When we discovered that Denver has its very own house of professional domination, Pavlovia Denver, we just had to find out more about the brains behind the operation. We found Headmistress Saskia to be an articulate, sassy, gorgeous and fascinating woman indeed. Here's what we learned:

1. Who are you and what do you do, and how long have you been doing it?

I'm Mistress Saskia.  I'm a professional dominant (dominatrix) and also the headmistress of Pavlovia Denver, which is a house of professional domination, where people can come in for private sessions where they'll experience bondage, crossdressing, roleplay, spankings, whippings, fetishes or more challenging types of play.  We also see couples for private lessons.  I've been Denver's Delightfully Demented Dominatrix since 1996 and headmistress of Pavlovia since 2002, which is when I began taking on apprentice dominants and teaching them how to play safely and superbly, whether with paying clients or personal partners.

2. What's your favorite thing about the work you are doing?

I can never think of just one thing I love most about my work.  Some of my work is the usual work that comes with running any small business, but some of it is performing at events, presenting workshops, giving private lessons, scheduling appointments for everyone on staff, and, of course, seeing clients myself.  I always love one-on-one play, especially when a client comes in and is happy to let me take the lead and create a mind-blowing experience for them that'll leave them high on dopamines for days.  I never get enough of that.  I think my second love is teaching, though.  I love finding ways to take a lot of the things I've learned over the past 14 or 15 years and making them accessible to people who are looking for ways to explore themselves and their partners.

3. What (or who) inspires you to do this work?

Definitely the people I interact with.  I'm completely fascinated by people and am deeply curious about what makes each of us tick.  Everyone's so much more complex than they ever seem on the surface, and everyone I come into contact with gets something different from kink.  Some people are happy with the occasional spanking - giving, getting or both - and don't need much more.  Some people find their bliss with some silk scarves for light restraint and blindfolding in bed while someone does light, sensual stimuli over their entire body.  And some people will dip a toe in the water, decide they like it, and never stop exploring to find out else they can experience and learn with kink.  

Some people find being in bondage incredibly freeing and they relax deeply into it, entering into a blissful, calm state that can seem trance-like at times. Some enjoy the discomfort of being tied into positions that they have to maintain past the point most people would tolerate.  Some love a bit of rope burn on their skin.  Some love the challenge of working with different types of bodies and use rope bondage as an artistic expression, and every person you tie is not only a new canvas, but a new palette.  Some enjoy trying to tie up an escape artist who'll challenge their skills at creating inescapable bondage.  I love that for every kink and for whatever role suits you, there's someone eager to test the waters right along with you.

4. Who do you hope to touch with the work you're doing?

My constant goal is to have anyone I'm working with get to a point where they have no shame about their kinks and where they feel free to try out not only the things they've always wanted to, but also things they'd never have thought of on their own.  We're so limited by conditioning we're rarely aware of, I think it really limits our ability to know ourselves fully.

Kink is not the only avenue to self-actualization or self-understanding, but it's one way to at least free ourselves from a lot of gender and sexual repression.  When you willingly open yourself to an experience that you find intimidating or challenging - physically, emotionally or otherwise - you come out the other side of it changed for the better.  You learn that the things you feared so much were certainly difficult, but that you've survived them just fine and they were surprisingly enjoyable. 

5. What's your favorite decadent treat?

Sushi Den makes a salmon and caviar handroll that's to die for.  If I really want to spoil myself, I'll order one of those and a split of champagne.  I've been to dozens of sushi restaurants over the past 20 years in Denver, and nobody makes a handroll the way they do.  I've had orgasms eating those, and I am not kidding. 

6. Do you have a favorite sex icon? If so, who?

It's a tossup between Annie Sprinkle and Nina Hartley.  Annie's such an exceptional sex educator, activist and performer.  She's incredibly giving of herself and has been who she is during times in our cultural history when it was not easy to be out and open about who she is and what she does.  I have tremendous respect for people who've forged frontiers and continue to stay ahead, reporting back on what they've found.  Annie Sprinkle does all that.  As for Nina Hartley, the woman is drop-dead gorgeous no matter what age she is, she's a fantastic presenter if you ever have a chance to attend one of her workshops, and, like Annie, has had the balls to not only go against the social mores that dictate what a "good woman" is allowed to do, but has succeeded remarkably by doing so. 

7. What has been your biggest challenge in this endeavor?

Learning the business has been difficult.  It's not something your competitors will teach and it's not something there are any classes for.  Everything I learned about running the business as a business - and I don't just mean getting the skills set necessary to run a good professional session with a client - I learned by trial and error.  I cannot believe how naive I was back when I started, and how slow I was to catch on to some of the things that seem so obvious now.  I think the only right thing I did from the start was to consult with an attorney to find out exactly what was and was not legal for me to do with clients.  I never had any intention of exchanging sex for money; I didn't find that very interesting, despite constant offers in my beginning years.  There are some states where bondage or flogging in exchange for money is illegal, and I wanted to find out precisely what I could do that would be in keeping with the letter and spirit of the law.  I was a bit bemused to find that there were things that were legal in Colorado that I didn't particularly want to do anyway, and very happy to learn that I can play in all sorts of ways that keep me from losing interest in my job yet don't have me risking arrest.

8. What is the biggest misconception you face in our society?

A lot of people assume that professional dominants hate men.  They assume that there's a degree of contempt for our clients, and when the clients themselves (not always men, by the way) come in with that assumption, it can be difficult to get them to understand that we see ourselves more as a kind of therapist than anything, and that we genuinely want our time together to be mutually rewarding.  It's very difficult to do a job well if you despise the people who you're working with.  It's a soul-killer and is so unhealthy.  If someone calls in that I don't think we'll be compatible with, I'll refer them elsewhere.  If someone calls in and they're rude, demanding or insisting on sex, I won't subject myself or anyone on staff to poor treatment.  If I wasn't careful about screening and trying to match clients up to a staff member they'll be compatible with then yes, we'd end up hating our clients, and nobody wants a job like that if they can help it.  

Another misconception is that we're actually having sex with clients.  Professional domination is considered sex work, just as stripping and phone sex are types of sex work.  I talk to professional dominants in many other countries, and even in the countries where prostitution is completely legal, the women in those countries tell me that they don't have sex with clients because it would completely disrupt the power exchange.  If we wanted to have sex for money, we'd just do that.  What's far more entertaining, though, is to have someone begging for release and to laugh while they squirm, or - better yet - to spank, flog, whip, cane or otherwise torment someone until they're so high on endorphins and dopamines that a standard orgasm is the last thing on their minds.  The highs you can get from playing with a skilled dominant last so much longer and are so much more intense than a typical orgasm. 

There are some highly skilled prostitutes around that can give incredible experiences to their clients.  If people are doing what they're enjoying and are really good at it, more power to them.  What I enjoy doing, though, is a lot more gratifying to me than sex.  And S&M is to sex what rock climbing is to a walk on the beach: the adrenaline rush is effectively incomparable. 

9. Where do you see yourself in five years?

I hope to have buckled down and done some photo projects and writing.  I like using the human body as art and I'd like to learn more about photography and lighting so that I can not only create temporary art projects on friends and fun-loving acquaintances, but can then translate what I'm trying to express into something others will be able to see the way I see it.  I enjoy doing temporary body modifications, predicament bondage, fire play and other visually beautiful things with willing partners, and so much of that is over far too soon.  I'd like to start creating more documentation of what I'm exploring with other people.