner to join me on a work session which helped her out of a horrible situation. Everything I did with her I had talked about with her in as much detail as she would allow but in the end she gave me the answer “Check in with me during the scene and I will tell you if it’s okay.” I felt a little knot in the pit of my stomach when she said this and in retrospect, I should have trusted my instincts because months later I found out she had been telling everyone I knew that I raped her- Despite the fact that I asked her repeatedly before, during and after if something was okay. She of course said yes every time.
This destroyed me- Maybe 2 years before this happened, I was held down and raped by two of my friends at the time and that assault left me with permanent nerve damage in my arm. The idea that I had caused that kind of damage to another person made me want to die and I cried for a long time about it.
I confronted her as soon as I found out and she told me that “People are blowing things out of proportion.” I looked into her eyes and told her she needed to tell me if things were okay and she said yes. I kept hearing that I had damaged her and not only was there nothing I could do about it but she wouldn’t even acknowledge to me that it was a problem. This broke my trust in the words of people because I have seen time and time again that people will lie to get something they want, or to please you.
I’ve watched many people in the public eye become targeted because someone didn’t like that person and took to “the community” to get support for their cause. Yet, at the same time I have had someone who is currently an educator put me in harm’s way during a scene where he paid me to be a bondage model and when I raised concerns he responded by saying “This is how we do it at my organization.” and to make matters worse, when I told him after the fact that I would never play with him again and why he said “Hmm.. I understand how you might feel that way.” I remember it 5 years later because it is the reason I stopped bottoming and the reason I stopped doing pick up play, period. Worse yet, I only got an apology when the leader of said organization spoke to this individual and he didn’t even remember it. At best, this means that was standard operating procedure for him.
The worst part is that this person is allowed to continue getting away with being careless because people consider him “absent minded” or “kind of a hillbilly.” This scares the shit out of me because it means that at the end of the day the only thing that stands between being an idiot and someone who shouldn’t be allowed to rig or an accident and a rape- Is perspective and popular opinion.
Who in their right mind would be willing to be involved in any community where that kind of hypocrisy and blatant favoritism are looked up to as “protecting” anyone? Back when I was raped and assaulted, I got ostracized from my community and thrown out because when I cried to my best friend about what had happened she told everyone and they accused me of trying to “ruin his reputation.” You know what though? I talked to him too and you know what he said to me? “Hmm.. I understand how you might feel that way.” Yet because he got more people to yell about how “crazy” and “malicious” I was, I nearly killed myself. No one asked me what happened, they assumed without information and it was the worst thing that ever happened to me.
Personally, I would be a fool to put my career and my life’s passion in the hands of people who are treating a popularity contest like a trial. Yes, I believe victims but I don’t believe in stringing people up in front of a crowd and destroying their reputations without giving them a chance to fix it. If that is your idea of “protecting victims” then I don’t want to be any where near you because you could easily turn on me if I don’t give you what you want.
In closing, you can paint a giant red C on anyone you like but that doesn’t make the people you call “friends” any better than them. We all make mistakes and if you don’t give people a chance to fix them, you are doing something way worse than harming any one, two, three or even ten individuals. You are creating a system that encourages people to rig the popularity game in order to get away with hurting others- You are creating a hunting ground for predators with any reputation because we all are taught to “hold educators/etc to a higher standard.”
Nicely done, folks. People like you are the reason that people like me get violently raped, that escorts get killed because of a good reference, that minorities get abused by the powers that be and that outsiders choose to end it all and sometimes take others with them. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.
-Ruby Enraylls
PS. If I have harmed you in any way, I would really appreciate it if you contacted me directly so that I can fix it or at least give you an apology.
If you know me, it’s no secret that I’ve been kinky effectively since I could walk. Previously, I’ve just accepted this as my reality and left it at that but recently I’ve begun thinking about my influences and how they shaped who I am and what I like. Today I’m going to share a few of my influences and what I liked about them.
I think it was the display of power that I was so attracted to; Xenia lures men into a place where they think they’re safe and in control (typically, they would be right as men are often the dominant players in sexual interactions) and then she absolutely turns the tables on them when not only are they least expecting it but they’ve let their guard down. I love the trickery and seduction that is put into such an interaction and I love that she gets off on it even more. In retrospect, I think what really stood out to me about Xenia was that she was a woman; Previously I had only seen men get off on taking control and power.
Okay so, Xena is really campy, I’ll admit that. However, that doesn’t make Xena any less powerful in her world; She kicks ass with reckless abandon, travels on her own, saves men and women from bad guys and seduces men to get what she wants. (Obviously, there is going to be a theme of women using their sexuality to control men here and that says a lot about me.) GO AHEAD, tell me that isn’t empowering?! Sure, she’s a sex object but she chooses to be a sex object because wearing leather is badass and being sexy while you kill demons is fucking cool. I think she only gets saved by a man once or twice and then she almost immediately turns the tables and saves them from an even worse fate. I’m sure I could find many flaws in Xena and probably rip her power to shreds but when I first saw her, that was not what I was thinking about. Honestly, I was too busy being in awe of her kicking ass and taking names in a metal push up bra at the tender age of 6.
First and foremost, I’m fucking weird.
I think I must have found bondage pictures some where when I was a kid because I was forever trying to figure out how to tie up a Barbie with a hog tie (it’s really hard, guys) and when I finally became aware that BDSM was a thing people did, I already knew two and single column ties as well as diamond harnesses and chest harnesses. I’m confident that my preoccupation with power and control is largely influenced by the media I’ve talked about in this post but there’s some information that I just really have no idea where it came from. What I do know is that my biggest fetish is absolutely power exchange and everything that I’m interested in seems to become vastly more interesting when I realize that there’s a power element. Given the influences that I have, that absolutely makes sense.
So I guess the moral of the story is if you don’t want your children to grow up to be kinksters, don’t let them look at BDSM furry porn on the internet. Or Animal Planet, that was bad for me too.
I love my job. There’s such a thrill that comes along with meeting someone new and unknown for bdsm play. What role will he want to play? Will he like me? Will we get along? Will we connect well during play? It completes me like nothing else but it is a hardship at times. To be a dominatrix, a cam girl, an escort or any other kind of sex worker takes the strength to take on the deepest desires and darkest fantasies of a stranger and to make their wildest dreams come true without devaluing, compromising and destroying yourself. to do that well takes an immense amount of strength and the willingness to be vulnerable.
Let me get one thing straight, I am not being paid to be a hole. I am being paid to be myself and use my own passions to make the fantasies of others come true. By coming out and saying “this is who I am. I’m kinky as hell, I like watching others enjoy themselves and even though we don’t know if we have chemistry, I’m willing to accept money to meet you and take the chance that you aren’t going to rape, kill, stalk, harass or otherwise try to hurt me.”
Every part of that statement is a challenge in and of itself and on a day to day basis I don’t know how I manage to trust the world so much to accept so much of who I am and more surprisingly still, to want to spend time with me so badly that they’ll pay me for the experience.
The days that I expose the most of myself are the days that I excel the most and the days that my clients and friends enjoy the most and knowing that gives me the strength to keep allowing new people to see very intimate sides of me.
Who am I intimately anyways? We all wear disguises in some shape so that we can avoid being hurt but what kind of things are lurking underneath that?
On the exterior, I’m strong, I’m focused but goofy, I’m eager to watch other enjoy themselves and sometimes off the cuff things fall out of my mouth.
Under that… I like causing pain and I love watching people want me.. desire my touch and crave more of me. But it’s complicated because although I love to please, I love to deny even more. To watch my victim squirm uncomfortably with delight and disappointment. Sometimes it’s hard to keep them on the hook after saying no but that’s my favorite part.
Sometimes, I’m insecure like most people. I fear that I’m over valuing myself and driving other away because of that. I’m worried that I’m not good enough, skilled enough, competent enough or intelligent enough to pull off the plans I’m trying to release to the world. Although I have this uncanny ability to just make things work and some weird sort of luck/magic seems to follow me where ever I go. Maybe I’m just really good at handling crisis/stressful situations. That must be it; Sometimes I act like a total tit in a social situation and I shove my foot in my mouth while being a complete ass. Sometimes literally. Yet I manage to be suave enough to not absolutely abhor most people. Despite the fact that these situations I create embarrass and horrify me, I can’t seem to stop doing them. Regardless of whether or not I’ve had something to drink.
Deepest of all… I’m afraid that I’ll become a spinster who gets emotional and social fixes from work instead of reaching out to other people. Work is easier. Want to know why? I know the other people involved like me, at least a bit. If they don’t, I don’t hear from them and that’s that. Rejection is scary because still at some base level, my value as a person is tied up in the approval of others.
But you know what? It doesn’t have to be. I’m imperfect and I’m okay with that.
What really counts? I try. I give life and experiences as much as I can and then I push myself a little bit harder and that makes me proud, even when I fail miserably.