What in the World is Findom? (and researching it)

Findom, or Financial Domination, is a sexual fetish whereby the participant voluntarily gives, or 'tributes', money, gifts or financial control to the another partaker. The two participants are often referred to as Subs and Doms (submissives and domiants). Although the fetish is solely about the transfer of money, it often comes hand in hand with other elements such as humiliation, degrading, and dominating in other ways. It typically takes place between men and women, with men assuming the submissive role - however gay findom also takes place where both participants are men, with the dominant partaker being homo or heterosexual.

This is the element of findom I will be focusing on. From my research and awareness of the subject, this area is completely unrepresented online or in any media at all. This is the gap in media and direction I will taking this project.

Research: Twitter: Scouring through twitter has definitely been the most effective and most eye opening way of looking into this topic. A simple search of #Findom brings up a plethora of accounts, both of the submissive and dominant areas of the scene. This seems like a good place to start with finding more interviewees, although the nature of this subject does mean I'm expecting no responses, hostile responses and people not willing to talk about the subject. Literature and Research: Establishing the research and information already gathered will also be a great way to establish what has already been written. I'm also planning on contacting the the authors/academics who have written some of these papers as their opinion and research will be a great professional opinion to have in the article. Bellow are examples of very few research papers/articles i could find and have read.

• Exploring the concept of financial domination on social media: sentiment and text analysis on Twitter

• Fintech/findom : on emergent sex publics and the anthropology of desire

• Subversive or Not? Analysing the Findom in Heterosexual Intimate Relationships

Existing Articles: Similarly to the above literature section, there isn't much already out there - Especially regarding gay findom, this is the main reason why I chose this topic! There are a few articles, mainly on websites such as Medium and Shorthand, in a similar vein to the way I am doing it, but these all focus quite heavily on the Dominant perspective. My piece will focus on those who are submissive and their stories, experiences and the dangers they can face.

What's next? I will be contacting my already established interviewees to confirm they're happy to talk and hopefully plan this. At this stage it is still a very early stage and these are not confirmed interviews at all. The subjects nature definitely means I'm expecting some or even all of them have doubts on talking about this subject. This is where I need to assure them anonymity and whatever they would like to feel safe to speak to me. I will also start to contact other potential sources, more submissive participants, dominant participants, and some professionals and academics who are aware of the fetish.

Please go follow my social media accounts for updates on the project: Twitter Instagram