Got a burning question? Something BDSM-related that you’ve always wondered about or perhaps something you’ve wanted to ask me but wasn’t quite sure how? Now’s your chance. You can email me directly (AskMTO at TroyOrleans dotcom) or, if you prefer, ask me anonymously over on Formspring. I’ll pick the ones that most interest me and answer them here.
You practice seems to be evolving quite a bit – more leather, ‘trixy kind of themes, shorter sessions, etc. This feels like a departure from your past. What’s driving the change?
It seems that with your updated site you’re bringing some significant changes – more photos of you (thank you), a more dommey spin to things, and shorter sessions. Why the shift in image and approach to the game?
These two questions came in about a month apart, though I suspect they may have been submitted by the same person. If not, someone has a (slow) twin.
The shorter sessions option was just because I want more corporal clients. I was talking with Mistress Wynter last summer about corporal sessions and she was raving about all the guys who’d come see her for just an hour of straight up corporal. A few masochists who’ve contacted me in the past have balked at the two hour minimum so I decided to offer a one hour, corporal only scene and see what the response was like. So far? Crickets. Which is really, really disappointing. What does a domme hafta do to find a man to whip in this town?!?
The saddest part is that I suspect the reason why serious masos don’t take me seriously as a corporal top is because I don’t have any bloody hamburger ass pictures on my site. Ironically, I think that’s what makes me a really good corporal top: that I can give you a serious beating that you will feel, relish, and lament for days but I won’t leave any significant/”permanent” marks. Last summer, one of my play partners wrote an incredible review of my corporal skills on Max Fisch. 1200+ views later and still no maso clients. Then again, I suppose any half-decent domme out there can beat the shit outta someone, more or less, but the bondage artists are a fading breed in this town.
As for “more leather,” “more ‘trixy themes,” and “more dommey spin to things” … I dunno. When asking some of my play partners for feedback on my site, one of the common replies was, “The site needs to show what you DO” and “You need more pictures of you.” So when redesigning it, one of my priorities was to show more photos of my scenes and of me. I am not a visual person. I like words, not images. And, personally, I do not understand how a photo of me in a corset — which there’s about a 10% chance you’ll actually see in a session with me — is more compelling or evocative or, ugh, business generating than a picture of someone in some heavy duty leather bondage. But this site isn’t for me. It’s for you. And y’all like pictures. Google Analytics confirms this. Highest traffic page on my blog? The MTO Gallery. Second highest? What Yes Looks Like Gallery. Next is the blog. Bless your predictable li’l hearts.
But, really, I haven’t changed. I’m just being a teensy more accommodating in my dotage. Fancy that. Or at least appreciate it.
The “beat me til I’m bloody” session would never work for me. Some corporal is great as a warm up but that is usually enough for me. I much prefer a longer session where I connect mentally with a domme (the Mind F–K if you like). Tie me up, tie me down and play with me and I’ll be in happy subspace!
I think you have typo in the blog above. In the part about the chance of seeing you in a corset, didn’t you forget to put in a . ? Between the 1 and the 0? 🙂
Just my two cents, but the reason that a picture of you in a corset is more compelling than a picture of someone in some heavy duty leather bondage is two fold. 1) You look spectacular in the corset, and men like fantasizing they’ll get to see it. 2) “Someone” in a heavy duty leather bondage isn’t a picture of you in a corset, so there’s a definite let-down.
Seriously though, the dominatrix in a corset kind of shot is a world of imagination for me. You can do about anything to me from there. It fires me, it’s a beginning point, like the classic shot of the dominatrix pointing at her shoe. You kneel, it begins. And though I’m not a foot/shoe worship guy, the symbolism is there. On the other hand, the heavy bondage is an end point. It is where someone gets to. At best perhaps a mid point. I can experience *that* yes, but (and maybe this is because I’m not a very big bondage fan) I don’t look at it and dream about the possibilities that come from that, but just the possibility *of* that. Does that make sense?
Oh, and corporal… you know how to enjoy hurting a man. There is definitely no doubt about it. And I really appreciate that about you 😉