‘Ask a Mistress’ designed for show and tell

By Sarah Feldberg

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 | 6:58 p.m.

If Dr. Drew Pinsky were an Irish woman with a slight accent and an expertise rooted in bondage culture and cathartic play, he’d be Rowynn Eire, the woman behind the educational show “Ask A Mistress” playing Aug. 19 at the Onyx Theatre.

Since moving to Las Vegas last March, Eire, a professional dominatrix, has been working to educate what she describes as a “close-minded” local population in a city that hardly lives up to its Sin City moniker.

“... This is the first city I’ve been to that really advertises itself as Sin City and it is so sin light,” she said.

The way Mistress Rowynn, as she calls herself, sees it, Vegas is just a bit naughty. The real sin, her bread and butter, is found more readily in places like L.A. and Chicago.

“There’s a lot of generic sin here – like, haha, sequins and (vulgarity) – which is great. It’s cute and everything; it makes a great show on the Strip. But the scene here is really bad, very close-minded.”

With 10 years as a professional Eire has made it her personal mission to help Las Vegas take on its more sinful inclinations. Eire has found she’s the most useful working just like Dr. Drew – on the couch, taking questions.

“I started a show on the Internet,” Eire explains of her recent foray into YouTube. “We’ve got 10 episodes out now. It’s called ‘Ask A Mistress.’ It’s just a very, very boring, straight-forward educational show.”

Boring, that is, except for her subject matter and the people who send her inquiries via e-mail every single day. They come from experienced practitioners of bondage with 25 years in the scene and from newbies looking for an authoritative voice to tell them that they’re normal. All kinds of people write to her.

“There’s a lot of young people who are 18, 19, 20 [years old] just getting out on their own who are like, ‘Is this normal? How do I tell my girlfriend?’ I get a lot of people who have certain fetishes, but they’ve never really asked about the safety for those fetishes . . .. They just don’t know. But I know, so now all I do is answer questions.”

Over the phone, Eire isn’t exactly what you’d expect from someone who makes a living using what could be considered weapons in the wrong hands. She has an easy sense of humor and a ready laugh that returns often as she jokes about her profession and her day to day life.

On Aug. 19, Eire is bringing “Ask A Mistress” to the stage for the first time at the Onyx Theatre, but rather than fielding questions from curious people around the country, Eire will be answering to her audience. The evening will include a Q&A session and then will segue into demonstrations by Eire and an assistant.

“It’s very dangerous if you don’t know what to do with it,” Eire says seriously. “I hear about injuries all the time."

Eire’s skills with her tools, however, have evolved from the odd jobs she held before going full time in her profession. A former graphic designer, janitor and security guard at the Reno Events Center, Eire’s stint as a professional sword fighter is what helped her get handy with a whip.

Eire views herself as sort of alternative therapist, someone who helps her clients achieve a “cathartic release” through the careful application of various techniques.

“For some people, therapy and chemicals are what they need,” she acknowledges. “I’m not a doctor and I won’t pretend that I’m qualified to tell people what they need, but for the people who happen to contact me, I’m what they do instead of therapy. And for most of them it seems to work.”