Catherine Robbe-Grillet

In the world of gay SM, which is the one I mostly inhabit, the name of Catherine Robbe-Grillet is perhaps not well known. But, especially in her native France, she is one of the most well known figures when it comes to public discussion of SM.

Now in her 90s, she still practises her elaborate rituals, and is partnered with her slave.

Here's the summary from the Leather Hall of Fame, where I am a member of the selection committee.

As Jean de Berg, a male pseudonym, in 1956, at 25, she published L’Image. A fictional, but realistic, account of the SM initiation of the male narrator by the woman he loves and her female slave, the novel was deemed immoral by the French authorities and its diffusion strictly restricted. A US-American translation came out in 1966, and the book instantly became a classic of SM literature — with Susan Sontag listing it in 1967 as one of only 5 pornographic books she credited with literary value.

Later on, for her SM persona as dominatrix, she feminized the pseudonym and, starting in the 1970s, Jeanne de Berg became famous far beyond France for her highly staged, sophisticated, and ritualized SM “ceremonies.” In 1985, the publication of Cérémonies de Femmes (translated as Women’s Rites), an autobiographical account of her most memorable SM experiences, confirmed Jeanne de Berg’s status as France’s most famous dominatrix in the world.

In 2002, Interviews With Jeanne de Berg confirmed what a popular news and celebrity magazine had revealed in 1985 (without being denied by the author): behind Jean and Jeanne de Berg was someone the public had known for as long as they had known Jean de Berg. Since the 1950s, Catherine Robbe-Grillet was known as the wife and muse of internationally known writer and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet, “the Pope of the New Novel,” in whose movies she often appeared.

Several autobiographical accounts have since documented her life, her introduction to SM by her husband, their open relationship, etc., and she has taken the role of an unapologetic SM apologist in the media who has been able to demystify and de-stigmatize her most extreme practices by talking about them to mainstream audiences with a candor and an openness that perhaps only an extremely proper, soft-spoken, well-mannered, elderly, 4'8" woman could afford.

After Alain’s death in 2008, she remarried with Beverly Charpentier, her slave, with whom at 95 she still lives the life today!

On Sunday 18th October, at 10pm Paris time, there will be a live stream of her induction ceremony, where she will be formally inducted in person by Bob Miller from the Hall of Fame.

I'd encourage anyone with an interest in SM to watch this free event on Zoom, as we celebrate someone who has contributed for over seventy years.

Pleas register in advance of the ceremony, using this link