What could an unemployed, separated woman in Ireland in the 1980s do to earn money? 

Jobs at that time were thin on the ground but it turned out there was a position with a severe shortage of people willing to do it.

The job was that of dominatrix and that’s what Susan Bluechild’s mother decided to do.

Nearly 40 years on, Susan is telling her mother’s story in a podcast Real Mistress Elaine. 

“She was always researching ideas, she was always reading, she was very heavy into books and psychology,” Susan told Moncrieff.

“Having lived in London and been exposed to Soho strip clubs, the West End of London - all these sorts of things - it wasn’t anything taboo or new to her.

“You would always see British tabloids stories… you’d see women who had gone into for survival maybe doing BDSM work.

“They didn’t have to have sex - that was the fantastic thing about it.”

'Full of letters'

After a lot of thought, Susan’s mother put an ad in a Dublin magazine and was flooded with responses by men looking to meet up.

“Dominant mistress seeking naughty boys and the postman had to ring the bell because within a few weeks there were parcels full of letters that came to apply for the position,” Susan said.

“There were about 80 replies that came in on the first load.

“My mother always used to say, we had a big recession in Ireland when this all started but as she used to say, ‘There’s no recession when it comes to sex.’”

Susan’s mother phoned each respondent and told them she expected a fee in exchange for her services.

At that point, half lost interest while the rest were still keen to meet up.

Generally speaking, they tended to be educated men who were successful in their careers.

‘Oops, she’s got a client in'

“She organised the appointments daily between 12 and 2 and they would come to the house sometimes between 1pm and 5pm,” Susan said.

“I came home from school one day and there she was scantily thread through the sitting room window and there was a partially naked man in a black thing doing the hoovering while she was lashing him on the arse,” she said.

“I thought, ‘Oops, she’s got a client in and I better go down to the local shop and get myself a can of coke.’

“I came back 40 minutes later and I think he’d given her 40 or 50 quid to do the cleaning while she gave him a few lashes on the arse.”

Most children in Ireland would be horrified by such an encounter but Susan said she "understood" her mother's plight and the pair always had a “close” relationship.

You can listen back here:

Main image: Dominatrix with whip seated on the edge of a bed. Picture by: Alamy.com