Review: The Diary of a Submissive

The Diary of a Submissive: A True Story by Sophie Morgan was published in the wake of the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. It stands up as a fantastic read quite independent of those books, but can also be seen in the context of the furore about apparently normal women going all giddy over a fantasy dom.

Sophie’s book is an incredibly brave, frank, detailed and intimate journal of her development as a sexual submissive. In her case, contrary to the virginal (never even wanked?!) heroine of *that* book, these tendencies are present from childhood in a fascination with captured damsels in distress. I actually wondered where it was all going when the book meandered through Sophie’s childhood, early romances and university life. But taking her story as a whole, this chronological journey is crucial to the balance: that this is a perfectly normal person with a family, a career and a fondness for home baking, who happens to love kinky sex.

By the time Sophie meets James – who has obvious parallels to the hero of *that* book in being rich and gorgeous – I was completely drawn into her story. I cared what happened. I desperately wanted things to work out between them. When, after a weekend in which she suffers/enjoys the deepest humiliations and pain of her life, he fails to return her calls, I was outraged on her behalf. I was also nearly late for work because I didn’t want to stop reading.

If you read purely for the sexy bits (surely not?), you won’t be disappointed. There are plenty of scenes of spanking of various kinds, nipple torture, bondage, humiliation and degradation. I suppose aficionados of intricate bondage might be disappointed; this is much more about the psychological side of submission, although there is the odd set of handcuffs and blindfolds in there too. I won’t be able to look at chopsticks as innocent eating implements again.

A lot of thought has been put into that psychological foundation behind domination and submission and I found Sophie’s discussions of it insightful as she comes to terms with her own nature in a completely unashamed way. She writes in the epilogue: ‘I’ve been thinking more about my nature – submissive and otherwise – than I ever have before and trying to put it into words that are both sexy and truthful.’ And I’d say she has succeeded. 

You can read more from Sophie in Six Reasons Fifty Shades of Grey isn't True to Life, a guest post at Victoria Blisse's blog.