Friday, May 20, 2016

Fairness and The "Value" of Femdom - my Crazy Brain's Fun with Numbers

At times I feel like I'm being torn in many different directions in my head.  When I've taken personality tests I always end up as some weird inconclusive hybrid, having two opposites vying for the lead, or end up falling directly on dividing lines that are supposed to separate different types.

My rational, logical, strong side is what I generally show to the outside world.
My sensitive, intuitive, feeling side is what I save for those special to me.

I don't know if either one is better, but each have strengths and weaknesses.  When looking at the benefits of the D/s lifestyle I try to take the broad and long view as well as the benefits for individual parties involved.  Thankfully, the different aspects of myself come to the same conclusion, but for different reasons.  In the end, having both perspectives tends to provide more "evidence" for that conclusion than just one reason or the other.

Blogging about D/s pulls me in different directions as well.  I write from several different voices.  There's the unbiased educator, the female supremacist, the dedicated lover, the male submissive, and the fetish-laden sissy slave.  I still always end up coming to the same conclusions, just for different reasons.

A blog I recently started reading had a good discussion about fairness in FLR's and how they were inherently unfair to subs.  From an emotional and psychological standpoint, I don't think there's anything wrong with this at all since it meets the needs and desires of both parties, even if the process of meeting needs seems tilted in the Domme's favor.  This could be explained rationally as well, but if delving into the realm of cold, hard, numbers, I'm taking it for a deeper test-drive.

Working from a rational point of view, fairness in "who does the work" vs. "who reaps the benefit" is only really applicable here if the "value" provided by each side were of equal value. Making a case for each side then becomes a question of attempting to place a value on the services rendered by Domme and sub.  Love is priceless, and will not be counted in this measure.

The sub:
Assuming a Domme uses a sub as a houseboy, being in charge of chores, domestic duties, outdoor labor, sexual pleasure, chauffeur, and an amateur masseuse/pedicurist/etc.

Unless the sub has had professional level training in a specific field, they are pretty much a jack of all trades, master of none.  This also assumes that there will be a balance of services that are worth more than and less than minimum wage, e.g. landscaping pays more than minimum wage, folding laundry and putting it away, not so much.  It's also tough to put a figure on something that is worth more, since they won't be doing it for 40+ hours a week.  Essentially, a sub become a handy-man, and you can estimate his services to be worth minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour.  Put up an ad for a live-in handyman to perform tasks in a Femdom environment for salaried minimum wage, and there would be no shortage of applicants willing to do so.

Since a replacement sub could be hired for that amount, for all intents and purposes, a 24-7 sub's services can be valued at approximately:
$7.25 an hour
$290 weekly
$1257 avg per month
$15,080 yearly

The value of a sub's sexual contributions: $0.  Women don't have to pay for sex if they want it.

The Domme:
Domination, on the other hand, is quite expensive.  The average pro Dominatrix makes $200-300 an hour, with more skilled/renowned ones making even more.  For this example, I will round down to $200 an hour.

At this rate, it takes 1 hour and 27 minutes of domination play per week for the value of a Domme's services to equal that of a sub's.

Looking at the broader perspective, assume a 24-7 D/s relationship with both parties working full-time.  This leaves an average of 8 hours of Dominance per weekday and 16 hours per weekend day, and 72 hours per week.
$200 an hour
$14,400 weekly ($17,600 if taking time and half OT into account)
$62,400 avg per month ($76,267 with OT)
$748,800 yearly ($915,200 with OT)

At this rate, ignoring OT, it would take roughly 50 years of service for a sub to exceed the value of 1 year of 24-7 lifestyle Femdom.

I'm sure there are skeptics going, "hold on here, not all of the hours spent together are worth $200 an hour!"  That is probably true, but this will vary heavily upon individual subs.  For some, the mental "slave" environment is enough to justify some value.  Hell, Femdom phone sex providing a female voice and slave environment fantasy would run at least $120 an hour, so let's assume the "half on" time where mental factors are present aren't that big of a dropoff.  Key-holding services for chastity belts run ~$25 a week.

I'll quit nitpicking and let us assume a situation where the "worthy of $200 domination" happens 1 hour per day during the week, and 2 hours a day on the weekends, for a total of 9 hours a week.  This yields:
$1,800 weekly
$7,800 avg per month
$93,600 yearly

In this case, it would only take the sub 6 years 2 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days of service to equal the value of 1 year of 9 hours a week domination play.

Oh, the poor sub, he has to do all the chores, cooking, and cleaning.  He has to sexually pleasure his Mistress with no reward for himself.  He has to obey her and be at her beck and call.  Is this really unfair?  Even if EVERYTHING favors the Domme, that doesn't come even close to offsetting the value difference of services provided. In terms of value, she's actually getting screwed on the deal no matter what.

Food for thought.  It would be interesting to have a "buyout" value on a D/s contract done up in this way.

p.s. The cost of therapy to try to eliminate or at least cope with the need for domination is still around $200 an hour.

2 comments:

  1. Only you would come up with this economic outlook fur. You do crack me up with your "crazy" brain. Loved your "p.s."

    ReplyDelete