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A review by avoryfaucette
Under Her Thumb by Dominic Santi, Kathleen Bradean, Lisabet Sarai, Colin, Teresa Noelle Roberts, Veronica Wilde, Lawrence Westerman, Anne Grip, Giselle Renarde, Andrea Dale, T. R. Verten, David Wraith, Andrea Zanin, D.L. King, Midori, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Valerie Alexander, Evan Mora, Laura Antoniou, Aimee Nichols, Leela Scott, Jacqueline Brocker
5.0
I found this anthology absolutely delightful, showcasing the humanity of realistically-portrayed dominant women rather than relying on everyone's favorite bitch goddess in heels that practically hobble her trope. This is another anthology that starts with a very strong first story, Andrea Zanin's "Quiet," and I love how the protagonist acknowledges this trope and the struggle of being a female dominant in public playspaces.
The same story also looks at how male submissive beauty is either ignored or fit into incorrect assumptions.
I want to put that quote on my bedroom wall, just saying. Another highlight of the anthology is Rachel Kramer Bussel's "Subdar," a delightful first-encounter story featuring a salt-and-pepper instinctive sub whom you kind of just want to take home and cuddle (or do dirty things to, perhaps simultaneously). I love the quiet power of the female character as she has him simply kneel in a public restroom while she's on the toilet. On a completely different tone, I appreciated the downright dirty multiple-femmes-on-blindfolded-boy queer story, "The Dinner Party," which Anne Grip opens with a lovely image of a woman's floral party dress showing off the silhouette of what she's packing underneath.
This review was originally published on the Sex Positive Activism blog and now appears at Queer & Now.
Tonight, she has been on display. This was not her intention. It doesn't matter that she dressed up for her own pleasure [... ,] the public clubs are full of people who do not know what they are looking at. They are populated by men who see only their fantasies come to life, not the flesh-and-blood women in front of them. These men do not notice his devotion, or his beauty. They see only her, and only her contours, at that.
The same story also looks at how male submissive beauty is either ignored or fit into incorrect assumptions.
This is not humiliation. There is nothing humiliating about being beautiful or about being feminine. She, herself, is both of those things, and many more. She cannot fathom how encouraging these qualities and others could possibly be shameful or worthy of mockery. There is also nothing humiliating about submission. It is a gift and all the finer when given selectively.
I want to put that quote on my bedroom wall, just saying. Another highlight of the anthology is Rachel Kramer Bussel's "Subdar," a delightful first-encounter story featuring a salt-and-pepper instinctive sub whom you kind of just want to take home and cuddle (or do dirty things to, perhaps simultaneously). I love the quiet power of the female character as she has him simply kneel in a public restroom while she's on the toilet. On a completely different tone, I appreciated the downright dirty multiple-femmes-on-blindfolded-boy queer story, "The Dinner Party," which Anne Grip opens with a lovely image of a woman's floral party dress showing off the silhouette of what she's packing underneath.
This review was originally published on the Sex Positive Activism blog and now appears at Queer & Now.