Strong Women Part II

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The tomb was discovered in 1903 by archaeologist, Howard Carter, who later would go on to discover King Tut’s tomb. Called KV20 because it was the 20th discovered in the Valley of the Kings (scientists are so unimaginative when it comes to naming their discoveries), the tomb opened at the end of a narrow, curving tunnel that had been chiseled some 700 feet downward into the rock. But when Carter made his way to the entrance of the burial chamber, he found whatever treasurers the tomb might have contained had long ago been looted. And the royal sarcophagus was empty. The mummified body of Hatshepsut was gone.

Hatshepsut reigned as king from about 1479 to 1458 B.C. during the golden age of Egypt's 18th dynasty. When her husband, Thutmose II, passed into the afterlife, leaving her stepson, Thutmose III (he had been born to Hapshepsut's husband by a lesser wife) to rule the land, Hatshepsut assumed a role as pharaoh’s queen because the new king was simply too young to rule. This was not without precedence when young heirs ascended to the throne, but what was unusual is what transpired sooner after.

Hatshepsut maintained appearances for a while, but eventually she could not resist throwing off the guise of governess to assume the absolute power of a full-blown king. She guided Egypt through a period of prosperity and peace, and following suit of pharaohs before and after her, she commissioned hundreds of monuments in her honor. She reigned openly as king, and as such did something no other female before or after dared to do. She adopted all the accouterments of male rule. As a result, many of her monuments depicted her as being male rather than female.

Obviously Hatshepsut possessed the necessary ambition and drive to seize power and maintain it. She was indeed a dominant woman. It’s interesting however, that apparently she came to feel it necessary to assume a masculine persona. Was this necessary to gain acceptance from the people she ruled? What a shame it would be if dominant women in today’s FemDom and wife-led marriages felt this way--and acted and dressed like men in order to gain acceptance in a traditionally patriarchal society.

(I wonder though, if I think about it, is strapping on a dildo all that far removed from Hatshepsut’s actions of old?)

After Hatshepsut's death, Thutmose III ascended as king and set about erasing all record of his stepmother’s reign. He commanded that all the images of her as king be systematically chiseled off temples, monuments, and obelisks. Happily, an obelisk honoring Hatshepsut, and amazingly sculpted from a single block of granite, still soars one hundred feet above the ruins of Karnak. It is the tallest such monument in Egypt.

What of Hatshepsut herself? Her mummy, along side that of her wet nurse, was found in nearby tomb KV60. She had been discovered years before but never identified, known only as mummy KV60a. Apparently ancient priests moved had her mummy to a lesser tomb to thwart attempts to desecrate her remains. Happenstance led to discovery of a wooden box with Hatshepsut’s name on it. And inside that box was a single tooth. When investigators completed MRIs of a number of female mummies, it was discovered that a space left by a missing tooth in the lower jaw of mummy KV60a, perfectly matched up with the tooth from the box. Though the proof is not iron-clad, most are convinced that Hatshepsut had been found. Nearly 3,500 years after her death, her mummy has assumed its rightful place alongside the most royal of rulers of ancient Egypt.

Some of Hatshepsut’s expressions inscribed on her obelisk at Karnak still resonate private worries of a dominant, yet sometimes insecure female king: "Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say. Those who see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done." See could never have forseen the likes of yours truly, writing... or the likes of you, reading about what an amazing woman she must have been.

Strong Women Part I

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I don't agree with all of Sarah Palin's politics, in fact lately, I have adopted little more than disdain for politicians in general. But having said that, I can't help but admire Sarah Palin for being a strong, self-assured leader without sacrificing her female sexuality.

I recently read how when asked about the difficulties of balancing her political career with her home life, Palin responded with: “I have a husband. I could have used a wife.”

In talking with women friends about Palin, I am surprised at how many do not like her for various reasons, the least of which often seems to be her politics. But be that as it may, whether one is Palin fan or foe, the point to me is how radically the climate has changed in my 50+ years on Earth regarding roles of the sexes. Forty or so years ago, unless your name was Jackie Kennedy, a woman would never have received such notoriety and attention in the mainstream media. And then, she would be relegated to following in the shadow of a man.

Can you imagine the likes of Jackie Kennedy, or perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt saying they could use a wife instead of a husband? Look out guys, times surely are changing.

A Good Number?

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One is the loneliest number if you’re Three Dog Night. Twelve makes an even dozen… awww, throw in another one for good measure. Sixteen ounces sounds about right for a pound. Same goes for a pint, except of course we’re dealing with different kind of ounces. And TEN, well, ten is a good number of orgasms to have in a year---or so says one of the readers of this blog.

This begs the question:
How many orgasms should a submissive man be allowed to experience in a year’s time?

You won’t get far into discussions about female-led relationships without learning that probably the premiere FLR dynamic is Orgasm Management. In a nutshell, the lady controls her man’s sexual release. She decides when and often even how he has an orgasm. Essentially, the thinking is that a man’s level of attentiveness to a woman is directly proportional to his level of horniness. In conjunction, the level of a man's horniness is directly proportional to the amount of time that has elapsed since his last orgasm.The hornier he is, the more attentive he becomes as a way of earning her permission to have an orgasm.

Alas, as many a woman will attest, once he experiences a Big-O, he regresses into a lazy, remote control hogging couch potato (or thereabouts) that he was before adopting this lifestyle. As a collerary to the orgasm management dynamic in a wife-led marriage, hubby pledges not to pleasure himself, especially to the point of ejaculation. Essentially, hubby remains chaste. There is a running debate in this lifestyle regarding how to ensure the male’s chastity. Some say the honor system should be sufficient if the husband seriously wishes to submit to his wife. Others prefer to rely on a chastity device to provide that extra incentive to help hubby over those times of temptation that invariably pop up from time to time.

A member of the She Makes the Rules forum, who shares a FLR with his wife of 25 years, recently wrote, “…chastity gradually brought us closer together and led to some unexpected results that were very positive. One result was that I absolutely love being locked in my chastity with [my wife] being my key holder.”

So far, it would seem that his orgasm management is more about him than her, but he goes on to say, “I enjoy the concept of her having total control over when and if I am allowed to be released from the device. So far the longest stretch I have remained locked in it has been 5 weeks. The time I remain locked leads me to make other improvements within myself to cater to her in other ways as well. I've been spending more time doing more around the house, and I also have more concern over what she needs both mentally and physically.”

This gentleman is not alone in his thinking. Most submissive men, if being honest, will admit they want a woman to control their sexuality. And the more control a woman exerts, especially if she teases and denies, the more a man wants it—which means the more attentive he will be to her. In the vernacular of the day, that makes for a win/win situation for both wife and husband.

But back to that original question:

How many orgasms should a submissive man reasonably be permitted to enjoy during the course of an average year?