Hey guys! I am looking forward to taking you through some of the places that I have found. I must apologize because my autoethnography is not up yet—to make a long story short, I am waiting for my hard drive to be fixed and returned to me. As I had said in class, my final project stems from my autoethnography and a few of the blogs that I have written about my experience in SL trying to learn how to become a dominiatrix (you can check out those blogs to get an idea of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing: hb291101.wordpress.com). My autoethnography is a video journal of my exploration of places in SL that cater to S&M. I talk about how I feel in each context and what my fears are when observing other avatars or attempting to experience what they experience. I also talk about my reluctance to ask questions in those environments and my fear of what other people think about me, and finally whether my desire to become a domme in SL is really a true desire within me. So that’s my autoethnograohy, in a nutshell…

For my final project, I will explore the difference between those who engage in domme practice in SL as only avatars and those who are SL dommes and also dommes in real life. For those who are only dommes in SL, did they study S&M culture? Is it a fetish? Would they ever do it in real life? What is stopping them from doing it in real life? What are the constraints in real life that lead them to only having this as a fantasy, or is it real to them? Does it satisfy a need or desire unfulfilled in Real Life?

For those who are also dommes in Real Life, why do they also engage in Second Life? Do they get business in Real Life based on how they treat their “subs” in second life? Can they successively carry out the same actions in SL that they can in Real Life? Is it satisfying? Do they have clients that are the same in Real Life and Second Life? Do they worry about clients who claim to be true subs but are just fooling around on the other side? Is there an online screening process for subs? How did they decide to dress?

As you can see, there are a lot of questions I have, and maybe I should only stick to those who are dommes in only Second Life OR those who are dommes in both. What do you think?

I haven’t really done much more than observe and check out dungeons and domme playlands, so maybe once I start asking more questions I’ll be able to tell which is more feasible, or if both are.

I get out notecards and teleport you. And also try to get bondage cuffs for those who want them ha ha.

See you tomorrow in Second Life,

Helen aka Lady Hendrassen