Dominance. It’s been a theme that keeps ringing ’round, turning up at my stoop. To begin, when I first moved to Boca, I was invited to join a new book club that was in its infancy; I missed the first meeting, but I learned quickly enough that the group was eclectic, interesting, nice even!, but especially hardcore. While whips and strap on leather gag balls aren’t involved yet, the group is closed, not open to new members unless someone drops out, and there’s a courtesy gag order designed to discourage side conversations during meetings. It’s not an S&M club; they don’t, for example, permit book selections upward of four-hundred pages (I have a hard time committing to an entire magazine, so it truly would be my petite torture). More members than not will arrive to the meeting often having read not just the selection of the month, but the entire series following.

The book selection this month was 50 Shades of Gray, a Soft Porn “O” Pick (not to be confused with Oprah and her Multiple “Aha Orgasms” or “Aha O’s”, about a woman who chooses a sexual relationship with a man with a predilection for dominance (think of James Spader in Secretary. Also, think of a riding crop smacking a clitoris into submission). There’s also these choice turns of phrase to consider: “the length of him,” “cupping my sex,” and the truly gag-worthy, “I shatter into a million pieces.” The novel is littered with cliched writing, for sure, but the plot pushes you through it, waiting for a surprise, something worthy of the build and text foreplay. My point is, dominance and it’s lady partner submission are top of mind these days. (Now that I’ve finished the first of the E.L. James Trilogy, read my thoughts here)

Next stop: A Dangerous Method, a film about the relationship between Freud and Jung. Keira Knightley, a patient, gets wet at the thought of being caned. Honestly, if only I could matchmaker my way through film and books. That’s not a bad idea actually. I’m going to play at that.

Now I’m off to see Albert Nobbs, hoping to distract myself from my own thoughts of dominance and submission and how they turn up in my own life, over and again.