Backstory And My Cast Of Characters...

 All About Me…

It's always an interesting challenge, trying to introduce oneself. What to include, what to leave out...

But I'll give it a try.

My name is Mistress Matisse. Or rather, that's one of my names. I have several, but that'll do just fine for this venue. Unless you're actually in my dungeon, you may simply address me as Matisse.

Location: Seattle. Been here since 1992, and I love it. I do not ever want to live anywhere else. Rain? Yeah, some, but Jesus, who cares? I'm really an indoors person anyway. I grew up in Florida and lived in Georgia for a while, where my parents still live (although not together). My brother lived here in Seattle for awhile, but he's recently moved back to Florida, so I'm the only person from my family on the west coast. Although I like my family, this arrangement has certain advantages.

Relationship status: madly in love with my partner, Max. We live together. I identified as a lesbian for about ten years – with a few brief lapses – and then I had a relationship with a female-to-male transexual, to whom I actually (and legally) married for a time. After the end of that relationship, I fell in love with Max, a not-transexual, factory-equipped guy. I was sort of bewildered by it at first, but…I can't imagine anything stupider than passing love by just because it doesn't come in the wrapper you expected. We began our relationship in 1999, and I'm extremely happy with him, happier than I've ever been.

Occupation: Professional dominatrix. That means people come to me and I do BDSM scenes with them, and they pay me for this. I do not have sex with them, although I consider pro domming to be part of the sex industry in general and I call myself a sex worker. And I've certainly had sex for money in my time, so there's no moral judgment about it.

But, in general, if you do sex with pro dom work, the submissive loses his focus and it blurs the power dynamic, especially in a male submissive/female dominant situation. Plus there's that small matter of it being illegal, but that's really not the main reason, since it's also extremely rare for me to have sex with submissives in a personal (meaning: they aren't paying me) situation.

I've worked in the sex industry since I was 18, so I have almost no frame of reference for any job that doesn't involve someone taking off their clothes. I understand that it wouldn't suit everyone, but it's been an excellent career choice for me.

I also write, mainly for The Stranger, take photographs, and, less often these days, do fine art nude or fetish modeling.

Other bits of information: I'm polyamorous, which means I can (and usually do) have more than one romantic relationship at a time. (Max is poly also.) Poly can be a challenging relationship dynamic, but we've done very well so far, and I have every confidence that we'll continue to do so.

I'm bisexual, apparently, although I have come to feel that all those terms for sexual orientation should be the beginning of a conversation rather than the end of one.

Let's see, what else? I'm socially liberal, with a strong streak of take-responsibility-for your-own-shit. I don't watch TV. I hate most sports. I don't have kids and I don't want them. I'm a Scorpio. I think French Fries are one of the highest forms of cuisine known to humankind. I think Bush stole the election, but I don't know how Ralph Nader can live with himself. I'm not religious, but I strive to be ethical. I have no credit card debt. I frequently enjoy silly humor.

Who's Who...

Frequently Mentioned:

Max: My adored (and adoring) partner, with whom I live....

Monk: My other fabulous partner, since June of 2004. We don't live together - he lives with his lovely wife - but we have an intense and committed relationship. Monk was called "Roman" on the blog for the first year or two of our relationship. (He called me "Dancer" on his.) But eventually we decided to just come out of the closet about it... So Monk = Roman.

Miss K: my best friend of more than ten years.

Jaelle: dear friend and sometimes-play-partner.

Puck: Max's charming other partner. As with Monk and I, while she and Max don't live together, it's a significant and ongoing relationship.