• Before the advent of social media, findommes used online forums and websites.

• One woman says she became a findomme after a fan of her modeling asked to become her money slave.  

• The findomme says genuine financial domination involves no sexual content or nudity.

Financial domination has been around since at least the 1990s, but has gained more attention since the pandemic after some women starting using it as a side hustle to boost their earnings and gain more financial independence.

The psychological fetish involves mostly men, or "pay pigs", taking on a submissive role and worshiping their "findommes", or dominant women, by paying them for nothing tangible in return.

One findomme, who has nearly 20 years experience, says the industry has changed since the advent of social media platforms in the early 2000s.

"Some people will post on Twitter and ask pay pigs to offer a tribute fee of $15," says a woman who uses the name Diamond Diva Princess. "That's not findom at its core, as it usually involves a lot of money with the possibility of a 'wallet drain'."

A "wallet drain" is jargon for when a findomme empties the pay pig's bank account, or takes the maximum amount of money that they can afford to give away. It can happen within minutes, or occur over the space of a few days, she tells Insider.

Before the era of social media 

Diamond Diva Princess became a findomme in 2003 before social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter were available using online forums and chat rooms. Most of these have since disappeared or have completely changed over time, she says.

Findommes would communicate with pay pigs over email as well as personal websites and messaging platforms.

Diamond set up her own website after getting a $100 tribute on her first day. She first heard of financial domination after a fan of her modeling approached her and asked to become her money slave.

She claims to have coined the term "findom" in about 2005, although there is no official record of its origins. "Findomme" refers to a woman who practices financial domination.

"A lot of people started using Twitter – I would see people using the hashtag findom on Twitter and the term became quite popular," Diamond says.