SAVAGE LOVE

MOVIES/ SAVAGE LOVE Femdom culture gets an airing in A Wicked Eden

by Charlie Smith

Sometimes, it takes a documentary to make you realize that there are some fundamental changes taking place in society. is is certainly the case with A Wicked Eden, a 96-minute examination of femdom culture that’s available online at the Whistler Film Festival until December 31. Calgary director Naddine Madell centres her lm around Goddess Alexandra Snow, a veteran fetish-video-content creator who’s also known as Domina Snow to her paying clients.

“I’m going to break you into the smallest little pieces and reassemble you as something else entirely,” Snow sneers to pulsating music near the beginning of the lm.

But rather than being a highly sexualized and erotic journey into dominance and submission, A Wicked Eden is more about the everyday practicalities of creating fetish videos, as well as a how-to manual for anyone considering entering this industry. Snow’s commanding presence anchors the documentary, but the lm is also populated by several other dommes, a couple of male slaves, a lmmaker, an editor, and a clinical psychologist named Susan Writer, who each provide their own insights.

Writer points out that femdom “creates a space where there’s no judgment”.

“ ere’s no shame or blame,” the psychologist declares. “ at’s the sexiest place you can be.”

Later in the lm, Writer says that functional magnetic resonance imaging has revealed that those with fetishes experience the same type of dopamine bursts from seeing the object of their desire as when seeing a romantic partner. Yet according to Writer, it’s still unclear what causes fetishes to emerge, notwithstanding anecdotal stories that try to explain this phenomenon.

One of the dommes interviewed, Princess Rene, says that the online world of fetishes has exploded in recent years. Nothing seems too weird—there are clown fetishes, fart fetishes, wedgie fetishes, and balloon-popping fetishes, she notes.

“I think probably before the last decade, somebody with a fetish really wanted to be closeted,” Princess Rene says.

Seattle resident Raevyn Rose (left) receives fetish-content advice from Goddess Alexandra Snow in A Wicked Eden.

It was taboo. It was weird. Now it’s just all over. It’s so popular—it’s kind of amazing.

– Domme Princess Rene

“It was taboo. It was weird. Now it’s just all over. It’s so popular—it’s kind of amazing.” is, of course, has led to nancial opportunities for women who cater to these desires. One domme, Sara DiAvola, discloses that she entered the business a er learning she could sell used panties online. Another one, Princess Meggerz, reveals with a laugh that she was attracted to this industry because she is a bitch in real life.

“I didn’t care,” Princess Meggerz says. “I just wanted the money.” ere’s also a lengthy segment, lmed in Vancouver, featuring Snow training her protégé, Seattle resident Raevyn Rose, on how to become a successful content creator for submissive men. No matter what, Snow advises, put your face in the shot as o en as possible. at’s because this is what the audience is interested in seeing.

Snow also teaches her student to never go beyond her comfort level, no matter how much money she might be o ered. In fact, Snow says, “I’m no longer interested in teaching someone only motivated by money.”

But who is Goddess Alexandra Snow? Madell’s lm goes a way toward answering that question, thanks to a revealing interview with Snow’s half-sister Sierra. Somehow, the dominatrix managed to transcend a very di cult childhood to take control over her life. is is one of the fascinating aspects of A Wicked Eden, which is named a er the dungeon that Snow created with her former husband. In fact, it’s not always easy telling close family members that you make your living by creating femdom video content.

Snow was able to make inroads with her sister when she talked about the science behind domination and submission.

“It helped me a lot,” Sierra says.

Another practitioner of femdom, Astro Domina, recalls preparing for the big reveal for her father and brother. It turned out that her brother already knew for three years what she had been doing to earn a living. Fortunately, her father responded in a loving way, telling her that it didn’t matter.

Where the lm isn’t as strong is in revealing what draws some men to crave the escape that femdom provides them. e takeaway from A Wicked Eden is that those who create femdom video content are regular people, just like the rest of us. And some of them, like Goddess Alexandra Snow, are very good at what they do. g

Fetishist’s straight status battles with kink urges

by Dan Savage

b I’M EXTREMELY KINKY, with an emphasis on extreme. To give an example, I love long-term and extremely restrictive bondage. ink full-body casts or getting locked up for an entire weekend.

I’m a 32-year-old straight male who has been married for ve years. In the last year, we opened up our marriage because my sexual desires were putting too much of a strain on the marriage. My wife is incredible, and we do many wonderful kinky things together, but I needed more. More frequency, more intensity.

Since then, I’ve seen some other women, but looking around I came to the realization that gay men have all the fun! I o en see these incredibly intense sexual experiences that I so desire in amateur gay porn or on various gay men’s fetish pro les. I think men have a higher propensity to pursue these kinds of things.

I’ve been talking to a guy who shares a very similar set of kinks, and it’s been great. He showed me Recon, which has opened a whole new world up to me. I’m struggling right now. It’s like a battle between my identity as a kinkster/fetishist and my identity as straight. I think the former is going to win, but certain things concern me. I don’t know if I’ll feel repulsed to have, say, a dick in my mouth. And I don’t want the poor guy that I play with to have to deal with my own internal psychological drama.

I grew up in a very rural area that was extremely homophobic. I was bullied and called a faggot constantly. I’ve just recently been feeling less shame about being kinky and now there’s this whole other level of shame that I am scared to contend with. Am I silly for considering doing stu with men even though I’m a lot more attracted to women, just in order to ful ll these kinks?

Dan advises a straight kinkster struggling with a desire to engage with men to set limits. “I felt very much in this person’s shoes at one point in my life,” said bondage-porn star James “Heavy” Woelfel.

Just like you, BOUND, Heavy was always turned on by extremely heavy bondage scenarios. at was the reason he chose “Heavy Bondage For Life” as his porn name. And just like you, BOUND, Heavy once felt con icted about getting tied by other men because he didn’t identify as gay or bisexual at the time.

“I was really worried that if I played with men that meant my identity had to change too,” said Heavy, looking back at that time in his life. “But seeking out other genders to play with doesn’t necessarily have to change your identity.”

Heavy’s identity ultimately did change—he now identi es as queer—but he wants you to know that your identity