What's in a name?

Why did I decide to become Mia Tofana after 10 years of being BDSMMIA?

First of all, to those of you who have pointed out how confusing this has been for you, I know. I get it. This hasn't been a light-hearted decision for me and after a decade of branding and heralding the name BDSM Mia from country to country city to city, and town to town retiring it was no easy choice. Returning home to Leeds as a dominatrix a few years ago and establishing my brand firmly has been much more difficult and unfortunately that's had a lot to do with the name I originally chose.

First of all, this is a question of repression. As many of you know, people in the adult industry are having their livelihoods quashed due to censorship in general. So a name that I chose to be super clear about who I am and what I do, was now counterproductive to who I am and what I do. I could no longer say BDSM on a video let alone get past censors to tell people who I was. I was being introduced simply as Mia and everything from my website to even my emails were being hidden because of the crackdown on sex workers. As a professional dominatrix, it's super important that I am very clear about my role and what I do and the ability to do that has been slowly eked away from us by christo-fascists and their obsession with stopping adults talking about sexy things.

So with all this disruption and my marketing being on hold,I was starting to feel great resentment towards the name, and also felt something new arising in me.

So why the name?

Mia has always been the name chosen for me in this industry: from its origins in a joke of me being M.I.A from a party, to people absent-mindedly calling me it even before I took it on as a moniker, Mia has stuck and I decided it should stay.

The legend of Gulia Tofana has always been something at the forefront of my mind and when I made a brief seducing clip for a custom of me dressed in a long PVC gown poisoning the willing victim of the clip, I couldn't stop saying the words “Aqua Tofana” in my head.

Gulia Tofana is a historical figure from 1600s Rome, she is said to have set up a poisoning network to combat male violence and though the truth generally intersects with the legend, the principle behind what she did remains the same.

Not only did I admire the tenacity and strength Gulia Tofana showed in tackling violent men by creating a lethal brew that quietly poisoned estimated hundreds at a time when justice for women was non-existent, but I enjoyed how warm many women feel towards her story. There's also an air of mystery and misinformation surrounding who she is and what she actually did, which is something I also find very relatable .

Sometimes, everyone not knowing your business is an absolute advantage.

As she and I share some heritage and a fierceness when it comes to the defence of women's lives, I felt there was no other surname I could take in my next step of my career as a Dominatrix in Leeds.

So, I give you Mia Tofana.

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