List of dominatrices in popular culture
Introduction  A dominatrix (plural ''dominatrices'' or ''dominatrixes'') or mistress is a woman who takes the dominant role in bondage and discipline, dominance and submission or BDSM.As fetish culture has become more prevalent in Western media, depictions of dominatrices in film and television have become more common.
In film  YearCountryTitle Notes 1962  United States ''The Counterfeit Traitor'' Ingrid Van Bergen is a leather-clad dominatrix/resistance fighter in WWII yarn. 1963  United States ''The Balcony'' Actress Ruby Dee plays out a dominatrix scene for a judge/client. 1964  United States ''Olga's House of Shame'', ''White Slaves of Chinatown'', ''Olga's Girls'' Sexploitation trilogy, all from 1964, with Audrey Campbell as Olga, sadistic mistress of a white slavery ring. 1967  United States ''Venus in Furs'' Sexploitation film directed by Joseph Marzano loosely based on the novella by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. 1969  Italy ''Venus in Furs'' Based on the Sacher-Masoch story, directed by Massimo Dallamano. (Not to be confused with the Jess Franco horror film also from 1969.) 1969  United Kingdom ''The Magic Christian'' Raquel Welch makes a brief, but memorable, appearance as "Priestess of the whip". 1976  France ''Maîtresse'' Gérard Depardieu becomes involved with dominatrix Bulle Ogier. 1978  United States, United Kingdom ''Revenge of the Pink Panther'' Tanya The Lotus Eater (Valerie Leon), a catsuit-clad, whip-wielding dominatrix, chases Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) – who is dressed in women's clothing — through his apartment. 1982  United States ''Eating Raoul'' housewife plays Doris the Dominatrix at swingers' parties and coaches Mary Woronov's character. 1983  Germany ''A Woman in Flames'' Gudrun Landgrebe portrays a woman who becomes a dominatrix. 1983  United States ''Working Girls'' Filmmaker Lizze Borden's movie shows a day in life of a small Manhattan bordello, including a vivid domination scene. 1985  Germany ''Seduction: The Cruel Woman'' Inspired by ''Venus in Furs'', this is a study of a dominatrix who takes on both male and female slaves. 1986  UK ''Sid and Nancy'' Nancy works with a dominatrix 1987  UK ''Personal Services'' Lots of different scenes 1992  Japan ''Tokyo Decadence'' Miho Nikaido portrays a timid call girl who does a kinky session with a male client and female dominatrix. 1992  United States ''Body of Evidence'' Madonna portrays a dominatrix who seduces and sexually humiliates her lawyer. 1992 United States ''Batman Returns'' The character Catwoman who is played by Michelle Pfeiffer wears a skin-tight latex catsuit and wields a long whip. 1994  United States ''Exit to Eden'' Comedy with Dana Delany as the dominatrix co-founder of an S&M resort and Iman (model) as another prominent dominatrix at the resort. 1994  United States ''Naked Gun : The Final Insult''  A dominatrix works at the fertility clinic Frank goes to. 1994 United Kingdom ''Love and Human Remains'' Mia Kirshner plays Benita, a psychic dominatrix. 1995  The Netherlands ''Venus in Furs'' Faithful adaptation of the Sacher-Masoch novella. 1995 United States ''Batman Forever'' The villain Two-Face has two gun molls named Sugar and Spice. Spice is a dominatrix who wears a black leather corset and represents his "bad" side, while Sugar wears a white laced corset and represents his "good" side. (But both girls are ''very'' evil.) 1996  United States ''Fetishes'' A documentary by Nick Broomfield filmed at New York City's Pandora's Box, an SM/fetish parlour. 1996 United States ''Barb Wire (film)'' Pamela Anderson plays a female bounty hunter and mercenary in post-apocalyptic America who during one scene poses as a dominatrix prostitute in order to capture a wanted criminal. She also wears many revealing skin-tight leather outfits throughout the movie. 1997  United Kingdom ''Preaching to the Perverted'' Comedy with Guinevere Turner as the dominatrix owner of a notorious English S&M club. 1997 United States ''Booty Call'' A scene towards the end of the movie where Vivica A. Fox dresses up as a dominatrix and prepares to have sex with Jamie Foxx who is tied to a bed in a gimp outfit. 1998 United States ''Bride of Chucky'' Jennifer Tilly plays the girlfriend of the serial killer Chucky who is trapped inside a doll's body. During one scene she ties a man down to a bed in handcuffs and does a sexy dance for him in a dominatrix outfit so that she can lure Chucky into murdering him. 1999  United States ''Body Shots'' Emily Procter plays a dominatrix who binds and paddles Ron Livingston. 1999  United States ''Payback'' Lucy Liu portrays a sadistic dominatrix who is the leader of a gang of Chinese Triads.1999  United States ''The General's Daughter'' Leslie Stefanson's character is shown on a tape watched by John Travolta's character as acting the role of a dominatrix with a male partner 2000  United States ''Dancing at the Blue Iguana'' Jennifer Tilly plays a stripper in S&M outfits and part-time dominatrix seen in an extensive scene bullying a male client. 2001  United States ''Tomcats'' Heather Stephens plays an "innocent librarian" who turns out to be a lifestyle dominatrix. She then proceeds to torture Michael, played by Jerry O'Connell. 2002  United States ''The Fashionistas'' Award-winning pornographic film from Evil Angel explores the world of fetish fashion, BDSM, and kinky sex. 2003 United States ''American Wedding'' During a bachelor party there is a scene involving two strippers: one dressed like a dominatrix police woman and the other dressed like a French maid. 2004  United States ''Bettie Page: Dark Angel'' Biopic recreates many of her sub/dom fetish films for Irving Klaw. 2004  United Kingdom ''The Dominatrix'' Drama about the life of a career Dom. 2004  United States ''EuroTrip'' Comedy with Lucy Lawless as a German dominatrix in an Amsterdam S&M club. 2004  United States ''Going Under''  Drama about the relationship between a married man and a partnered dominatrix. 2005  United States ''Reefer Madness'' Kristen Bell is seen as a dominatrix while singing "Little Mary Sunshine". 2005  United States ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' Angelina Jolie's character poses as a dominatrix to assassinate a target. 2005  United States ''Bettie Page: Bondage Queen'' Cult Epics DVD compilation of Irving Klaw's 1950s BDSM fetish films featuring Bettie Page as both dominatrix and damsel-in-distress. 2006  United States ''Shortbus'' Comedy-drama featuring the professional dominatrix Severin who wants to help Sofia to loosen up sexually so that she can have her first orgasm. 2006  Germany ''Hounded (:de:Verfolgt (2006))'' A middle-aged female probation officer enters a dominant relationship with one of the young male delinquents she works with. 2007  Canada ''Walk All Over Me'' Comedy-drama with Tricia Helfer as a professional dominatrix. 2007  Japan ''New Tokyo Decadence - The Slave'' Dominatrix turned secretary is blackmailed into being an S&M slave by her boss. 2009  United States ''Modern Love is Automatic'' A bored nurse moonlights as a dominatrix for hire. 2009  United States ''Brüno'' A homosexual Austrian fashion reporter has an experience with a dominatrix. 2009  United States ''Frat Party'' A frat party, has an extended scene in the frat house "dungeon" with a dominatrix. 2009  United States ''My Normal'' The story of Natalie, a young lesbian, who's struggling to find a balance between her dreams of  becoming a film maker and her lifestyle as a dominatrix. 2012  United States ''American Reunion'' Michelle dresses up as a dominatrix and makes her husband Jim dress up as a gimp so that they can have "romantic" sex. 2012 France ''After Fall, Winter'' Michael is having a mid-life crisis, with his writing career in tatters. He leaves New York for Paris, hoping to reinvigorate his writing. He meets a nurse with a secret; she also works as a professional dominatrix.2013FranceVenus in FurVanda Jordan arrives at an audition for a play with the director though her name does not appear on the audition list. As the audition moves forward Vanda accuses him of having masochistic desirs though he denies it. By the end of the movie he becomes her slave. 2013 Japan ''R100'' Ordinary businessman Takafumi Katayama signs a contract to join a mysterious BDSM club where various dominatrices, each with their own specialty skill, will attack and humiliate him in public. The contract lasts for one year and no cancellation is allowed. 2014  Australia ''My Mistress'' A teenage boy struck by a family tragedy sparks a relationship with a French middle aged professional dominatrix. 2019 Finland ''Dogs Don't Wear Pants'' Mona (Krista Kosonen) is a professional dominatrix who introduces Juha (Pekka Strang) to the world of BDSM. He becomes obsessed with her and wants to use BDSM sessions as a therapeutic method to overcome his wife's death.
In television  Year SeasonShowEpisode(s) Notes 1977 Two Space 1999 Devil's Planet John Koenig (Martin Landau) winds up on a prison planet where all the prisoners are male, and the prison is run by whip-wielding, pony-tailed females wearing red-orange cat suits, matching knee-high boots, and gold-colored gorgets with matching gladiator helmets.1992-2005 SeveralThe Powerpuff Girls"Mommy Fearest" (first appearance) and many recurring appearancesSedusa is a villain on the series who wears a red leotard, black leggings with red fishnets, red thigh-high high-heeled boots, and red opera gloves. She also can use her hair as a whip. 1993VIRed DwarfPsirensSamantha Robson is dressed as a dominatrix to play an alien disguised as Pete Tranter's sister, a teenager Lister lusted after during his adolescence.1997 Two ''Just Shoot Me!'' La Cage A supermodel played by Stephanie Romanov enjoys luring men back to her place where she locks them in a cage. 1998–1999 Three ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' The Wish and Doppelgangland The alternate universes "Vampire Willow" is shown as a dominatrix like character, who tortures the character Angel in an overtly sexual way akin to BDSM. When Vampire Willow is later described to the real Willow by Buffy, she says "It was exactly you, Will, every detail. Except for your not being a dominatrix... as far as we know." 2000 Two ''Family Guy'' Let's Go to the Hop Gag depicts main characters Lois and Peter suiting up for a sadomasochistic session (Lois as a dominatrix) while carrying on a conversation about how to protect their children from the new "''Toad''" drug craze. The scene ends with Lois telling Peter the safeword for the session and Peter telling her he loves her and the session commences (and the scene ends). 2000 One ''Jack of All Trades'' X Marquis the Spot Angela Dotchin pretends to be a dominatrix at the S&M island resort of the Marquis de Sade. 2003 Two ''Alias'' Second Double Jennifer Garner goes undercover as a German dominatrix in a Berlin leather bar. 2004–2005 One ''Desperate Housewives'' Come Back to Me In one scene, Sharon Lawrence plays a dominatrix who walks across Rex Van de Kamp's back in stiletto heels2005 Three ''NCIS'' Kill Ari (Part 1) In the aftermath of agent Kate Todd's (Sasha Alexander) death, McGee (Sean Murray) remembers her initially as Trinity from ''The Matrix'', then as a dominatrix.2005 One ''House M.D.'' Love Hurts A 21-year-old male was diagnosed with an aneurysm. Chase reveals that the woman visiting the patient is a dominatrix after finding her choking him during a visit. 2001–2011 Several ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' Slaves of Las Vegas, Lady Heather's Box, Pirates of the Third Reich, The Good, the Bad, and the Dominatrix, Leave Out All the Rest, Unleashed Several stories with BDSM themes plus six episodes featuring Melinda Clarke as Lady Heather, a dominatrix who owns a fetish club. 2007 Nine ''Holby City'' The Q Word A PVC clad dominatrix brings a client to Holby City Hospital with a stiletto heel puncturing his chest. 2007 One ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' 1.4 (no title) In the 4th episode, "Belle" (Billie Piper) takes BDSM lessons from a professional dominatrix to please a submissive client. 2008 Two ''Private Practice'' Past Tense KaDee Strickland is seen roleplaying as a German dominatrix in a latex outfit with studded collar and whip. 2008-2009 Two ''Legend of the Seeker''  Jessica Marais plays Mistress Denna, tasked with torturing and breaking the Seeker's spirit. 2009 One ''Dollhouse'' Spy in the House of Love Echo (Eliza Dushku), is seen as a leather-clad whip-wielding dominatrix. 2009 Two  ''1000 Ways to Die'' Domin-a-Dead (a.k.a. Rubbered Out) Episode where dominatrix gags a guy with a severe allergy to rubber latex 2009 Five ''Rescue Me'' Initiation Callie Thorne's character seduces Tommy (Denis Leary) dressed as a cheerleader, Playboy bunny and latex-clad dominatrix. They are seen briefly paddling each other in a fast-motion sequence. 2009 Two ''Castle'' The Mistress Always Spanks Twice The body of a woman covered in caramel sauce is found hanging from playground equipment in a park, prompting the team to venture into the world of bondage and fetish clubs. 2012 Two ''Sherlock'' A Scandal in Belgravia Irene Adler is a professional dominatrix. 2013 Survivor: Caramoan ''Survivor''  Phillip Sheppard assigns Corinne Kaplan with the codename "Dominatrix"2015OneGothamThe Scarecrow"Edge Play" author Jane Boon  dons boots and thigh high stockings to play a dominatrix in the episode. 2016 Several ''Billions'' Maggie Siff plays the role of Wendy Rhoades, a psychiatrist at the fictional firm Axe Capital and dominatrix mistress of her husband, Chuck Rhoades.2016 Three''Gotham'' Time BombBarbara (Erin Richards) traps a shopkeeper in stocks and strikes him with a riding crop until he reveals the combination to his safe.2017ThreeiZombieSpanking the ZombieZombie detective Liv (Rose McIver) eats the brain of a murdered dominatrix in order to see visions that will help her locate the killer. Eating the brain also causes her to inherit the dominatrix's personality. 2019 Several ''Bonding'' All episodes The main character, Tiff Chester (Zoe Levin), is a psychology student moonlighting as a dominatrix.
In gaming  1991 Japan ''Streets of Rage'' A whip-wielding dominatrix named Nora serves as the game's only common female enemy. She attacks the player with her whip and at later levels gets the ability to do a crouch to avoid attacks by the player. 1991 Great Britain ''Battletoads'' The primary villain of the franchise is the Dark Queen, a sexy, voluptuous woman wearing a dominatrix-style leotard and cape. 1993 Japan ''Streets of Rage 2'' Another dominatrix named Electra replaces Nora as the common female enemy. She wields an electric whip. 1994 Japan ''Streets of Rage 3'' Electra returns once again as one of the common female enemies. 1995 Japan ''Battle Arena Toshinden'' The character Sofia wears skin-tight black latex clothing, and uses a whip as her weapon. Pre-launch advertising for the Sony PlayStation played up Sofia's dominatrix aspect. 1997 Japan ''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'' One of the boss enemies, known as The Succubus, dresses in dominatrix attire. She is also a very cruel and sadistic demon who tortures the main character Alucard psychologically by disguising herself as his dead mother, Lisa. 1998 Japan ''Soul'' series of video games Playable character Ivy Valentine is based on the concept, given her sexy, skimpy outfits, whip like weapon, and her dialogue that strongly suggests she "punishes" her opponents while fighting them. 2001 Japan ''Ace Attorney'' series Prosecutor Franziska von Karma, daughter of Manifred von Karma, the main antagonist in the original game. Her outfit consists of a tight blouse with leather gloves, fishnet stockings, and stiletto heels, and carries a whip or riding crop that she uses as both a tool of intimidation and affection. 2001 United States ''Cel Damage'' One of the playable characters is named Dominique Trix, a play-on-words of "dominatrix". She wears a skimpy black top, a short black skirt that accents her buttocks, and long black gloves and boots. On the box art and menus, she is depicted as wielding a whip, and choosing her from the character select screen plays the sound of a whip crack. Her dialogue includes lines such as, "I am the queen of pain," "That's why I'm on top," and, "You'd look good in handcuffs." 2003 Japan ''Castlevania: Lament of Innocence'' A different Succubus (who is also dressed in dominatrix attire) appears as one of the boss enemies in this game. She attempts to trick the main character Leon Belmont by disguising as his fiancé, but when he does not fall for her trick she reveals her true form and fights him. She too is a sadistic demon who believes that Leon will look even more handsome with his "face warped in pain". 2001 Japan ''Dead or Alive'' series The character Christie is a dominatrix. 2003 United States ''True Crime: Streets of L.A.'' A Russian mob boss named Rocky owns a private S&M club where dominatrixes perform services for male clientele. While infiltrating the club you will have to fight the women who work there and their clients, who are all dressed in black S&M attire. 2004 Japan ''Silent Hill 4: The Room'' Though maybe not intentionally a dominatrix, the character Eileen Galvin can be given a riding crop found later in the game as a weapon to defend herself from monsters. She also has a very revealing nurse costume that can be unlocked. 2004 Japan ''Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly'' (known as Zero: Akai Chou in Japan) Twin sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura both have an unlockable "Bondage" costume. Mio's outfit is black leather while Mayu's outfit is red leather. 2004 United States ''Rumble Roses''  Mistress Spencer is a playable character as a Dominatrix. 2004 United States ''World of Warcraft'' Succubi are demons who dress in dominatrix attire and use whips to attack the player. 2005 Japan ''Haunting Ground'' (known as Demento in Japan) The game's heroine Fiona Belli gets a variety of unlockable outfits, one of them being a very revealing dominatrix costume that comes with a whip that can be used as a weapon. 2007 Japan ''Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles'' The fiancé of the main character Richter Belmont becomes a dominatrix-clad vampire if he fails to rescue her. She also bears a strong resemblance to the succubi from other Castlevania video games. 2007 UK ''Heavenly Sword'' One of King Bohan's generals is a dominatrix named Whiptail who is also his mistress. She attacks using a long whip. 2008 United States ''Fallout 3'' Some of the Raiders wear outfits that are called "Raider Sadist Armor", which looks like a dominatrix outfit. A disturbing feature of the outfit is the two severed hands hanging from the belt. 2008 United States ''Brütal Legend'' The "Tainted Coil" faction has a lot of references to the BDSM world and dominatrixes, especially the troops called "Punishing Party". 2009 Japan ''Resident Evil 5'' (known as Biohazard 5 in Japan) One of the villains in the game named Excella Gionne, who is also a playable character in the mini game The Mercenaries Reunion, behaves very much like a dominatrix. Although She doesn't wear typical dominatrix attire her melee attacks consist of many slaps and heel stomps and she speaks in a very sexually demeaning way while using voice commands or taunts. Her behavior indicates that she gets sadistic pleasure out of killing enemies. 2009 Japan ''Bayonetta'' The black-suited heroine is based on the concept, using "Punish attacks" that include spanking. The weapon Kulshedra (and Jeanne's equivalent, Vritra) is a whip that resembles a python. The "Umbran Elegance" (costume) that can be worn when using said weapon gives Bayonetta or Jeanne a dominatrix mask, and long gloves and boots. 2010 United States ''Fallout: New Vegas'' This game features many prostitutes, some of which appear to be dominatrixes. 2011 UK ''Batman: Arkham City'' The character Catwoman is a dominatrix supervillain who wields a long whip. 2012 Japan ''Hyperdimension Neptunia'' series One of the main characters, Plutia, is a sadistic, scantily-clad dominatrix wielding a whip sword when in her goddess form Iris Heart. 2013 Japan ''The Wonderful 101'' Wonder-Pink uses a whip as her weapon, and some of her dialogue is rather suggestive, such as, "Bad boy!" and, "Time for a little punishment!" 2014 Japan ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' Originally from the ''Final Fight'' franchise, the character Poison is a dominatrix fighter who uses a short whip and handcuffs to fight her opponent.
In advertisement  ''theTVBoss.org'' One of the TV Commercials advertising for the V chip to protect children from inappropriate programs features a dominatrix named Mistress Mandy who is standing in a living room with a married couple. The couple explain to her that while they do enjoy her show, they are going to block her so that their children won't see it. ''Wonderful Pistachios'' One of the television commercials in the ″Wonderful Pistachios - Get Crackin″ series features a dominatrix who cracks open a pistachio using a whip; the commercial generated some complaints and controversy. The dominatrix was portrayed by real-life professional dominatrix, Mistress Isabella Sinclaire. ''Mini Dominates Winter'' Mini Canada used an interactive website featuring a PVC-clad Dominatrix teasing, whipping, slapping, and buffing a Mini Cooper to show off the features that give Mini total control over icy winter conditions.
In comic books and manga  YearCountrySeries Notes1980 United States ''X-Men'' Emma Frost was a dominatrix while a villain, and continues to dress as one after reforming. 1986 United States ''Batman: Year One'' In a retelling of Batman's origins, Selina Kyle (alias Catwoman) appears as a dominatrix in a slum neighborhood of Gotham City. As some fans and authors took objection to this depiction, conflating it with prostitution, future Batman writers explained the situation as an undercover operation to further her "true" career of cat-burglar by targeting rich patrons. 2008 United States ''Secret Six'' Jeannette, once the "favorite" servant of sadistic serial killer Countess Elizabeth Báthory, and intended to be her final victim, she is now a banshee and assassin with similar methods. She tortures victims to death using dominatrix methods. 2008 United States ''X-Men Legacy'' Miss Sinister (a clone of the villainous Mr. Sinister) dresses like one. 2009 Japan ''One Piece'' Sadi-Chan, the sadistic leader of the demon guardians in the World Government's horrid prison Impel Down is based on the concept, having a sexy devil-themed outfit and using typical dominatrix methods on inmates -- often lethally. 2011 Japan ''Prison School'' Meiko Shiraki, the antagonist's main enforcer, is based on the concept, a sadist and exhibitionist who uses such methods to punish students. 2017Japan ''My Hero Academia'' Nemuri Kayama, aka Midnight, a pro-heroine and emcee of the U.A. Sports Festival; her skintight, suggestive outfit includes a dominatrix mask, handcuffs on her wrists, thigh-high stockings, black knee boots, and a whip. Her previous costume was even more risque, resulting in the authorities passing the "Hero Costume Skin Exposure Limitation Act", which outlawed such outfits.
See also * BDSM in culture and media
References