A dominatrix is a woman who takes the dominant role in sado-masochistic sexual practices. The male equivalent is a dominant or master.
Although most dominatrices are not, necessarily, professional dominants ("pro dommes"), and only dominate people that they are in a relationship with, most professional dominants are dominatrices (i.e. female). This may be related to the stigma associated with male submissives, and the difficulty of some male submissives in finding compatible female partners. A dominatrix who is NOT a pro domme is known as a lifestyle dominatrix.
Note that a dominatrix does not necessarily dominate a male partner; a dominatrix may well have a female submissive.
The term domme is a coined pseudo-French female variation of the slang dom (short for dominant). There is confusion on its pronunciation, with some pronouncing it identically to dom and some pronouncing the final e as a second syllable, e.g. saying dom-MAY or DOM-may. It appears that more BDSM authorities prefer the first pronunciation (identical to dom), by analogy to one-syllable French-derived words like femme or blonde. [1] (http://mistressmatisse.blogspot.com/2004/05/bdsm-word-of-day-domme.html)[2] (http://www.fhp-inc.com/writings/essential_domme.html)[3] (http://www.sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/writing/internetwriting.htm)[4] (http://www.soulshaven.f2s.com/intro_terms.php3)
Most famous dominatrices are professional dominants, since most other people's sex lives remain private.
The drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has featured a recurring professional dominatrix character Lady Heather, who is depicted in a sympathetic manner.
The film Eating Raoul features Doris the Dominatrix, who, when off the job, is actually a married mother.
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