Interview with Filmmaker Bev Thompson

This was originally published in WHACK Magazine. With photos by Dastardly Dave Dawson: https://whackmagazine.com/post/74171071453/interview-with-bev-thompson?fbclid=IwAR2s_tmpJWAdEYqDufp4tOBv72C83uzYXiuTZ5HPOnpz0VtpwjbwpjmKCaA

An interview I did with filmmaker Bev Thompson. We had sorta a weird, innapropriate and unprofessional relationship. Maybe a longer post on that coming some day, but I thought this was a really interesting convo we had and I wanted to share it with you.

When I was a fresh faced barely legal punk rock chick living in NY I was lucky enough to meet Master R and Madame Sang from La Domaine Esemar, which was then and still is the oldest, and some would say finest BDSM training chateau in the entire world. It sits in the hills of upstate NY as a very private establishment. I did an extensive training there as a Professional Dominatrix and have since travelled and worked in dungeons all across America. The chateau still remains a huge and very important part of My life, so when owner Master R informed Me that we had a documentary filmmaker (he called her a Documentrix) filming day to day life in the household I was of course intrigued. Beverly Thompson, a self proclaimed feminist and assistant anthropology teacher at Sienna College has really become a part of all of our lives there, so I thought it was about time to turn the cameras on her and ask some hard hitting questions about her past project “Covered” a documentary about heavily tattooed women, her new project being filmed at La Domaine, and her upcoming book.

Bella Vendetta: so is it weird for you to be on camera after filming other people for so long?

Bev Thompson: I try not to be weird about it because I have to make the other people comfortable so, I have to at least be comfortable. I have to submit to the same process I make other people do, I’d be a hypocrite if not.

BV: But, you’re in your own movie “Covered” which I just watched, and you seemed pretty comfortable. You even had your mom in it

BT: Yah, well, it’s my story, so I think of my participants and myself, it’s like this chorus all singing the same song and telling the same story so I think my story shoul be in there as well.

BV: What was the reaction like to your particular story?

BT: Well, I think the craziest story is that my father still doesn’t know that I have tattoos. Now as the project becomes more public I worry about that

BV: What are you gonna do if he finds out not from you telling him, from like, a newspaper article or something? Would he freak out?

BT: Yah, I probably don’t wanna think about that.

BV: Like, disown you freak out?

BT: No, he would just be disappointed, in a quiet way

BV: what stops you from telling him?

BT: he just hates tattoos. He hates them. He notices them and he’ll be like “look at that person over there, what the hell is wrong with them?”

BV: So you wear long sleeves around him?

BT: yah

BV: Do you still wear long sleeves at your job when you’re teaching?

BT: Yah

BV: what was the classes reaction when they found out that you’re heavily tattooed under your long sleeves?

BT: They’re surprised, sometimes they are gasping and shocked. They have a moment where they can’t reconcile that this is their teacher. I mean people don’t assume that you’re hiding tattoos under your suits

BV: So, this crop of students you have right now probably haven’t seen your movie so they don’t know you’re tattooed.

BT: Right.

BV: So is that part of the reason why you wear long sleeves, or does it have something to do with the administration of the school you work at, and the way they want you to look?

BT: I’m working on the chapter in my book right now on employment discrimination, and I think one of the things that’s different between professional employment and service industry where your very controlled by your employer is that it doesn’t have to be stated, there doesn’t need to be a policy but you just know that to fit into this culture this is the way that you need to look, you need to look like everyone else. And I think especially as junior faculty we’re very insecure about fitting in and becoming a professor, we feel really insecure about the title, so we overemphasize that kind of conservative look. And then, you know my father was also a college professor, and so when I think of a college professor I think of my father.

BV: And you have a tattoo of your father?

BT: Right, I have a portrait of my father on my back, and that’s ironically one of the tattoos that could accidentally pop out of my shirt. So when I’m at his house I have to think about my back, and my neck all the time

BV: Oooh, maybe you did that subconsciously. So who is that tattoo by?

BT: Telisa Swan, she’s in Moscow, Idaho now, but she’s an amazing portrait artist. http://www.swanfamilyink.com/artists

BV: Do you have pieces by many artists, or do you have one specific person you go to for all your work?

BT: I have tattoos from many artists, but they are all women.

BV: So do you travel around to find them?

BT: making the movie I got a lot of tattoos, because I was already travelling around and being around the tattoo culture so much so it was only natural to get tattooed by a lot of my participants. They’re all amazing artists that I really admire and I was happy to get tattooed by them.

BV: So, back to school…you are currently doing a documentary on La Domaine Esemar (www.ladomaine.com) which is a BDSM training chateau in upstate NY, did the school give you permission or a grant, or do they even know about it?

BT: yah, so I have to file for permission with Institutional review Board, and so their job is to protect the confidentiality of participants and to make sure that I have a good consent form. But sometimes that is used overtly as a way to repress certain research that is unpopular.

BV: So is that what they did with this project, were they thrilled that you wanted to do a documentary about sex workers?

BT: Well, that’s hearsay. They were very professional in using their official excuses, and so it would be hearsay for me to say otherwise, but it took six months, and I think that’s excessively long for a research project.

BV: was it that way when you were doing the tattoo project?

BT: No, but this La Domaine project is a full review, so that takes a long time to get approval, whereas “covered” was an expedited review because being heavily tattooed isn’t such a stigmatizes status as being in the sex industry.

BV: So, how did you come to La Domaine, how did you decide you wanted to do this project?

BT: I found La Domaine’s website because I was teaching a class called sociology of deviant behavior, and I dropped them a line and asked if they wanted to be speakers at my class, and Master R invited me over for coffee and to meet them. As soon as I came here I just said hey maybe I could make a movie about you guys, you guys are really interesting, and he thought it was a great idea.

BV: He said yes right away, which is really rare. So when he first told me about you, and that you’d be here filming me I generally would have had a million questions before I even agreed but he seemed so comfortable about it that I just said ok, she can film whatever she wants.

BT: That’s great. I mean that’s the thing about making documentaries, is it’s about relationships, you’re building a relationship, so when you see a really great movie it’s because the filmmaker had that intimacy with the participants that they would be that open. It’s astounding sometimes that people can be so open.

BV: How long do you think you’re going to keep filming this?

BT: A long time. Once it’s completely saturated, it will come to a natural end.

BV: Is it your first experience with the kink world, or were you involved in your personal life?

BT: I took this great class called sex in the city, at New School, in New York City, and that was all about going out into the city and exploring sexual underworld in new york city, and taking field notes. The teacher of that class had done a lot of that kind of work, documenting the sex world in new york city, so then I explored the S&M place in the city, did some workshops, went to Paddles, and attended some events. I remember one day, a group of my classmates went to the cock, in NYC, and I don’t even think there was a womens bathroom so we were not used to such a place, and we would have to walk by all these men having sex trying to find a toilet. I brought my roommate with me who was a law student at NYU, and she had brought her friend, another law student at NYU, and my roommate ended up having sex with this really hot lesbian who walked in, and we were just so awkward just sitting there between all these men having sex, and I was sitting there and there was this man standing there and this guy gets on his knees to suck his cock and he turns to me and says “smile”

BV: Did you?

BT: No, that was probably when I went to get some air. But I really enjoyed that class, and there was 30 people taking that class and we would get together every week and compare notes. SO I really feel like I was specifically trained to do ethnography aimed at the sexual underground.

BV: This is your first project you’re working on by yourself in the sex industry?

BT: yes

BV: Will there be more?

BT: yes, I hope so, I would love to

BV: Has it been different than you thought it would be, getting to know professional Dominas?

BT: Yeah, I’ve been hanging out here for about a year so it’s been a huge learning experience and a huge growth for me. The first time I came here I wanted to run away.

BV: Why?

BT: it was just too much, too quick, it was like my second visit and I didn’t know what to expect at all, and I’d never been to a place like this before, it’s much different than a public club, where you just pay a door fee and anyone can go in. it’s just super intense, being around people who are being sexual is super intense, and I wanted to run away.

BV: But you were too intrigued so you had to come back?

BT: Right, and I just told myself, do you realize how silly you would be if you asked these people if you could come make a movie and then you ran out the door. I told myself to just enjoy feeling this uncomfortable because this is not gonna last.

BV: So, you don’t feel uncomfortable being around the dungeon anymore?

BT: No, I’m completely comfortable, but it took a year. And I told myself I better just savour that discomfort, because it was because everything is new, you lose that when your around here, you forget what it’s like to see this place through fresh eyes.

BV: is this project going to be part of your story too? Or are you just documenting what goes on here?

BT: I would love to write a book or articles or something like that, and so through writing I could really tell my version of the story. But I’m not in front of the camera a lot so it would be hard to add myself to it. I mean I could add narration or interview myself at home or something reflective back on the process, I’ll certainly wanna include myself in some way. I think it’s the most responsible thing for writers or for documentary people is to discuss why they got involved in the project in the first place, and I think that’s any audiences first question too, why are you doing this?

BV: Do you have a good answer for that? Whenever anyone asks me why I’m involved in the sex industry it’s never a cut and dry answer and it’s always hard for me to get it out of my mouth.

BT: Well for this project absolutely yah. Because Master R and I had that immediate comfort with each other and that he would say yah you can make a movie here, how can you possibly pass that kind of opportunity up. I had to do it because, to have that access is amazing. And it’s really fun for me to be here too, and I just really enjoy the people here, these are the people I want to be around.

BV: Do you feel that by doing this project you have become part of the sex industry yourself?

BT: Yah I guess so.

BV: Does that make you feel weird? Is that the first time anyone has called you a sex worker by proxy?

BT: Only here, but the thing is that I’ve thought about the sex industry a lot, my whole life, I started getting into feminist theory when I was 14, and I was brining these stacks of books home. And also I started having sex really young and so at that point it seemed like getting involved in the sex industry could be something that young naïve me could get swindled into it. So I had to be very adamant about you do not do that, ya know. That’s been my attitude, that’s not something I would do and I’ve been kind of anti sex industry as far as my feminist development in the past. I mean, just like, why does this exist in a feminist world, or something like that. SO now, I have to reevaluate all of that and think about that. I’ve decided that now I’m in a completely different stage of my life, because I’m not a 13 year old girl and I can make different decisions and I can even change my mind.

BV: What do you think now of feminism and sex workers and why these things exist?

BT: well, I think it certainly does exist and it’s such a huge social phenomenon, I don’t think my ideas about what should happen have changed. I certainly have always thought that ;prostitution should be legal, because I feel that keeping it illegal really disempowers women, women are just more targeted by that stuff, I’ve always thought that kind of stuff should be legal. I guess I just see the distinction of the different levels, that you can’t make any kind of blanket statements, and that the sex industry is so incredibly big and diverse that some women are being oppressed and living in this disempowered way, and plenty of people have a great story and they are just living a life that they choose and they don’t deal with those kinds of issues. But yes, it’s made me a lot more open minded.

BV: so, since this is for a tattoo magazine, let’s talk about your tattoos for a while. You’re covered in snakes, tell me about that.

BT: I was born in the Chinese year of the snake, so I identify with that part of my zodiac, and I also have pet snakes and I always liked snakes, I think they’re cool animals. So I have two snakes from Emma Griffiths http://emmagriffithstattoo.com/, that’s my latest one.

BV: With plans for more snakes in the future?

BT: Probably, I still have all my legs to do, I wanna get the outside of my legs done, I have a full backpiece, right now I have half sleeves, I’d love to get full sleeves, but I’d love to keep some naked parts.

BV: So you’re going to keep it so you can wear a suit and be secretly tattooed.

BT: Yah, I don’t wanna get anything soon that’s visible like hands or neck. The neck doesn’t appeal to me but the hands I love. Hand tattoos totally appeal to me.

BV: It’s a totally different ballgame when you have visible tattoos, it changes the whole ballgame.

BT: Yah, and I can’t handle that, that’s why I wouldn’t wanna do it, I can’t take the constant attention. I have to be able to hide from that, I’m very sensitive to it, I hate it, and I don’t want to ever be in a situation where I can’t protect myself from the stares.

BV: Well, don’t hang out with me too much

BT: No, it’s great to have the stares deflected.

BV: I forget a lot, because I hang out with so many heavily modified people, and then when we go in public I’m like, oh yah look at us we’re a bunch of freaks to most of the world.

BT: That’s actually exactly what my book is fighting against it’s to promote tattoo acceptance.

BV: So when is this book coming out and what is it called?

BT: it’s called “Covered women, the social stigma of ink” and it will be coming out in two years by NYU press.

BV: Is there a launch date for the La Domaine Esemar documentary?

BT: No, not yet, I’m hoping within two years. But there’s two projects really, one is the actual movie, and one will be short web episodes that will be on the youtube channel, and vimeo, and those are anywhere from one to ten minutes and those come out on a rolling basis.

BV: I think I asked you this the other day, but would you ever consider releasing an X rated version of the actual sessions and things you’ve been able to film?

BT: I haven’t actually filmed anything X rated

BV: The other day you did! That was X rated!

BT: Ok….yah. I do try to cut out any actual penetration from the movie, there might be penetration going on but I don’t show it. At this time I’d say no because my aim is to be more educational.

BV: How do you feel about educational porn movies?

BT: That would be the tactic to convince me.

BV: Mental note taken.

BT: As long as there’s an educational component to it, but the thing is the material shouldn’t be too explicit because I am also trying to aim towards a non kinky audience and to be able to explain to a general audience what’s going on so too much explicit content is going to be a barrier to that kind of thing. But I’ve also seen some S&M documentaries or documentaries about sex workers that have too little sex in them.

BV: I usually feel that way. How do you really know what a Dominatrixes daily life is unless you see a whole scene, which isn’t always X rated either. But anyway, that’s it for me for this interview, let’s go film something X rated.