Joan Kelly's The Pleasure's All Mine: Memoir of a Professional Submissive

The Pleasure's All Mine

Related to my latest column, "Big Bucks for Pain Sluts"

I'll give a more detailed book review another time, but I highly recommend Joan Kelly's The Pleasure's All Mine: Memoir of a Professional Submissive, (the working title had "Who Has Trouble Taking Orders" tacked on after "Submissive") which tracks her journey from timid newbie wanting to be spanked to full-time independent submissive and occasional domme sessions. It's one of the best sexual memoirs I've read because she really gives a full picture of both her mental and physical reactions to what happened to her, including bisexual encounters, things that freaked her out, and her very personal, intimate interactions, emotional as well as physical, with her customers. It's not just because she's super into spanking that I liked it, but because there's an honesty about her desires and a willingness to explore her passions, even if that means finding out precisely what she doesn't want to do. She's especially good on exploring her boundaries and needs, and doesn't just accept the way one "should" be in the kinky world. Also check out her site for more of her writings on BDSM and identity.

Here's the description from Amazon:

When Joan Kelly took a weekend job as a professional submissive in a private dungeon, it seemed she’d finally found a perfect outlet for her pent-up desires. Suddenly, Joan was being paid to do things she’d only fantasized about.
Having spent several years scouring the Internet unsuccessfully for a man who would dominate her in the bedroom without getting on her nerves outside of it, Joan had nearly lost hope of satisfying her sexually submissive urges. Now, using her professional name, "Marnie," she was being paid to do only what she felt like with kinky men who didn’t even expect to have any real sex in their sessions. To Joan, it almost felt like being paid to practice the art of self-centeredness–—except for the part where she had to kneel and address strangers as "Master."

The Pleasure’s All Mine offers the reader a rare, intimate, often amusing, sometimes disturbing look into the life of a professional submissive–—one whose drive for self-acceptance and respect is as relentless as her sexual need for the services she provides. Readers will experience many humorous, bizarre, frightening, and utterly entertaining events through the perceptive and insightful eyes of this writer.