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BDSM and Erotic Delights in the Wild West

This article is written by Tony McGuinn for AskSubmissann.

For centuries now, people have been crediting the Marquis de Sade for the “invention” of BDSM.  In fact, he gets so much credit that sadism was named after him… a legacy that the state of Sade was probably not entirely happy about, especially since the Marquis’s real name was “Donatien Alphonse François.”

           

But, more importantly, the Marquis didn’t invent sadism.  He simply wrote prolifically about it.  It was his fetish, and his brand was a very specific type of violent, non-consensual sadism.  Elsewhere in the world, however, consensual BDSM practices flourished.  And nowhere did sexual appetites have a broader freedom than in the wide, open plains of the American frontier.

Prostitution and erotic services were legal in the United States until 1910-1915, when states began outlawing them as part of the “temperance” movement, which also went after alcohol.

Prostitution and erotic services were legal in the United States until 1910-1915, when states began outlawing them as part of the “temperance” movement, which also went after alcohol.

           

The writings of the Marquis de Sade were penned in the 1780s but not widely distributed or spoken of.  Indeed, the term “sadism” wasn’t coined for another century, by German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing.  Meanwhile, like-minded individuals were writing their own books on the matter: in the late 1800s, John Camden Hotten republished “Fashionable Lectures: Composed and Delivered with Birch Discipline,” a series of stories from the 1750s including “Female Flagellants,” “Lady Bumtickler’s Revels,” and “Madame Birchini’s Dance.”  In 1748, John Cleland published “Memoirs of the Woman of Pleasure,” the story of Fanny Hill that also featured themes of bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, and power exchange.

           

But on the American frontier, these high-minded writings from across the pond were rare, if not impossible, to come across.  Cowboys were typically uneducated and, even if they were literate, toting books around on horseback wasn’t practical.  For the men of the frontier, life was nomadic… at least until the Madams showed up.

 

The first true towns of the Wild West owe their creation to the women who saw a business opportunity.  Saloons and brothels sprang up to capitalize on the appetites of men.  Work camps with tents evolved into the first true towns, with women providing more than just entertainment, but also laundry services, education, and discipline.

 

What’s more, these brothels contributed heavily to the local economies, not merely through the exchange of money, but by paying for business licenses and fees to operate their businesses legally.  According to Wikipedia, prostitution was a $6.3 million business in 1858, more than both the shipping the brewing industries combined.

 

So what’s all this have to do with BDSM?

 

In a lucrative economy with many competing women, the women who offered more exotic services got more attention.  Saloon “parlor games” often involved spanking or paddling.  (Whether the men were losing on purpose to get a free paddling or not is up to debate.)  Brothels offered a variety of girls who themselves offered a variety of “services,” not all of them sexual, but certainly all of them erotic.

 

To this end, many women in the old west carried clutches, fans, fly swatters, or hand-brooms.  In some vintage boudoir photos, hand-brooms are prominently featured on the walls, a winking suggestion of what erotic services the girls might offer.  And it wasn’t only the working girls who employed fans, canes, whips, or brooms; Fannie Porter, whose “boarding house” in San Antonio was the favorite of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was rumored to have chased policemen with brooms after they tried to charge her girls with vagrancy.

Some saloons had “jail cells” or other cages where their girls could entertain.  The famous Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, AZ had 14 “cribs” (or beds), made to look like cages, suspended from its ceiling, a decoration that would later give rise to the go-go dancing cages of the 1970s.  If the Bird Cage sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because this “theater” was among the favorite brothels of wild west heroes such as Doc Holliday and “Diamond” Jim Brady.  (At least, it was before Doc Holliday and his paramour “Big Nose Kate” opened up their own saloon, The Grand Hotel, in 1880, also in Tombstone.)

 

Many brothels (billed as “theaters,” “hotels,” or “saloons”) had suggestive names.  In addition to the “Bird Cage,” there was the famous “Stockade” of Salt Lake City, UT, built in 1908.  A self-enclosed red light district whose construction was overseen by a local Madam, the Stockade was run by Dora Topham (known to her clients as “Belle London”), and included its own jail cell that was more for humiliation than for actual punishment.

 

In calling cards, license pictures, and glam shots of the wild west, women hinted at their services in titillating ways.  Some, for example, show women shooting pool: a distinctly un-lady-like activity, but one that would allow the woman to be featured holding a birch cane.  Others include women holding lassos or whips, despite not necessarily being cowgirls.  The purpose of ropes and whips was left up the imagination.

The overwhelming majority of brothels were headed by women who themselves had once been prostitutes and had “graduated” to the title of “Madam.”  Now businesswomen, they were generally fiercely protective of their girls, and offered a key role in their societies, paying for education, healthcare, churchs, and other community services.  One, Julia Bulette, donated so much money to the town of Virginia City, NV, that she was made an honorary firefighter, and in one of the last portraits ever taken of her, is shown posing with a fireman’s helmet.  Another, Pearl de Vere, offered regular medical exams and treatment for her girls in addition to letting them keep 40% of their pay.  (A visit to Pearl’s brothel, “The Old Homestead,” costs $250 a night… $6500 in today’s money.)

 

Madams might not have been “working girls” themselves but they were not afraid to act as Dommes, carrying with them riding crops, whips, clutches filled with rocks, and ivory-handled pistols, all items they could use to protect themselves, their businesses, their girls, and their clients.  (And they weren’t afraid to use them, either.  “Big Nose” Kate once broke Doc Holiday out of jail.)

 

Brothels like the House of Mirrors, the Bird Cage, the Stockade, The Grand Theatre, and Fannie Porter’s boarding house were places that offered exotic settings for exotic services, includingsilk sheets, electric chandeliers, and champagne, all rarities in the unsettled west.  There were so many brothels that they became a staple of most old-west towns, and some towns began publishing guidebooks to their red-light districts.  San Antonio and New Orleans both had “Blue Book” guides which one could purchase for 25¢ that billed themselves as “Directories of the Sporting District… an accurate guide to those who are seeking a good time.”

One of the best-remembered advertisements was that of Diddlin’ Dora’s, a “dance hall” in Deadwood, SD, which said it offered “The Three D’s: Dinin’, Drinkin’, and Dancin’!”  According to the Madam, Dora Dufran, it was “a place where you can bring your mother.”  This motto was meant ironically; Diddlin’ Dora’s, as the name implied, was a place for exotic pleasures, and one patron was famously quoted as saying, “I wouldn’t want my mother to know I had ever been there.”  Dora Dufran was a friend of the famous Calamity Jane, who herself was a working girl and a co-Madam in Deadwood.

 

The women of the West built their own culture, and most had likely never heard of the Marquis de Sade.  Exotic and erotic services offered in the Wild West were a mixture of their own invention, and what their customers wanted from them.  BDSM is prevalent across many cultures, not just 18th century Europe.  On the American frontier, it prospered for over a century, a home-grown practice that created a new class of feminine self-made millionaires, and helped build and sustain entire towns.

(A note on conversion rates: $1 in 1880 was worth about $25 today.)

FURTHER READING AND SOURCES:

Print:

 

  • Birchell, Donna Blake. “Wicked Women of New Mexico.”  The History Press; First Edition, First Printing edition (March 4, 2014).
  • Enss, Chris. “Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.”  TwoDot; First edition (February 20, 2015)
  • Rutter, Michael. “Boudoirs to Brothels: The Intimate World of Wild West Women.”  Farcounty Press (October 10, 2014).
  • Rutter, Michael. “Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West.”  Farcountry Press (September 1, 2005).
  • Seagraves, Anne. “Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West.”  Wesanne Publications; First Edition edition (June 1, 2003).

 

 

On the Web:

 

 

 

Photo Credits:

 

Photos by Perry Gallagher January 2020

 

Yes, I am going on tour to Boston!

Domestic flights are flying.  My plane on return to Los Angeles from Philadelphia was half full.  I expect the same.  I do the sanitizing where I sit on the plane thing but I have always done this but you never know what the person before you did in that seat, if they had a cold, if they wiped their dirty hands everywhere, etc.

I am very aware of common surfaces, I wash my hands, I carry sanitizer and use it as needed.  I don’t touch my face because I was taught to as a child.  Touching your face gives you blemishes and colds/flu, etc.  My Grandmother was very keen on not touching your face and I was disciplined not to.

While restaurants cannot have in restaurant dining, many are offering take out and the hotels have in room dining on a limited menu.  I am staying at very nice hotels.

I am not a convention or a large group gathering, I am one healthy person.  You may come see me.  If you are from a place with curfew, make a daytime appointment.

 

If you are not feeling well, if you have COVID-19 symptoms, stay at home and self isolate yourself.  Do this for everyone.  

Do not trust the media or interpretations of what is happening.  They have their own agenda.

Govt. Center for Disease Control:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

I am not traveling Abroad, I am traveling Domestic.  

Govt. on Travel :  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/covid-19-information.html

 

See you in Boston for fun times. 

Be safe.  Do the things.  Wash your hands, beware of common touch surfaces, don’t touch your face.  Be kind to one another.  Please.

Am I single?

I read this question a LOT in my Inbox, in social media Inboxes, and I always wonder why is it asked?

Jane Austen must have pondered the inevitable social demand that women marry, as it was the only financial and social answer for a woman who wanted a positive view of herself in society in her day.  A woman in her time was not allowed to own property.  That was 200 years ago.  Surely, we have progressed since then, that as a society we don’t frown upon women who wish to be independent?  We don’t call a single woman over 21 years old a spinster anymore, do we?

I was married for 7 years.  I was divorced.  It was a horrible experience in which I found myself not seen, not heard, not understood, held as a pretty trophy, not supported in growing.  Let’s just sum it up that it was not an experience I ever wanted to repeat.

I wanted the power to make my own decisions, to manage my own money, to steer my own course.  I am responsible for my own happiness.  I have made mistakes along the way, and I learned from them.  Being independent and supporting myself, making my own way has been thrilling to me, has spurred me to get up every morning and pursue being the best me.

I am in a committed relationship with myself.  I do self care.  I think about what I eat, do morning yoga, stretches, lift weights, do my administration work, schedule my appointments, work, garden, walk and hike.  I strive to have a balanced life.

I am in a very committed relationship with my dog, Ollie (Oliver Queen), who is my walking/hiking/yoga partner, best buddy and all around companion.  You, emotionally, cannot compete with him.  He is all about me being happy and taking care of him.  We have a schedule, a routine, he keeps me focused on it when I tend to be easily distracted.

I am in a committed relationship with my friends.  Almost all of my friends do Animal Role Play events and activities with me.  I also like to have my friends over to my home, I like to cook for them and enjoy an evening of delicious food and thought provoking conversation.

The avenues open to you to spend time with me are to support and attend Animal Role Play events which I share with the BDSM/Leather/Kink/Fetish Community and friends.  I do not attend my lifestyle events as a submissive, I attend as a Pony Trainer.

You are welcome to make an appointment and explore with me any kink, fetish, bdsm or companion or conversational adventure you wish.  My time is $350.00 per hour.  I will ask you for a deposit of $100.00 which is non-refundable if you cancel for any reason.

I sincerely hope this question is not from having a fantasy of dating and being my boyfriend or lover and being with me for “free”.  I don’t believe there is any actual FREE relationship, everybody asks for something that involves time, service, gifts, touch, sex, words. I have unfortunately already been a trophy, and I certainly don’t want to be someone’s Robin Pachino trophy.  I am really good with it being a fair deal that you give me $ for my time, we do the quality time, and you walk away, no strings attached.  This is an honest, uncomplicated relationship I understand.  This is a successful relationship.

Please make an appointment,  Come and have fun, Tell me your dog stories, tell me about your garden, what book you are reading, laugh, be held, let the good times roll.

Thank you for listening.