That Picture on the Left

I can't think of a better thing to write about as I set up this blog for the first time than the picture I've included in the page layout.  It captures very well my submissive sexuality, so an examination of the various different ways it appeals to me is therefore in order.

It should be just over there on the left, visible on every page of this blog, but in case of future site redesign, here's the picture again:

In glorious black and white, before I flipped it around for reasons of visual grammar

It shows a nicely dressed woman, with her hands on her hips, resting the sole of her high heel shoe on the head of a chess piece, a pawn, which, while larger than a regular chess piece, only comes up to the height of her knees.  The setting is outside, in an area that's been paved with square stone slabs, and presumably the pawn is part of a giant chess set that people can use to play on the checkerboard formed by the paving.  The rest of the chess set is not visible, and there are no other people in the background, so what we're left with is a slightly more abstract image, an expression of female dominance over a submissive figure, an object at her feet.

This picture really appeals to me on many levels, which is why I've taken the chess piece metaphor for the title of the blog.

Let's get the obvious points out of the way first:  It's an image of a powerful woman in a dominant pose, and those shoes are amazing.  If I use my imagination and put myself in the position of the pawn, I quickly start to feel humble and very submissive, as the woman is towering over me to the point at which she can put her foot on my head.  She is actively and deliberately subduing me, humiliating me and keeping me under control, using the lowest part of her body to get the better of the highest part of mine.

Looking at it a bit more deeply, there are some other aspects that appeal to me.  Firstly, we can't see the woman's face, as it's hidden from the camera by her blonde hair.  In fact, we can't tell very much at all from this picture about what the woman looks like, aside from slim, blonde, young-ish with good legs.  This is not a sexy picture of a sexy woman posing sexily for the camera, this is a picture of a superior woman in a superior pose.  In a way, it doesn't matter what her face looks like.  What's more important is the superior expression that could be on it, maybe an eyebrow arched in arrogance, or a lip curled in cruelty.  Whatever the expression, smirk or sneer, the pawn is probably being told to keep its eyes down anyway.  Also, without a face that we can see, the woman starts to become a little more abstract, starts to represent womankind as a whole, which again appeals to my submissive nature.

What I really like about this picture, however, is a little bit deeper still, although the height comparison is a good place to start.  Not only is the woman about 2½ times taller than the pawn, she is also a full person, with a body, a head and four limbs, a complete and individual human being with freedom to move according to her will.  The pawn, in contrast, barely has anything more recognisable than a head and a body, and as far as the woman is concerned, completely identical to and interchangeable with at least 7 others.  Whatever is going on internally with the pawn, it is powerless to express it or act upon it, completely passive, completely in thrall to the woman.  The pawn has none of the freedoms, none of the personhood possessed by the woman. To her, the pawn is an object, a plaything, to be pushed, pulled, ignored, trampled or sacrificed as she desires.  Completely at her mercy and completely in her power, the pawn has no choice but to submit completely, to be used and abused by the superior woman.

That lack of power and personhood, that dehumanisation, gives me an incredible feeling of humilation and submissiveness.  When I imagine being the pawn in this picture, being slowly and humiliatingly pushed down under the heels of a woman has made me less of a person, it feels incredible, and it's a huge turn on for me.  This is why the picture appeals so much to me, and this is why I have chosen it to illustrate every page of my blog.  There are other pictures, which I'll be writing posts about in future, but for the time being, for the first post, this is what it's all about.

QP