City chiefs to monitor 'dominatrix' workshops

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Safety chiefs are planning to monitor "dominatrix" workshops to be held in a sex dungeon at a festival of erotica.

Officers from the City of Edinburgh Council's environmental health department have confirmed they will be watching the event closely.

The free fetish workshops, which will be run by full-time dominatrix Mistress Ava, are to be held at Edinburgh's Erotic Festival from August 29 to 31.

The 28-year-old from Edinburgh has insisted that, while the activities can be dangerous, her sex dungeons are completely safe.

Her "play room" at the Scottish capital's Corn Exchange, which is hosting the Erotic Festival, will contain whips, chains, blindfolds and unusual furniture.

Mistress Ava's workshops will include tie and tease sessions, simple restraining with silk scarfs, cuffs and ropes and pleasure zones. The 40-minute sessions are entitled Enhancing Sexual Play With Erotic Domination.

A spokesman for the council said: "We are aware of this event and our officers will be monitoring it to ensure health and safety is not compromised."

Mistress Ava, who declined to give her real name, said the workshops were aimed at couples looking to spice up their love life. The first-aid-trained dominatrix said she would teach couples how to avoid the danger of injury during bondage.

"Safety is a major aspect because if you do bondage wrong, you could block circulation of an artery - I'll be teaching people how to prevent that," she said.

Vincent Delicato, spokesman for the festival, said: "The workshops will be very gentle, they won't be vicious and no blood will be let."