Shiny black leather. Spike-heeled, knee high boots. Short tight skirt. Gloves and sleeveless tunic. The bare arms from elbow to shoulder look effective, they mirror the expanse of leg between the boots and hemline.

They don't only look effective - when the arms have work to do, sleeves get in the way.

The belt is also of shiny black leather, with a silver coloured metal buckle. Of the same colour metal are a pair of handcuffs hanging from the belt. More black leather is strapped next to the handcuffs - a neatly coiled whip. It is for this, especially that the arms should not be emcumbered.

There is no shortage of transvestites who would like to meet the vision of a dominatrix. At least some of them would like to be her, but I go further - I am her.

At first sight, there seems little mystery in the connection many of us make between transvestism and submission or domination.

Our clothes define our role. For the transvestite they are obviously important in defining who is masculine, who is feminine. It is but a step further to define who is dominant and who is submissive.

Submissive

Some forms of clothing, especially uniforms, give one person authority over another. Military uniforms are a good example. The clothes an officer and a private wear are essential to their relationship - the officer's uniform marks the wearer as someone who may issue orders to the person in the private's uniform.

There are uniforms popular with transvestites which work in much the same way. The most commonly found are the schoolgirl and the maid - both of these have proved good sellers for such companies as Transformation. No doubt they are to be found in many a transvestite's wardrobe.

It is interesting, and may be significant, that the most easily available uniforms are for the submissive roles. Since such companies as Transformation respond to public demand, this obviously means that submissive uniforms are more popular than dominant ones.

Before me are the catalogues of three companies offering such outfits as maid's and schoolgirl uniforms. One catalogue also includes a harem outfit. Another has a range of little girls' party dresses in adult sizes. None of the three includes a policewoman's uniform, or anything else suggesting the dominant.

I know a tranvestite who wished to assemble a headmistress outfit - an obvious counterpart to the schoolgirl one. Unable to find exactly what was required in the stocks of fantasy clothing specialists, the person in question went to a supplier of genuine academic regalia to universites.

If this indicates that people regarding themselves as submissive outnumber those preferring a dominant role, it does no more than confirm my experience. This is certainly least as true amongst transvestites. Many of them may turn out to be a lot less submissive than they seem - but I'll come back to that later.