I read a piece on the web recently where a pro-domme was talking about her work. She was asked if she'd ever been on the receiving end of the type of punishments she routinely gives. She said she had not and didn't feel it necessary - part of her argument was that a brain surgeon does not need to have had his own brain operated on in order to do his job. My first reaction was that it's a pretty silly thing to say and that it's not, in any sense, a useful analogy. Many pro-dommes have been active as subs at one time or another - I could name several. Even some domes who were never really active in the scene as subs have had some experience, for example if you look at the material on the web produced by the redoubtable and slightly scary Cassie Hunter (Cassie Canes, Montrose Academy etc.) you would form the impression that she is 100% domme and it's hard to imagine her ever being a sub. However, if you explore far enough, you can find (try FullForce Spanking...) three rare clips of Cassie being punished. Admittedly these are all just OTK spanking scenes and mostly only using a hand (although she does get a gymshoe across her shorts in one scene) and are well short of the severity of the thrashings she administers to males with straps and canes in the main body of her work. Clearly there are also some on the scene who switch, so they may get regular reminders of what it feels like.
So the first question is, does it enable a domme to do their job better if they've experienced - or do experience - what the physical and emotional effects are on the receiving end? Given that I am more concerned with writing CP fiction I guess the same question can be applied to CP authors - should they have first hand experience of giving and/or receiving? I think the answer is probably yes in both cases. There are so many stories on the web that are supposedly factual reminiscences - quite often there are aspects of those which trigger doubts for someone who's had personal experience as they stray more into fantasy. It follows that when writing fiction it is easier to gain authenticity when you have first hand experience.
So the first question is, does it enable a domme to do their job better if they've experienced - or do experience - what the physical and emotional effects are on the receiving end? Given that I am more concerned with writing CP fiction I guess the same question can be applied to CP authors - should they have first hand experience of giving and/or receiving? I think the answer is probably yes in both cases. There are so many stories on the web that are supposedly factual reminiscences - quite often there are aspects of those which trigger doubts for someone who's had personal experience as they stray more into fantasy. It follows that when writing fiction it is easier to gain authenticity when you have first hand experience.