Ehmann herself has a tattoo fetish. "I have star tattoos running from my ankle to my thigh. By the end of the year, I will have 2,000 stars, for the year 2000." She also has a tattoo of a crown below her bellybutton, which she calls her "royal muff" tattoo. She admits her fetish is not as extreme as those of her readers.

"I am not a lifestyle dominatrix, contrary to what many people think," says Ehmann, although she has played the role at La Nouvelle Justine, a sadomasochism-themed restaurant. She left the S/M supper club scene disagreeing with its premise. "Who wants to eat with a bare, hairy ass next to them?" she explains. She also feels that such places could perpetuate the myth that being a dominatrix is simply about "paddling someone's ass."

"It is a responsibility," Ehmann says. "Being a dominatrix means meeting the slave's needs psychologically as well as through physical punishment. It is just like being married."

Ehmann says that one of the goals of Extreme Fetish is to dispel the myths people may have about S&M and other fetish lifestyles. It is the misconceptions, she says, that lead to fear and censorship.

As a fervent First Amendment defender, Ehmann has waged war against restrictions on free speech on her own and with Feminists for Free Expression. In 1998, when Giuliani used a zoning law to close down more than 90 percent of New York's sex shops and strip clubs, Ehmann, along with others in the close-knit sex industry, protested in Times Square. She has also fought City Hall over its attacks on the Brooklyn Museum's "Sensation" exhibit.

On a national level, Ehmann and the Feminists for Free Expression also fought the Communications and Decency Act and its restrictions on "indecent" and "offensive" speech on the Internet. The Supreme Court ultimately declared the act unconstitutional.

Ehmann says that censorship is often coupled with the excuse that it is for the protection of women. She believes that suppression of pornography doesn't reduce harm to women and has often been used to stifle expression of women's sexuality.

"Sexism, not sex, degrades women," says Ehmann. And the answer to bad pornography, she believes, is good pornography, not no pornography.

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