Findom as a System of Voluntary Exchange

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Typically, movements within a capitalist economy are transactional in nature; “Money can be exchanged for goods and services”, as the saying goes. There is a general assumption that money can be transformed into whatever a person desires, therefore money is the ultimate object to be desired. Under this assumption, money is essentially a proxy for desire, or the ability to fulfil desires.

The paradoxical nature of Findom is that a finsub’s desire is for their very desire to be annihilated; for their power to fulfil desires to be taken from them and used for someone else’s purposes. It is not only self-sacrificial but self-annihilating. Given that self-annihilation is a key component of addiction, it is no wonder that the fantasy gets out of hand for many — I imagine the anxiety and stress of deciding what to do with excess money can sometimes be more painful than giving it up to someone felt to be more deserving. And of course, sexual desire is a tremendously powerful multiplier to add to the mix.

The fact that this desire for one’s desire to be annihilated is so powerful and widespread exposes how hollow and deceptive the assumptions underpinning our economy are — if money was an effective proxy for desire, wealth would correlate with life satisfaction. But once the poverty line has been comfortably cleared, it mostly does not. And of course, if money the ultimate object of desire, what benefit do these people find in giving it away? Couldn’t the invisible hand of the market have provided some transactional exchange to satisfy them more efficiently?

My answer is that human beings crave non-transactional exchanges, and that at its best, this is what Findom caters to — a system of voluntary mutual exchange in which neither party feels obligated to do anything. Rather, both (or all) people involved are innately motivated to practise it for the pleasure and satisfaction of whoever is involved.

Strangely enough, Findom done in this way can be an emergent form of resistance to the coercive structures of capitalism; a parallel economy that, despite being shrouded in a ruthless narrative, has generous mutuality at its core.

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