Day 112 - On Victorian Servitude and Being a Maid of All Work, On Getting Flirty with a Very Cute Actor at a Christmas Play, On Being Flogged for my First Time (and Loving It), On Getting My Birthday Spanking, On Coming in Second With Master During a BDSM Competition, and On Having Trouble Watching "Upstairs Downstairs"

I was attempting recently to watch “Upstairs Downstairs,” the British television show from the 70’s about the lives of the servants (downstairs) and their employers (upstairs) in an Edwardian household.

Master and M’Lady desire me to watch it so that I can understand how they would love things to be here. Master often says he considers his household to be “neo-Victorian,” and although he doesn’t believe in emulating Victorian life in a lot of ways, it’s how he wishes to see my service to him. (And, no, I’m not going to get into the debate of “slavery versus servitude” again. I’m sick of that.)

Master has all the episodes on DVD. The problem is that I’m quite hard of hearing, and the DVDs aren’t closed-captioned, and the audio and video from the American DVDs is absolutely horrible, and they’re speaking with deep British accents, so ... I’m hardly understanding a word being said. I was able to get the novelization of the series out from the library, and that’s been delightful to read, but it naturally cuts out quite a bit of everything. Nonetheless, by combining what I’m reading in the novel with what little I can make out from the show, I’m getting a grasp regarding what’s happening.

I also need to understand Victorian servitude because Master desires me to teach a class on the historical roots of modern consensual slavery. Part of it will be to discuss Victorian servitude because, Master said, much of what is expected in modern consensual slaves comes from the ideas of that time period.

From what I’ve seen just in the first half of the first episode of “Upstairs Downstairs”, I can see what he’s saying. Domestic employees are treated by their employers almost like chattel, to the point of being renamed with a “servant” name to which they are forced to respond (just like many slaves have been renamed by their Owners throughout history). The big difference is, of course, any servant can leave their employer ... in theory, that is, as some servants simply weren’t able to find other work (just like many people in jobs of all types today often have to work in awful conditions because they desperately need the job, or because any other jobs out there would be even worse) or had other reasons to remain (such as the fact that many servants came from a tradition of servitude and wouldn’t think of doing anything else).

Oh, yeah ... in case you didn’t notice, I just compared a lot of normal jobs out there today to slavery. I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last, to make that analogy.

I’ve been researching Victorian servitude in other ways, and it’s clear I would be what’s considered a “maid of all work,” which is basically a female servant who does everything. I’ve attached at the bottom of today’s post a good description of it, taken from a book written in 1858 titled “The Dictionary of Daily Wants” (which is viewable and searchable online). Here’s the first paragraph of the definition, though, with emphasis on the last sentence, which makes me realize just how close to home this definition is for me: “A domestic servant, who undertakes the whole duties of a household without assistance; her duties comprising those of cook, housemaid, nurserymaid, and various other offices, acccording to the exigencies of the establishment. The situation is one which is usually regarded as the hardest worked and worst paid of any branch of domestic servitude; it is, therefore, usually filled by inexperienced servants, or females who are so circumstanced that they are only desirous of securing a home, and of earning sufficient to keep themselves decently clad. In many of these situations, a servant may be very comfortably circumstanced, especially if it be a limited family of regular habits, and where there is a disposition to treat the servant with kindness and consideration.”

*blinks*

After looking online, I found out that I’m not the only one with problems with the series. Apparently, people with very good hearing are complaining left and right that the American DVD set is absolutely terrible. The British version, however, is apparently fantastic. Master came in while I was reading that, and I told him what I had found out, and to my delight, he spontaneously ordered the British DVD set for me to watch (he has a DVD player he bought specifically for British DVDs, so that’s no problem). The set wasn’t very expensive, but, even more, he really wants me to watch them, so it looks like I’ll have a better chance soon!

Anyway ...

It’s Friday night, and I’m behind in my posting again. I’m a little loopy tonight because Master flogged me for ... err ... I have no idea how long he was at it.

We went to the Denver Sanctuary BDSM Club for the opening night of a theater play being performed there called, “Who Killed Santa?” It was very silly and funny in places, and fortunately I got to read the script so I could know what was being said.

The guy who played “Tiny Tim” (who was one of the suspects) was quite cute, by the way. And he had a fantastic singing voice. And did I say he was rather cute? *grins*I made no bones about how I felt to Master, and he very nicely let me go to the actor when he was getting ready to leave and tell him I thought he did a great job. And the actor and I talked ... and I told him I was a slave full time ... and he told me he had a list of fetishes as long as his arm ... and he loved getting dressed up like a little girl and spanked ... and I practically melted ... and he wanted to give me his phone number but couldn’t find a pen ... and I told him the lady who runs the club knows my Owner and can give him my number ... and ... I came back to Master dreamy eyed ... and Master knows I’d love to ... err ... get together with the actor some day and ... y’know ...

*giggles*

The night continued to be a good one because later on Master got out his box of floggers, as I previously noted. He soon ordered me into the dungeon, made me take off my shirt and bra, placed me against a St. Andrew’s Cross, and (literally) before I knew it he was flogging me and ... it was my very first time. Yep. Never flogged before tonight.

He kept moving up to more and more intense floggers as the time wore on. First his flogging was soft ... then got harder ... and more painful ... then annoying as hell ... then loosened up ... then sort of flowed together ... then became a very nice stinging ... and at that point Master showed me he had been using a very painful single-tailed whip ... and to me it was a pleasant sensation when it hit me ... and that’s when Master knew I was flying, that I had crossed over ... and instead of flogging me he started rubbing my back and caressing it with a very soft flogger ... and ... after awhile he brought me to a bench ... and ... mmmm ... I was flying tonight ... And I still am a bit ...

Within the last month I’ve tried needle play, paddling and flogging ... and I love them all! *bounces*

Speaking of spanking, I got a rather nasty paddling last Saturday, which so happened to be my birthday. Master brought his favorite paddles, laid them out at the club, made me drop my pants and bend over a bench, and proceeded to whack my ass several dozen times (and I’m not saying exactly how many! *winks*) I was buzzing that night, too!

But the fact that we had done a scene earlier in the night made it even more powerful.

The earlier scene was part of a big contest going on called the MacGyver Challenge. Dominants were each given a bag of random stuff bought at a dollar store, and they had five minutes to think up a BDSM scene they could do with their sub using only that stuff.

Master got some Christmas-tree wire tinsel, hair curlers, a toilet brush, latex gloves and three plastic rulers. Soon I was tied to a pillory using the tinsel with my fingers locked together in the hair curlers in front of my breasts while Master started torturing my vagina with the brush and attacking my nipples with the rulers and gloves. I made sure the judges could see I was having an intense experience, and I think that helped. *grins* I did orgasm at least once while he was thrusting the brush between my legs, so I wasn’t pretending or anything! *chuckles*

Out of 13 teams there, Master and I won second place. First place would have been admission to the club for a year (a $700 total value). Second place was admission to the club’s New Year’s party (a $50 value). We probably won’t go, so Master plans to give the tickets as a Christmas gift to somebody.

We’re heading back to the club again tonight. I’ve amazingly got another night off from cooking because they’re having an after-Thanksgiving buffet there. Beats me what Master and I will do afterward. Probably “beats me” is an accurate prediction. *chuckles*

Hmmm ... Maybe the guy who played Tiny Tim will be there again tonight ... *smiles*

La kajira!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maid of All Work -- A domestic servant, who undertakes the whole duties of a household without assistance; her duties comprising those of cook, housemaid, nurserymaid, and various other offices, acccording to the exigencies of the establishment. The situation is one which is usually regarded as the hardest worked and worst paid of any branch of domestic servitude; it is, therefore, usually filled by inexperienced servants, or females who are so circumstanced that they are only desirous of securing a home, and of earning sufficient to keep themselves decently clad. In many of these situations, a servant may be very comfortably circumstanced, especially if it be a limited family of regular habits, and where there is a disposition to treat the servant with kindness and consideration.

The duties of a maid of all work being multifarious, it is necessary that she should arise early in the morning; and six or half-past six o'clock is the latest period at which she should remain in bed. She should first light the kitchen fire, and set the kettle over to boil; then she should sweep, dust, and prepare the room in which breakfast is to be taken. Having served the breakfast, she should, while the family are engaged upon that meal, proceed to the various bedchambers, strip the beds, open the windows, etc. This done, she will obtain her own breakfast, and after washing and putting away the things, she will again go upstairs, and finish what remains to be done there.

As the family will in all probability dine early, she must now set about the preliminaries for the dinner, making up the fire, preparing the vegetables, etc. After the dinner is cleared away, and the things washed and put by in their places, she must clean the kitchen; and this done, she is at liberty to attend to her own personal appearance, to wash and dress herself, etc. By this time the preparation for tea will have to be thought of, and this being duly served and cleared away, she must employ herself in needlework in connection with the household, or should there happen to be none requiring to be done, she may embrace this opportunity to attend to her own personal necessities. Supper has then to be attended to; and this finished, the maid of all work should take the chamber candlesticks, hot water, etc., into the sitting-room, and retire to rest as soon as her mistress or the regulation of the establishment will permit her.

The duties here set down can only be regarded as an outline rather than a detail, the habits of every family varying, and thereby regulating the amount of labour demanded, and the order in which the duties are to be performed. As a rule, however, a maid of all work, if she wish to retain her situation, must be industrious, cleanly, and thoughtful; and not only able to work, but to plan.