The Queen Regina

Regina is a mistress: a sex worker specialized in BDSM (acronym for Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sado-Maso).

Her costumers, called “Slaves”, looking for her to be submitted, dominated or humbled even by corporal punishments; it’s a role playing game between consensual people and, for Regina, is therefore, a full time job.

Her choice of life has, however, a high cost: Regina is basically a lonely person who, even if she doesn't want to show it, suffers from this condition.

It' s not a coincidence that she is subscribed to many sites in order to find her soul mate and every friendships she has come from the BDSM world, making her always feel "mentally" at work.

In 2013 DSM V (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association) it’s stated, for the first time, that people with this type of sexual desires are not affected by a mental disorder.
More on that: the results of a Dutch study released in 2013 on the Journal of Sexual Medicine, suggest that BDSM people are more extrovert and sexually aware.
Numbers speak for themselves: over 60% of the Western population has kind of BDSM fantasies; in Italy there are 4 minion people who regularly practice this type of disciplines.
With the intention of revealing this underground world, actually present in every part of our society, I approached Regina and following her sessions with her slaves for 24 months.
Inside her perfomances, I captured the different stages of this kind of paraphilias.

It’s not only a “sex-for-money thing” but the creation of a shared intimacy, a secret to keep and realize together that make the relationship completely different from prostitution as commonly understood.

In these 24 months, moreover, I have learned much more about Regina and her world of being in control and loneliness, which I am currently exploring in depth.