WHAT's UP FOR 2020? MISSY SPEAKS

Dear Readers,

This year celebrates a bit more than one decade of blogging on the subject of Mistresses here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO BLOGSPOT!  My first posts were in April of 2009 but it was a while before I settled on a less spotty and more structured magazine type format that starred a particular Mistress of the Month (or Honorary Mistress of the Month) or particular topic. For some time I was posting affirmations for Mistresses and discontinued that, though the affirmations were tied in with the title Mistress Manifesto, and you can still find them if you search though the archives. In recent years I've sometimes spent more than a month on a subject.  December - Holiday time - my posts are more uniquely topical.

For 2020 I have a list of persons to elect as Mistress (or Mantresses) of the Month, some really good ideas (more than one suggested by readers in Comments) and a growing pile of books I want to read. But... I can't get them at my library.  How could that be?  Is it that the librarians or other staff who actually buy the books don't think there's interest?  Or is it a moral choice not to provide the non-fiction, the memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies of these people who were or are known to the public? 

As a result I did some brain storming while on a vacation and I think you'll find the start of 2020 a little different and interesting.

As I personally learn more and more about Mistresses (and Mantresses) though my reading, research, and writing, if there is anything this blog (and I) stand for, it's CHOICE. We need to explore how much choice we have in this life just as we yearn for experiences and philosophies.

Mistresses have been a hot topic in romance fiction for decades as women as readers especially try on a role that few are suited for or achieve in reality. I encounter hundreds of fiction Mistress books as I search for the nonfiction - the memoirs, biographies, and biopics including at those libraries where I'm a patron. I've come to think that this is partly because readers want to indulge in what is, if not forbidden, an alternative lifestyle via fantasy.

Fiction books make you think. How do you withstand the ardor you feel for someone you can't have completely? Do you really enjoy sneaking around, if you have to, or for how long? Would you stay with him or her if they no longer had the money to Keep you?

While the fantasies of sexual desire, heart pounding love, and living a secret life (at a time when are privacy is so invaded) can sustain some, for others being a Mistress is a reality. It can be a beautiful fulfilling reality for some and for others a harsh and ugly reality: so much depends on the people involved, the personalities, and  if there is love.

Besides love and sex, the monetary rewards of Mistressing are always a question. Today there are more opportunities to have Hook Ups that have Financial Reward of some sort for having a Sugar Daddy/ Momma. Then there is also, overall, less need to be with another person who can afford us. Women are in the workplace almost always now and some are financially supporting families as well as men. (So I'm always interested in learning about women who Keep men and I don't mean the dad who stays at home to care for the children.) Every individual and situation is different, for we all cannot be at the top of the heap, even with college educations, but I feel that the financial motivation for women to be Kept is much less than it once was. In the past even brilliant women were limited by societal norms and expectations and generally unable to obtain education and income producing employment or grow businesses. 

Every situation and person is a bit different.  There are those who have enough, even more than enough, who see being Kept as having even more.  Still, I think love wins out over sex and money.

Looking forward to the New Year,

Missy