Portland Dominatrix History: The Kinkiest City In America (A Herstory)

Dominatrix holding a leather whip

I started out researching for this article, because I wanted to understand the history of the dominatrix, how it developed and the part that strong badass women have played in the history of the fabric of the city of Portland Oregon. This is going to be alot of nerding out on dominatrix history and info dumping, complete with rabbit holes, so be prepared.

My research took me all the way back to ancient Babylon. The temple of the Goddess Inanna (Ishtar), where ancient men who yearned to be dominated, to submit, to be desired would come and be able to serve dominant cis-women and trans women. In fact, the act of letting go of masculinity, all together to the point of living as female was highly admired and prized. Men were put in their rightful place, as servants to the femme goddess, and serving the female archetype, instead of exploiting and subjecting it. In my view, society works better when men give up power to the nurturing mother figure, getting pleasure as it's given to them and letting this expand to how they relate to existence itself. Ever wonder why we call her "mother earth"?

Female dominance continued to be celebrated and enjoyed, until it was pushed down with the rise of the male dominated Abrahamic religions. Though there were certainly dominant women, throughout the centuries for sure, Female dominance as a practice, doesn't show up again until the 1600s, perhaps as early as 1590. It started quietly and discreetly in brothels in London, where politicians were asking to be subjected to switches and birch brambles in an effort to make them more viral and to revisit their time as schoolboys. These became known as "flogging schools". Later by the mid 1700s, we have names such as Peg Woffington, Kitty Fischer, and Nancy Parsons. Then we finally have the famous Theresa Berkely, who actually came up with the Berkely Horse. A piece of furniture that someon could be tied to, leaving their bum ready for punishment.

Theresa Berkely and the Berkely Horse

Berkely died in 1836 and is credited with really birthing out the role of Dominatrix. It was seen as a safer alternative to brothel work. Men were showing up with no desire to just take what they wanted. They were showing up ready to show their bums and receive their punishments and allow the woman, to not be owned, but play as if she owns them. (the way it should be)

A great source to continue reading about this delicious art is The History & Arts Of The Dominatrix by Anne O. Nomis. https://historyofthedominatrix.com/ https://www.amazon.com/History-Arts-Dominatrix-Collectors/dp/0992701007 Make sure you have this one in your kink library.

But I wanted to know more about, specifically, the city of Portland. A city that that owes it's existence to kinky, horny people. At it's beginning as an american city, it was a place for the loggers, sailors and prospectors to come and get their freak on. I do have to pay tribute to the badass intelligent women, who attended to the flood of horny masses coming off the ships and logging teams. Until, actually recently, (recently being maybe 1960s) women weren't able to own anything or in any real way be able to command their own destiny. It wasn't even until 1974 that a woman was allowed to have a credit card. Women were seen as just a supporter and extra for their husbands, his property. Let's all take a moment to thank the gods there were some women, who just could not live like that.

Now, there are countless women, who deserve recognition, but some names became notorious and contributed to Portland's fabric and reputation.

The Three Sirens

The three women who ran Portland's underground scene in the mid and late 1800s.

Elizabeth Young AKA "Liverpool Liz" - ran a place called "The Senate"

Mary Cook - ran "The Ivy Green" Saloon and served as her own bouncer.

Nancy Boggs- Then there was Nancy Boggs. The other two women had political connections, but Nancy had an ingenious idea, after her brothel on W. Pine St, between 1st and 2nd was closed down and liquor prices became unmanageable. Portland was not as it is now. Only west of the Willamette was considered Portland of which Portland police had jurisdiction. East of the Willamette was East Portland, and north of that was Albina, all three different jurisdictions and none policed the Willamette, itself. So Nancy bought an old timber barge, had two stories built on it. One for a saloon and the top floor for rooms. The "floating bordello", right in the middle of the river, she flaunted her ability to have her own business and her own brothel right in front of the public and the police of the day, in 1880, when women did not do such things. She even had it painted bright green, imagine that, floating up and down the waterfront. Eventually, the Portland and the East Portland Police worked together and attempted to raid the floating brothel, but not before Nancy kept them off for a period with a steam hose. There was actually a musical about it. https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2022/05/sex-on-the-river-musical-recounts-story-of-infamous-portland-madam-pushing-beyond-myth-to-real-person.html&subscribed=auth0%7C697d1d0bdda45ac13e0bc3c0

Nancy Boggs' "Floating Boardello". a floating brothel https://offbeatoregon.com/2502b1007d.nancy-boggs-floating-bordello-688.120.html

The other notable woman that I just couldn't pass up was Leona "Little Rusty" Kronberg. Leona kept relations with the police and politicians of the day between the 50s and the 70s. She ran a brothel on the corner of 1st and Hooker in South Portland. She was safe, dating the Head of the Police Vice Squad, until 1971, when she was indicted and charged with prostitution. According to sources, she continued in her favorite profession until she was in her 80s. Get it girl!!

Picture of Leona "Little Rusty" hanging downstairs at Mcmennemins Chrystal Hotel https://www.mcmenamins.com/crystal-hotel

Though professional dominatrices are considered sex workers, it shouldn't be assumed that sex is part of the service we offer. Some do, but even from the beginning, back to 1590, it has been an alternative to traditional sex work. It provides the woman a way to be and stay in control. She can offer sex as part of her services if she wants to, but not all do. In fact there are many Dommes that remain monogamous with their partners or who may even be asexual. There is alot of kink that is not sexual. It's about offering an experience. An experience that can't be had without the Domme. The commonality among all Dominatrices is that we have spent time learning how to cultivate and curate a space for the sub, the client, to enter, to feel, to let go of what they carry on the outside world and live in a different reality for a while. One where they don't have to be in control, but can give it up.

The dominatrix as we are often presented now, with the corseted waist, latex catsuit, and heels stretching to the gods, starts to appear as a concept in the 40s with the introduction of "Catwoman".

Comic book character, Catwoman https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/ComicCustomSetView.aspx?s=28581

In Portland, as in most cities around the country, this concept doesn't really explode as a reality until the 80s. That's when the modern dominatrix really became popular. With the work that was done for women's rights, the explosion of enlightenment and music in the 60s and 70s, the popularity of comic book characters, the queer movement and punk, along with the high stakes and stressful corporate business world, the real need for the dominating woman to take control away from the man living under that pressure really became a priority. You can't have one without the other. It's funny that the hyper masculine world wants to present itself standing alone, but every pressure cooker needs a release and that's what we provide.

Look up Portland Dominatrix, and you will find the the legends who make up Portland's kinky queer, dominatrix history now, and some who began in the 80s have disappeared out of public site, but are still around and known to the community. This is what I love about what I do. In kink and queer communities we talk about chosen family. Most of us have lost, to a degree atleast, our biological families who should've been there for us. So, we had to find our own family, and learn our own heritage. We can be just as dysfunctional at times, but my lineage as a dominatrix has to be traced to the gorgeous dommes I have learned under, who have done it for decades longer than I have, to the kink educators who make their rounds around the country to teach the masses how to safely and consensually play with our human extremes, to the women I've seen play dominant roles in films, and women I've seen in my own family who carried their burdens as gracefully as they knew how, to the women, like "Little Rusty Kronberg, Nancy Boggs and Mary Cook, who decided that the crumbs the world wanted to give them of being only an extra to the man wasn't enough. They wanted more and they taught us to get more for ourselves, as well.

Poverty is a state of mind. The real power of a dominatrix is that we can create royalty out of nothing. We walk through the world this way, because we don't have a choice. What, walk around like we are not blessed and highly favored? No! The gods, all the way back to Innana and Babylon, and further, have decreed that we should walk this way. Because, when we get for ourselves the indulgent pleasures of this world, we teach others around us that they can do it as well.