Text by Joy Arnold, Copyright 2022
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Photography: Tony Ward – Creative Director: KVaughn – Hair Stylist: Michael Connor. Copyright 2022
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From Russia With Love: Part 1
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Past: Miss Joy’s Tale
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I have this notion that everything in my past has led me where I am today…. I grew up in a small town called Dorothy, NJ where there’s only 1600 citizens, most people garden or hunt and where the kids grow up to become nurses or school teachers. I was an only child who relied on my imagination and the internet for most of my fun – I was also the victim of relentless bullying from the girls, boys and even the kids in grades below me. Frankly, I was the kid who farted in class, grabbed boys’ butts and wrote raunchy fanfictions at lunch.
I graduated the 8th grade in 2010 and by this time, Tumblr was becoming a big thing and the internet was still a shiny new playground full of wormholes to get stuck in. I spent a lot of time in my early teenage years looking up BDSM related topics on Wikipedia, watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and surfing moody blogs with heavy undertones of pro-ana and softcore porn. When I came across hardcore scenes taking place in dark, dusty dungeons, I associated it with the medieval castles described in books I would read about romance and time travel. The idea of beating a topless chambermaid shackled to my bedroom wall as a gentle breeze kisses my face still lives rent free in my mind….
I got my first sex work job during the spring of 2015 as a stripper at Volcanic Eruptions in Mays Landing, NJ when I decided community college wasn’t my jive. It was a seedy little place where girls did meth in the bathroom and did extras out of the eye of the cameras in the back rooms. It’s also where I met the great love of my life, my partner and best friend. We moved in together and I went back to civilian jobs for a couple of years while we lived in Toms River, NJ.
In 2017 I moved back home to South Jersey but not before meeting the mother of a dominatrix who came through my register line; we made small talk about summer reading. I was reading Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World by Shereen El Feki and was the first book I read regarding sex culture. I mentioned how I was always curious about the dominatrix world and she put me in contact with her daughter who gave me some great resources to start off with. At 21 years old, I truly started diving into the swinger and BDSM community. I learned a few things I liked, a few things I didn’t and I connected with kinky kindred spirits. In 2019 I moved to Philadelphia where I knew I’d have an incredible time living out my mid-twenties. My goal was to create a fantastical little independent life where I would go on countless adventures and see myself grow.
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About The Author: Joy Arnold aka Miss Joy is a Philadelphia based Dominatrix that services clients at her center city studio. She is an avid cyclist and is working on a series of adult toys designed from spare bicycle parts. This is her first contribution in collaboration with Tony Ward Studio.
To access Part 2 of Miss Joy’s tales, click here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/from-russia-with-love-part-2/