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"A dominatrix charged with operating a common bawdy house testified
yesterday about the path that led her to make spanking and humiliation her
stock in trade. Terr-Jean Bedford said she was neglected and malnourished
when she was taken from her parents in Collingwood, Ont., at the age of
six and began a series of turbulent stints in foster homes and reform schools.
She said she was sexually abused by a stepbrother from the age of eight,
and became a promiscuous adolescent who drifted into prostitution and drug
addiction by 16 (Hollie Shaw, Newmarket, Ontario, The Globe and Mail,
August 1, 1998). "'I
really don't like prostitution at all,' said Ms. Bedford, who pleaded guilty
to a charge of prostitution in 1988 and to two other charges in 1990 and
1991 arising from her work in massage parlours. She said that when she began
to work out of her home as a paid dominatrix in 1993, it helped her healing
process as a survivor of sexual abuse. 'It makes me feel powerful,' she
told the court. 'It makes me feel beautiful. Men exalt me as a goddess'"
(Hollie Shaw, Newmarket, Ontario, The Globe and Mail, August 1, 1998).
"A crucial issue at her
trial is whether sadomasochistic acts constitute sex, but she said customers
were not allowed to have sex at her nine-room bungalow in suburban Thornhill.
The women in her employ, called 'mistresses,' were not allowed to have intercourse,
oral sex or masturbate clients, and touched clients' testicles only to tie
them up for bondage rituals, Ms. Bedford said" (Hollie Shaw, Newmarket,
Ontario, The Globe and Mail, August 1, 1998).
"She also described the theatrical element of
sadomasochistic scenarios, for which clients would pay up to $300 an hour.
Reading from a checklist of such games, defence lawyer Alan Young inquired
about 'equestrian training.' 'We dress them up like little ponies and put
a bit in their mouth, ride around on their backs and make them jump over
obstacles,' Ms. Bedford explained. At her home, which was divided into several
theme rooms, Ms. Bedford also gave instruction in 'feminization' for cross-dressers:
how to walk in high heels, serve tea and dust furniture" (Hollie
Shaw, Newmarket, Ontario, The Globe and Mail, August 1, 1998). "The trial, which was originally
expected to wrap up yesterday, continues Aug. 20 and is expected to last
two more days" (Hollie Shaw, Newmarket, Ontario, The Globe and Mail,
August 1, 1998).
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