about salon kitty's

• What is Salon Kittys?
• History
• The Law
• Ethics

What is Salon Kitty's?

Many of those Mistresses, Masters and submissives advertise their services on this web site, and they invite you to meet them and negotiate a session. Salon Kitty's task is to facilitate your mutual pleasure.
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Salon Kitty's History

Salon Kitty was created in October 1985, in the red light area of Sydney's Kings Cross. It began with a number of Mistresses looking for somewhere to carry out their sessions coming together with an entrepreneur in a magnificent Victorian mansion in the old Victoria St. area of the city.

Before Salon Kitty's came into being, bondage houses had mostly been seedy small places hiding in the inner suburbs of Sydney. Salon Kitty's appearance coincided with a new enlightenment regarding psychosexual services in this country. Establishments such as Salon Kitty's were gradually finding their way out of the back lanes and into the light of day.

For the first time here was a stable establishment run by benign management that set out to create an environment that is both functional and tasteful, discreet and professional in every respect.

Amanda Dwyer began conducting essions in the very early days. She left to set up her own private dungeon and returned three years later as the new owner when the original entrepreneurs realised that good intentions are no substitute for hands-on experience in this most unusual of businesses.

In 1990, in response to very specific needs, plus the desire for security of tenure, Salon Kitty's moved to Surry Hills, an inner city suburb of Sydney, just six minutes by taxi from the city centre. Salon Kitty's now occupies two adjoining Victorian terraces, refurbished, redecorated and suitably equipped.

The current premises are fully approved by authorities including health departments.

Salon Kitty's is regarded as the premiere house of Domination in Australia, and ranks as one of the very best anywhere. In BDSM as in most fields, the best are attracted to centres of excellence. Pro Dommes like to conduct their sessions in the best environment and with others who have the same high standards. Amanda Dwyer, who herself continues to actively participate as a dominant and in 'switch' sessions, has a realistic understanding of what motivates and satisfies the instincts to dominate or to submit, and of the physical environment required.

Salon Kitty's, You and The Law

The legal status of BDSM varies widely around the world. Salon Kitty's is governed by the laws of the State of New South Wales, Australia. We have some of the most enlightened and sane laws anywhere in the world. As a client of Mistresses or others at Salon Kitty's, there are no laws that impinge on you. You may enter our premises and carry out a session with absolutely no fear of any statute relating to your BDSM activities*. Such regulations as exist apply to the practioners, the Mistresses, submissives and Masters, and the proprietor of the establishment rather than to the client.

In less enlightened jurisdictions, some BDSM practitioners pretend that what they do is not "sexual" in an attempt to circumvent local laws, or else they offer a limited range of services.

This does not mean that we do not have to comply with laws. On the contrary, we have routine inspections by Health, Work Safety and Municipal Authorities. This means that you can be sure there are government instrumentalities whose job is to ensure that we comply with best practice.

During the early 1990's, Amanda was a leading figure working toward a complete rationalisation of the laws regulating our industry.

In late 1995, the NSW Government passed the Disorderly Houses Amendment Act 1995 which removed brothels from the jurisdiction of the police. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act was also ammended, to give local councils full responsibility for brothel development approval. This covers all sexual activity, including BDSM. It also includes non-sexual activities carried out at Salon Kitty's premises, such as piercing and other BDSM activities, for which we also sought and obtained approval. Unlike some other unfortunate people, we don't have to pretend that BDSM is not sexual in it's nature. You, can simply enjoy what you do in a safe and sane environment.

*naturally, you still have to comply with the normal law of the land. Salon Kitty's does NOT condone bad behaviour, illegal drugs, drunkeness or dangerous play.
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Salon Kitty's Ethics

The essential ethic of all BDSM practice is mutual consent. To discipline without consent is assault. To carry out a sexual act without consent is rape. Salon Kitty's, in line with the entire BDSM scene does not condone any act that does not have the explicit consent of the submissive partner.

There is a perception that Bondage and Discipline will result in crimes of violence and depravation. There is no doubt that unfortunately some criminals are depraved and sadistic and tie up their victims and inflict hideous acts on them. These individuals are a blight on any society. But this stands in the same relationship to the BDSM 'scene' as does rape to making love. The act may appear the same, but one is criminal and the other is loving. The Dominant seeks out a partner who will submit, the submissive seeks out a partner who will dominate. The criminal seeks out a victim, the victim has no say in the matter and certainly does not seek out the criminal.

Implied in consent is the responsibility of the dominant partner in any BDSM scene to monitor the well being of the submissive, to ensure that the submissive is stable and that the consent is still operative.

It is also the responsibility of a dominant to ensure that a submissive is not consenting to an act that is not in his or her best long term interest. Obviously nobody can be certain of the outcome of any act, but it is a responsibility to monitor the submissive as conscientiously as possible.

Neither partner should indulge in heavy drinking or drug taking as this can impair judgement resulting in serious accidents.

Safe Words. It is accepted practice to use a 'safe word' in a BDSM scene. This may be a code word, or in some cases an action. At Salon Kitty's, the standard word is "mercy", but the word varies from scene to scene, and should be established by the parties before a scene begins. In BDSM scenes, the literal word 'no' is never used as a safe word. It is a case where no rarely means no. But even so, a skilled dominant is always alert to what is going on. Submissives not infrequently reach a trance like, almost metaphysical state, and it is the responsibility of the dominant to monitor this.

Given that scenes only happen with consent, there is considerable philosophical discussion as to whether a submissive is controlling a scene by giving or withdrawing consent to particular activities. The passive partner may well withdraw consent as soon as the dominant begins an activity they don't like. Pedantically speaking, a dominant/submissive relationship does not exist unless this element of consent is removed, but this is a problem only for the purist. In the real world, judgement must be used.

If you are interested in any of the many areas of BDSM, and Domination and Submission we encourage you to carefully explore yourself in a safe, healthy, harm-free way. Never force someone into a BDSM 'scene' against their will. Criminal bondage and sadism are sometimes confused with the loving relationships which are part of our scene. In order to enjoy the possibilities that the world of BDSM offers, one must first discover respect and trust, both of oneself and of others. The development of trust and respect governs how far the dominant and submissive can explore their levels.

Many submisives will seek out a dominant whom they feel will extend them. They will look for a dominant who will enable them to submit to higher levels of pain, discomfort, or forms of humiliation, all for the purpose of giving the dominant pleasure. This request often comes from the submissive, therefore the dominant needs to know just how much further they can push their submissive into the area the submissive wishes to extend. It is a very complimentary and symbiotic form of relationship. One partner cannot work without the other.