Mistress Natasha from Montreal. On the covers of issues 12 and 13 we even featured multiple mistresses, including Maîtresse Françoise of Paris, Herrin Elke of NYC and Mistress Verushka of San Francisco on one cover and Lady Laura of L.A., Wicked Wanda of Denver, and Maîtresse Alexandra of Paris on another.

As DDI defined itself, year after year, a more politically correct cover policy emerged. Our habit of favoring a particular dominatrix for the front page was abandoned after Mistress Dominique from Columbus, Ohio graced the front page of issue #16. Beginning with issue #17 our publisher adopted the concept of putting a neutral visage on our cover, a paid model who looked the part of a dominatrix, but who was not herself going to compete with any of the established mistresses within the magazine. This halted dominas from complaining about editorial favoritism.

Issues 17, 18, 19 and 20 sported wonderful, exciting photos of very dominant-looking women which were either given to us or bought for cover usage. Issue #21, featuring Mistress Persephone on the cover, presented a new dilemma. At the time we photographed Persephone for her DDI front page appearance she was not a professional dominatrix. She was beginning to make a name for herself as a fetish model. Not long after she appeared on DDI, however, Persephone did begin accepting paid professional dominance and fetish fantasy sessions. We are not pointing a finger of blame at Persephone. She is a wonderful lady and a good friend.

What we realized, however, is that in choosing prospective cover models for the future we needed to choose women who looked the part but had no intention of using their DDI cover appearance as a springboard into professional domination. This, after all, would not be fair to the advertising dominas inside the magazine. So, from DDI issue #22 onward, we have searched out attractive and dominant-looking young women for our covers who could help promote and sell each issue, but who would not conflict with the real dominas whom DDI is all about. Front-cover models are hired and paid. They need not be personally involved in the fetish or SM scenes, but it is preferred. More often than not the clothing worn by the models is their own. Photos are taken for the sole purpose of choosing one shot for our cover, with a secondary shot to appear on the editorial page. If one of the young ladies happens to have a Web site, we will usually mention it in the caption credit. Most of the cover girls are professional models with their own fan-based Web sites. We don't mind at all if our DDI readers check out these Web sites, but when they try to solicit the models for SM sessions we do indeed mind. DDI cover models are not qualified, properly equipped, professional dominas. If this trend of misbehavior continues, future cover-model identity credit will no longer include Web addresses.