CT – When 33-year-old Michelle Silva’s home-based business was raided and her professional equipment and personal belongings confiscated by police, she contacted possible supporters throughout the country telling her story, asking for help, and wondering what on earth the authorities thought she had done wrong. After all, she explained, she had her business licenses and paperwork filled out, filed, and approved – so where was the harm in her various BDSM-focused websites and associated services? Some, including Silva, wondered if the bust could be related to the government’s increased suppression of controversial sexual speech and expression.Although the raid was conducted on November 16, the whereabouts of the required warrant and its purpose have been shrouded in mystery. Ultimately, the warrant was found to be locked and its contents unknown – until now.

The warrant’s seal has now expired and its justification revealed. Silva, who is also known as Empress M and who operates EmpressM.net, among other websites, is believed by authorities to have been engaged in the “promotion of prostitution,” among other possible charges.

Silva initially believed that the photos and videos she sells online via her various websites were the likely justification for the police action that included removal of her bondage furnishings and computers. But the warrant pays those things only passing notice, focusing far more intently on her work as a professional dominant who offers overnight visits to her clients.

Apparently inspired by an anonymous email to area police in January that insisted Silva ran “an S&M prostitution house,” the warrant reports that investigating detective William Cooper visited Silva’s website and noticed photos of Silva with nude males “in obvious states of sexual arousal.”

As Cooper sees it, this is evidence of prostitution since “it is clear that B&D practitioners can receive sexual gratification for a fee as a fully developed rate structure exists.”

Silva, on the other hand, finds the accusations baffling, claiming in an online discussion forum that no one has mentioned prostitution charges to her and that they were not the motivation for the raid. Nonetheless, several forum posters who visited her various websites, including NortheastGoddess.com and FortressofPain.com, argue that sessions ranging from $400 to $1000 that can include an overnight suggest that more than spanking and humiliation can be purchased.

Of course, the ultimate determination in this case will be what the law considers to be prostitution and sex. Currently, state law defines prostitution as participating in “sexual conduct with another person in exchange for a fee.” Of course, what constitutes “sexual conduct” is up for interpretation, as law professor and director of the Criminal Law Clinic at the University of Connecticut, Todd Fernow, points out.

According to Fernow, a Connecticut judge attempted to use the dictionary in order to define sexual conduct during a 1980 case. Yet “sex, the sexes, the organs of sex and their functions, or the instincts, drives, behavior, etc. associated with sex,” isn’t particularly useful, especially in matters of law. One section of state criminal code dealing with the matter defines “sexual intercourse” as “vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, fellatio or cunnilingus between persons regardless of sex. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse or fellatio and does not require emission of semen. Penetration may be committed by an object manipulated by the actor into the genital or anal opening of the victim’s body.” However, defining a man who spends between $300 and $1000 for services as a “victim” has problems, particularly given that the aforementioned definition relates to rapes and sexual assaults, not acts of prostitution. Likewise, no mention of consensual BDSM exists in the criminal code, only a definition of sadomasochistic abuse, which is explained as being “flagellation or torture by or upon a person clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one so clothed.”

Where that leaves professional BDSM practitioners – including Silva — is uncertain, especially since some who enjoy the activity emphasize its capacity to create emotionally intimate connections while others revel in the sensual – and sexual – delights that it has to offer them.