Those who are familiar with Stanley Kubrick's 1999 film “Eyes Wide Shut” that starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman might not know that Kubrick based his movie on the 1926 novel “Traumnovelle” (Dream Story) by the Austrian Arthur Schnitzler. Schnitzler was a close friend of fellow Viennese Dr. Sigmund Freud. Schnitzler and Freud were both aware of the stories about secret sex societies within the aristocratic society of Germany and Austria. The New York secret sex society featured in “Eyes Wide Shut” was taken from Schnitzler’s book “Traumnovelle”, which featured a secret sex society in 1920 Austria.

Schnitzler’s inspiration could have been a number of stories and rumors about aristocratic sex societies that supposedly existed in Germany and Austria. The SM Society was rumored to be one such secret society, which was comprised of wealthy men with masochistic desires and the sadistic women who would dominate them.

While it is impossible to prove, the name “SM Society” was more than likely derived from the name of the author who greatly influenced the wealthy German who founded this secret organization. That author would be none other than Sacher-Masoch and his book “Venus in Furs” no doubt was a major influence on those couples who became involved in the SM Society. While it is possible that the S in SM Society stood for Sadist since the female members of the SM Society did engage in sadistic practices with their masochist male partners, it is more probable that the S stood for Sacher and the M stood for Masoch.

Sacher-Masoch was Austrian and it is rumored that the SM Society was active in both Germany and Austria. Since Sacher-Masoch died in 1895, he obviously had no part in the secret society that bore his initials.

However, I think it is safe to assume that his works and his life were the inspiration for this Society’s name. It is interesting to note how popular the Dominatrix remains in Germany today. Perhaps only the United States has more practicing Professional Dominant women. The Dominantly Frauen is alive and well in Germany in the new millennium.

After World War II, the Female Domination lifestyle reemerged, particularly in England. Fetish and Female Domination publications became popular in Europe and by the late 1940’s, Fetish publications began to surface in the United States. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, Irving Klaw did a brisk business selling photos and films of attractive women being both dominant and submissive, wearing bizarre leather, rubber and satin outfits. Klaw was a New York City cheesecake photographer and publisher who began his business (Movie Star News) in 1947. One of his chief models was the popular pinup girl Bettie Page.

She often played the Dominatrix, wearing leather and high heels. In 1955 she won the title "Miss Pin-up Girl of the World." In January 1955, she was the centerfold in Playboy’s January issue. She was nicknamed the

"Girl with the Perfect Figure." It is estimated that Irving Klaw burned over 80% of his photos when the government went after him as a pornographer in the early 60's.