I Was A Teenage Dominatrix

Rating:
Summary: Awesome read!
Review: I couldn't put this book down! Well written and entertaining. I don't think this book goes enough into the lifestyle per say, but is very amusing. This woman was not a lifestyle Domme. She pretty much did it for the money. If your curious into what can go on behind closed doors this is the book for you! Don't expect a BDSM guide book or many many tips. I'm a natural born dominate and believe you are born that way. Not made. This girl kinda got made to make money. This is a good read though!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and insightful
Review: I had the pleasure of meeting Shawna Kenney at a publishing convention earlier this year. (I'm also an author.) She is a very bright, engaging woman who has seen some fascinating aspects of both men in particular and of life in general.

Shawna is one of many attractive women who discovered that, if you approach it intelligently, doing various types of what is known by the general term of "sex work" can result in being paid (a lot) better and in being treated considerably better than is true of many mainstream jobs.

She started out working as a private erotic dancer and then switched over to working as a professional dominatrix. After learning her craft and working in two professional domination studios, she established her own independent practice. Her work as a professional dominatrix allowed her to put herself through college and become the first person in her family to graduate. (The discipline she learned from her father, who was in the navy, also helped her.)

She always treated her clients ethically and respected their privacy scrupulously -- including in the writing of this book. She also discovered that men have more varied reasons than the average person might imagine for hiring sex workers. While many had a unique aspect of their sexuality that they want to explore or further experience, particularly as it related to their erotic submissiveness, others merely wanted some female companionship.

The descriptions of these latter encounters were among the most poignant passages in Shawna's book. Her description of the pain and loneliness these men endure is very moving. I don't see how anyone could doubt how sex workers often make a deep and positive contribution to the well-being of their clients after reading these passages.

Shawna also discovered that doing sex work, of any kind, has its emotional stresses, including its taboo aspect. It cost her at least one personal friendship. Other friends of hers wanted to hear all about it.

Shawna's book shows both the professional dominatrix and her clients for the human beings that they are. It also shows how irrationally and inconsistently society treats and values its sex workers.

Rating:
Summary: An Off-Beat Feminist Memoir
Review: I knew I had to read this book when I saw the cover. Not the covered pictured here, mind you. The cover I saw depicted a voluptous woman in cartoon character form wearing a leopard print dominatrix costume. From the looks of the cover I assumed the book was some sort of graphic novel or comic book. To say the least, it intrigued me.

When I opened I Was a Teenage Dominatrix I was surprized to find plain text within its pages. No matter, I read onward. And I am sure glad that I did.

Shawna Kenney was born to young poor parents in Upstate New York. She spent her formative years in a housing project trying to avoid being a girl. She was loud at home and quiet in school, a quizzical paradox.

Her family moved around a lot and eventually settled in Maryland where kids made fun of her for "talking funny." She found this bizarre since they were the ones saying weird phrases like "ya'll."

At age 17 Shawna left home with $400 in her pocket to move to a big city. She settled in Washington D.C. She tried several part-time jobs to stay afloat such as waitressing and babysitting both of which bored her and did not allow her to make much money. Plus she had decided that she wanted to go to college and let's face it, babysitiing ain't going to pay anyone's tuition.

One day she say an ad the local paper for exotic dancers. She answered the ad and tried her hand at being an exotic dancer for a while. She ended up hating it. She felt like the men who were watching her dance were the ones in control. This loss of control really got to her. The one good thing that came out of her stint as an exotic dancer was that it opened her eyes to possible careers in the sex industry.

Shawna had a friend whose sister was a practicing dominatrix. She observed a few of these sessions and then conducted a few sessions of her own. She realized that this was a far more satisfying career than exotic dancing. In the world of a dominatrix it is the woman who has control not the man.

After working a bit for her friend's sister Shawna answered an ad in the local paper calling for dominatrixes. She then began to develop herself as a professional dominatrix.

Kenney's book is a masterpiece. Before reading I was a Teenage Dominatrix I had little to no idea of what being a dominatrix entailed. The whole sex industry was one mysterious blur to me. After reading this book I have gained great insight into what it is like to have a working career as a professional dominatrix.

The book is informative and personal. It is a memoir but also a successful work of non-fiction. As a reader I began to hold great respect for what a dominatrix does. It is truly not an easy career. It is certainaly quirky but also seems to have rich rewards.

One aspect that I really liked about the book was that Kenney painted the position of dominatrix to be one in which it is the woman who is truly empowered. I found this point to be true. As a dominatrix you are in control of the man or "slave". Being a dominatrix taught Kenney a lot about her own sexuality as well as informed her about who she was as a woman and an indiviudal.

A lot of the sessions that Kenney describes are non-traditional. Some of the men she comes into contact with do not want to simply be spanked. A fair number of these men are lonely and need someone to talk to. Kenney describes one session where she and client talked for an hour and a half about literature.

Kenney's writing style is simple and accesible. She has a wonderful sense of humor and is a joy to read. If you are looking for a quirky non-traditional book to read. Put I Was a Teenage Dominatrix on your list.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad.
Review: I picked this book up on a whim at this book store I happened to walk past shortly before going on a pretty long train ride - I must say that it was a pretty entertaining read that made the time of that train ride go by very quickly. They say never judge a book by it's cover, but the title got me on this one.

If you've surfed the web enough and have seen a good deal of sexual fetishes out there, you're not going to be in for much of a shock with this book. It was pleasantly surprising that the author maintained a conversational tone through out the whole book. Just as it says it the description, there are moments where you feel it's you and a friend (who happened to be a dominatrix at one point) just chatting over a cup of tea.

All and all, nothing very life changing from this one - but an interesting and worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: straight-shooting
Review: Kenney's a straight-shooter with a sharp pen and tongue. Her voice is unique and effortless. The story is outrageous and wonderfully simple at the same time. I hope to read more by this author.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome read!
Review: Shawna Kenney is no ordinary teenager or coed. She had a goal to get through college her way and the tenacity to do it. As amusing and even shocking as this memoir was at times you always new this was a means to an end, paying for college.

She really just stumbled on to being a dominatrix and just happend to be good at it. Shawna takes you from her childhood poverty and mindset to an adventure on her own and the discovery of her true womanly power, self respect and fearless confidence.

She writes this memoir in a very relaxed personal way. You know what she enjoys and what she does not and never does she hide behind political correctness or self importance. She just tells it like it was the good, bad, ugly, and gross.

She talks about her clients, acts of her job, the scene of professional dominatrix, and the learning lessons she acquired. The book really is a self-discovery and has some real moments of poignancy were she discovers the emotional consequences of her college job. Albeit an unusall memoir it was definitly filled with funny stories and insight. Definitly worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: great memoir (not a how-to book!)
Review: This is not a how-to manual, nor a social criticism, nor a feminist theory. This is a memoir of one girl's decision and path to being a dominatrix to pay her way through a pretty pricey university (I happen to be a graduate of the same one. More power to Ms. Kenney!) The title says it all: "I Was a Teenaged Dominatrix" ---she just talking about herself and her lifestyle at that point in time, she doesn't pretend to speak for anyone else.

That said, Kenney is a great writer, taking a rather taboo subject and putting together a breezy but not airhead-like book about answering an ad to pay the bills. Who hasn't seen those ads calling for college girls 18 and older? Here is the real-life story of someone who answered one. She keeps names and details private, and only accounts for WHAT happened on any particular job. It is a short but rich book.

Rating:
Summary: short personal account without much flash
Review: While she was in college (so not just a teenager, folks), Shawna Kenney took up several different jobs -- waitress, nanny, erotic dancer, and finally dominatrix. The title might lead to to think this is all hot recounts of her clients but really this is more her perceptions of what she experienced without much down and dirty descriptions. If you are looking for hot stories about professional sex workers; don't look here. If you want a defense of professional sex workers, she seems to feel rather negatively about them by book's end. Instead get this for one more example of what some people must do to better their lives and how they can grow from any experience.