Of course the desire for Female Domination is nothing new. The book "Venus in Furs" by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was written over 130 years ago. It is about a man with strong masochistic and submissive fantasies. He worships the Goddess Venus and he pursues his fantasies when he meets a wealthy woman named Wanda, with whom he starts a romance. He tells her of his masochism and his desire to be her slave.

She agrees to indulge his fantasy out of her love for him but ends up loving being a dominant and sadistic woman and exceeds his wildest expectations. It is a very common story that has been played out in real life by couples over and over again. The man introduces the wife or girlfriend to his submissive fantasies and desires. The wife indulges the husband or boyfriend purely out of her love for him, but the woman grows to love her newly discovered power and dominant nature. Thus, she ends up taking her man deeper into submission to her than he ever dared fantasized about.

In this book, Wanda whips the male character Severin while wearing furs (at his request). This book was written in 1869 and to the author, fur was that day's leather. It was a common European male's fetish for the same reason leather is today. It was the power clothing of its day. Fur represented man's natural conquest through the hunting and dominating of the animal kingdom. When a woman wore fur and disciplined a man, it represented the female conquering and dominating the male. That is what leather represents today. It is the hide of an animal made into a smooth and sexy material. When a woman is adorned in leather, it sends off psychological and subliminal messages to the submissive male. Fur was the leather of the nineteenth-century, Venus is a Goddess, thus the title "Venus in Furs". If the book were written today it would probably be called, "Goddess in Leather".

Not only did Leopold von Sacher-Masoch write books about his desires to be dominated by a woman, he actually pursued these desires in his real life. His first wife actually changed her name to Wanda (after the female character in "Venus in Furs") and she whipped Leopold while wearing furs. Leopold even signed a contract surrendering his life over to his wife, much like the contract the character Wanda drew up in "Venus in Furs". The German neurologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing coined the word "Masochist" from the sexual desires of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Today, this book enjoys a cult like following from those who embrace the Female Domination lifestyle. Some have credited “Venus in Furs” with birthing Female Domination into the mainstream of society.