A Hymn to Inanna (Goddess of sex and warrioress powers) in ancient Mesopotamia has her demonstrating her powers with ritual involving gender transformation, punishment, moaning, pain and ecstasy. The words are written or recrafted by Enheduanna, a high priestess and daughter of King Sargon, and the world's first recorded author in human history. The hymn is referred to as "Lady of the Largest Heart" or as "Hymn to Inana C", with the ritual in lines 80-90.

A ritual called the diamastigosis (flagellation) was performed on young men known as "ephebes" in Sparta, in honour of the Goddess Artemis Orthia. The ceremony was an initiation, described by the historian Pausanias: "by them stands the priestess, holding a wooden image. Now it is small and light, but if the scourgers spare the lash because of a lad's beauty or high rank, then at once the priestess finds the image grow so heavy that she can hardly carry it. She lays blame on the scourgers, and says it is their fault that she is being weighed down..."

In the medieval period, the story of Phyllis dominating Aristotle came into popular literature and imagery. Phyllis was the paramour of Alexander the Great. In the medieval (fictional) story, Phyllis is spurned by her lover Alexander on advice of the philosopher Aristotle, she exacts revenge on Aristotle by having him come to her chamber crawling on hand and foot, in order that she may ride him like a horse. The image would become one of a number on the "power of woman" theme in European art.

The book Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (also known as Fanny Hill) by John Cleland was published, featuring a bondage and flagellation "switch scene" between Fanny Hill and Mr Barville: "Seizing one of the rods, I stood over him, according to his direction, gave him, in one breath, ten lashes with much goodwill and the utmost nerve and vigour of arm that I could put to them, so as to make those fleshy orbs quiver again under them." The author and publisher were arrested and charged, and the book withdrawn from print, and circulated as a forbidden book, added to by other flagellation books of the era.

No less than 20 splendid establishments are documented as existing at the beginning of the 19th Century in London alone, specializing in flagellation practices. Mary Wilson writes of long apprenticeships and specialization: "They must have a quick and intuitive method of understanding the aberrations of the human mind, and be ready and willing to humour and relieve them." The most famous of the era Governess Theresa Berkley, whose extensive equipment was documented and included the Berkley Horse invented in the 1828, and her clients were noted as being amongst the most well-known in the land.

The female flagellant specialists in Paris advertise in the local newspapers by way of carefully worded advertisements seeking submissive gentlemen to whom they will receive homage and act as a Mistress Absolute, with clients to go to 27, Passage de l'Opera. A remarkable letter from one Alice Villefranche to her slave (c1897) is preserved in the Philosophy of Flagellation: "On your knees, as soon as you enter, you will thank me for the honour I do to receive you as a slave, and get ready to suffer, and prepare to undergo, without the slightest gesture or word of revolt, all the trials or you will sink (collapse), under my will, your famous dignity of man..."

The European fetish imagery inspired and influenced artists such as John Willie (John Coutts), who published Bizarre Magazine (1946-59) which also featured a cartoon of a damsel-in-distress 'Sweet Gwendoline', and a secret agent in Dominatrix role named U69. Leonard 'Lenny' Burtman featured photographs of Tana Louise in a Dominatrix role and Bettie Page, while artwork was contributed by Eric Stanton and Gene Bilbrew (as ENEG, Gene spelt backwards).

On 23rd December 1965, a few days before Christmas, Dominatrix Monique von Cleef was targeted by an operation with the police in cahoots with postal agents focused on obscenity sent by mail. She was arrested,with photographs of policemen posing with her whips and suspension system were sent to the press, and splashed all over the front page of newspapers across the USA. The FBI hauled away 4,500 pieces of correspondence and private photographs. Von Cleef would later win, with the Court of Appeal finding the police abused their powers.

The most famous house in Australia, Salon Kitty's opened in 1985 where it operated 28 years, and trained some of the country's top Dominatrices in apprenticeships described as long, rigorous and hard, but also "second to none". Some later travelled overseas and made a strong impact wherever they landed.

Anne O Nomis takes four years to undertake her research into the Dominatrix, including a one year internship in 2009 as a "switch" learning Dominance and submission, practice in multiple countries, research in the British Museum and British Library, private collections and fetish underground, made difficult by materials not being archived as such. She travels to Hanoi Vietnam where she spends 3 months full-time writing to complete the work, and it comes out in December 2013. The book is well-received by peer review, fetish magazines and Library Journal Review, and becomes "the book" in the world on the topic of the Dominatrix's history and craft arts.