Thursday, August 12, 2010

Public Humiliation: The Dunce Cap


The Dunce Cap has a long and interesting origin as a form of public humiliation.  During medieval times the Dunce Cap was originally used by a group of scholars led by John Duns Scotus, who's followers were known as duns, or dunsmen.  The conically shaped dunce cap was intended to absorb knowledge through the point and funnel it down to the wearer.  During the Renaissance period, this idea was eventually proven to be wrong.


One of the early uses of the Dunce Cap as a form of humiliation occurred during the Spanish Inquisition.  Individuals accused of heresy would be forced to wear them in public as a way of being marked.  This practice continued in schools and the term Dunce soon came to be synonymous with being an idiot or someone who is a slow learner.

My first Mistress began using "silly" hats in conjunction with corner time as a form of punishment very early on in my foray into the D/s lifestyle as an added humiliation and a symbol that I was being punished.  My second Mistress incorporated silly hats as a standard uniform since she thought I was better off feeling that type of humiliation all the time rather than just during punishments (I had told her about my previous experiences).  

I know there are many Dommes and subs out there that believe in corner time as punishment and I was curious if anyone employed things like these as a standard practice.

I know I've already posted this picture once before but I felt it was applicable.  My first Mistress thought this was the perfect Dunce Cap for a fur sissy. 

Poll results so far

Thanks to everyone who has been voting on the polls.  Even if you don't post any comments it at least gives me some ideas about the views of those who are reading here.

The results on the chastity and forced fem polls got me thinking a bit about just who is reading here.

The chastity poll results shocked me a bit seeing that > 70% have voted for regularly or all the time.  I didn't expect it to be quite so lopsided.

The forced fem poll wasn't all that shocking in its results so far except I didn't expect it to be quite so balanced.  I guess it shows that people have fairly unique reasons for sissification.

The results also give me the sneaking suspicion that a good number of those who have voted so far are women.  If that is the case it makes me quite happy to know that what I write has some appeal to both men and women.  It made me curious enough to add a few new polls. 

Now that my blog is several months old one thing I've noticed is the absence of the men who use the term "WLM" instead of "Femdom" to describe a Female Dominant D/s relationship that seem to visit here even though I've posted quite a few comments on blogs of this nature.

A big thank you to everyone who has voted and reads/comments here.

Soooooo burned out

We have a lot going on right now and my stress level is through the roof.  These are the kinds of times where I usually need D/s the most as it reduces my stress level by a wide margin (or at least turns it into a more fun kind of stress) but due to our work schedules things just aren't coinciding very well, sometimes limited to 20-40 minutes of time together on a given day.

If anyone has any ideas for things they would like me to write about or discuss I'm open to suggestions. 

Thinking about specific subjects really helps to free my mind from the grind.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Another Case of Humiliation in the Mind

I've written a few posts about humiliation stemming mostly in the mind.  That feeling that "everyone knows" creep into the back of the mind causing the pulse to race and blood pressure to rise, paranoia and nervousness leading to even more conspicuous behavior... it's quite a strange rush.

Something that always made me timid and terrified was when Mistress would force me to bring an item along in order to find matching items.  As you may know, there's about 23948023849230483 shades of pink.  One time I might be ordered to carry around a pair of pink panties in my pocket in order to find a matching pair of stockings.  Another time it might be a pink hat in my pocket to find a pair of matching mittens.  Or a pink sweater on under another shirt and my coat that I would have to compare to other items.  Every time I would be unable to speak and get very agitated.  I'm a gift-giver so buying women's items is never a big deal... unless they were intended to be worn by me. 

The sad thing is that my behavior would shift in this way, making me very conspicuous.  While I wanted to be left alone, barely pulling a corner of the item out of my pocket to match it up with an item on the rack, this made me look like a shoplifter and I almost always had sales girls hanging around watching me like a hawk.  Mistress would usually let me sweat it out for several minutes until she would finally come over and say something like "oh those are cute!" and that would free me up from the constant inquiries.  If I tried to shy away at that point she would say something like "why don't we ask her to come over and give her opinion on it?" to tease me and push me to deeper level of subspace. 

While nothing ever happened I found this as strong evidence that much of humiliation does lie solely in the mind (although it can definitely span well beyond the mind as well).  Mistress would tease me even more on the way home with lines like "she knew those were really for you." 

Defunct sissy Apparel - Boot Loot: modular boot accessories

Several years ago when the forced sissification aspects of my life were getting more intense, Mistress' plan was to start accumulating some boots for me that would make me look whorish.  As I'm guessing is often the case with many who have been in my shoes (literally) either by choice or by force, wide feet and muscular calves just don't mix with tall boots.  There were boots out there manufactured with TV's, CD's, etc. in mind but most of these were trying to be too sexy and they just weren't "sissy" enough for what Mistress wanted.  The task of tracking down said items was often placed in my hands.  I would be ordered to find something that I knew would meet her approval.

In around 2005 it was during one of these searches that I stumbled across "Boot Loot."  The website has been down for years but much of it still remains intact on web archive search engines.  The original product from Boot Loot was fur cuffs on a foot-less nylon stocking that were meant to be worn to add fur trim/cuffs to plain boots rather than having to buy a new pair of boots just for the trim.  The idea was very practical and creative, considering you could mix and match and accessorize different color combinations on different items.


Basically, every pair of boots for me could be made more humiliating.  We got a few pairs for Mistress as well in varying colors that would match her furs and fur accessories.  All in all, the products only remained around for two years and it was disappointing that we weren't able to get more of their products, especially to match all of Mistress' coats.  Their other products included fur-accented leg warmers and boot chains.


The original story behind Boot Loot is here:
It's amazing how far a person can get on a sore toe - all the way to a major fashion hit, in the case of Charlene Bry of Ladue.

Three years ago, Bry had an aching toe from dropping her tennis racket on it. She needed a pair of glam boots with frou-frou tops to wear to a social event, but her sore toe couldn't take the squeeze of a new pair. The only boots that felt comfortable were her plain old untrendy ones.

"There ought to be a way to attach different types of cuffs to your own comfy boots," Bry mused to herself as she limped off to a party.

Well, girlfriend, take a look at what's flying off the shelves at Famous-Barr, Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom! Fox, rabbit and faux fur cuffs attached to pairs of footless stockings so they can be worn interchangeably, according to whim, with whatever's in a woman's shoe collection. They were manufactured in China by a factory with business ties to Bry's company, Boot Loot. The company also has a warehouse here and a patent pending.

John Bailey, a spokesman for Nordstrom, said the company sold out of the boot cuffs at stores here and in Chicago over Christmas. He called Bry's boot accessories "unique, one of a kind."

Bry herself sounds pleased but not particularly surprised at the success of her creation.

"I know women want these," she said. "It's like thee and thou - we understand each other."

Either because she once worked as a fashion model or because she has lived in Ladue for two decades, Charlene Bry has a deep understanding of the joys of dressing up and going out on the town.

She has a knack for inventing saleable notions that market to a woman's craving for glamour and the sense of self-assurance it imparts. Her first venture was the Ladue News, a party and fashion rag that she and her son, Richie Bry Jr., founded in 1984. A cozy, affectionate look at the doings of Ladue's social sets, it became a local must-read.

Bry sold the paper in 1999 and started working on a history of Ladue, a place that is a natural home to her, although she grew up in Clayton and University City as Charlene Sherman.

She earned a degree from Washington University, modeling to pay some of her expenses. She married Richie Bry, moved to Iowa with him for a time and then, as Bry's career as a sports agent took hold, the couple returned to the St. Louis area and settled in Ladue. They subsequently divorced.

But Bry had found a personal and commercial niche. The tastes and stylistic imperatives of the Ladue crowd have shaped her thinking the way the Bill of Rights underlays a constitutional lawyer's.

Her current creation got into production about six months ago when she paid local designer Jan Brodsky to develop a few prototypes.

Bry got fur bits from the Fur and Leather Centre on Lindbergh Boulevard, developed some faux fur options, and took her samples to the head buyer for the May Companies to ask her opinion.

"And - boom - I had my first customer," Bry reports.

Finding someone to link her to a Chinese factory was the next hurdle. Then she set up a distribution system and a Web site (www.boot-loot.com). She has done most of her own advertising and modeling.

Now she waits to see whether her toehold on the world of fashion will last.

"I think the demand will keep on," she said. "A woman puts on a pair and it's like a complete makeover. It's transforming. Women want that."


Somehow I doubt the intent was to provide a humiliating add-on for sissy apparel but it did a terrific job.  Mistress ended up with a pair of black ones, grey ones, dark red, dark purple, and leopard print.  I ended up with white and some pink.  Near the end of their run they ended up getting clearanced out at a few major department stores for like $3 a pair.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Dream Bondage Device - Chastity Alarm

It's been a while since I wrote about a bondage device that showed up in a dream of mine but this one came to mind when I was writing some replies to comments.

The device that showed up in a few of my dreams is a chastity alarm.  These dreams usually revolved around situations involving a Lesbian Dominant with a primary favored female submissive and a male as the secondary and inferior submissive. 

I can draw some sketches if people request that but at the same time I tend to enjoy the exercise of visualizing something based upon a textual description.  Everyone seems to come up with their own unique interpretation and that is often way more fun than spoiling it with a drawing.

The chastity alarm is an add-on to most standard chastity cages.  If you are familiar with the CB-2000/3000/6000 series or some similar metal cages, the chastity alarm is a small device that would attach to a thin snugly-fitting ring around the scrotum and a small cable would run through the chastity device's cock ring connecting it to the tip of the chastity cage.   While a chastity device of this nature can prevent a sub from obtaining an erection, they cannot prevent a sub from attempting an erection.  If a sub's penis attempts to harden or flex, the cage portion will lift.  Upon lifting of the cage the cable connecting it to the tip of the cage will tug and trigger a small spring-loaded hammer, making it hit a chime and emit a bell-like sound.  The hammer and chime are encased in a small capsule that cannot be tampered with or muted.  The alarm could not be removed without removal of both the cage and cock ring portions of the chastity device.

The resulting chime would signify that the sub was attempting to have an erection. 

While items like a KTB or the points of intrigue add-ons can prevent erection attempts, the chastity alarm is better suited for cases where a sub's erection attempts are prohibited but the ability to control arousal is placed solely in the sub's control. 

The situations where it surfaced in my dreams were where it was instructed that the sub was not to think of the Domme (or the female sub) in a sexual manner but then he was tormented with constant teasing and visual and psychological stimulation.  Each ding of the chastity alarm would be met with some form of punishment or recorded in order to be enacted at a future time. 

Please let me know if you would like any additional descriptions.