Tristan Taormino - The Ultimate Guide to Kink - BDSM, Role Play, and the Erotic Edge

People do BDSM for the same wide variety of reasons people have sex, including for pleasure and connection. Just as some people love oral sex and others love sex in the woods, some love BDSM. Plenty of folks have told me they believe it’s just how they’re wired. I’ve heard countless stories of the first time a lover held her down, the first time a woman put a collar on him, the first time she got spanked. Many experienced a visceral reaction to these experiences before they had language to describe what they were doing or knew there were other people out there doing similar things. For some, BDSM does not have to focus on or even involve genital stimulation to be pleasurable and even orgasmic. For others, a good flogging and a good fucking is the perfect combination—BDSM enhances the sexual experience.

In sidebars throughout this chapter, you’ll find examples of different kinds of BDSM as well as popular practices and tools. I hope they illustrate the extraordinary diversity within BDSM, provide you with a list of possibilities, and whet your appetite for the chapters to come. [5] 3 These lists are not exhaustive; they are examples of some of the activities about which you can find books and classes or that you may see at a play party.

Play is a common term used to describe the practice of BDSM, as in: “I want to play with a bondage expert so I can learn more about it.” It can also be used as an adjective: “My play partner caned me really well at Susan’s play party. I’m glad I set up that play date!”

A scene is where two or more people come together to do BDSM. People may also use scene to describe the BDSM community (“Is she in the scene?”). You can do a scene anywhere, but often people do them in a play space or dungeon. These spaces may be private, such as a room in someone’s home, or public, like a large club; they often have different stations that feature various types of equipment for BDSM play: for example, a St. Andrew’s Cross (a large X usually made of wood), a bondage bed, a spanking bench, a sling, a medical exam table, and a cage.

When I feel the pounding of a heavy flogger (or anything with a heavy thud) against my ass or thighs, I feel this amazing connection to life and to my partner. I also feel this huge thick chunk of energy making contact with my body and then dissipating from that point of contact throughout the rest of my body.

Impact play:spanking, caning, slapping, flogging, Florentine flogging, and whipping

Tools:hands, paddles, canes, slappers, crops, floggers, quirts, singletail whips

I stood over her as she lay on the massage table. I stared intently into her eyes. I pinched a section of flesh of her inner thigh, pressed firmly, then tugged a little. She squirmed, so I pinched harder. She gasped, then giggled. One by one, I put bright red plastic clothespins in a line until she had a dozen, six on each side. Then I pulled out a special pair: shiny silver magnetic clothespins. My mom put them in my stocking for Christmas. “Won’t those be useful?” she said, imagining me clipping important documents to the filing cabinet in my office. “Oh, yes they will,” I smirked. I saved them for a very sensitive spot: right where the leg meets the crotch, an inch away from her wet pussy.

After the initial pain when a clip first goes on, the circulation stops and you just feel pressure. I could tell she was proud of herself, probably thinking, This isn’t so bad. She had no idea what was in store for her when the clips came off: a searing pain that can be pleasurable for some, almost intolerable for others, and intense no matter what. I tugged at the first one, squeezed the end, and released her skin. She breathed in sharply, then exhaled deeply.

Sensation play:clips and clamps, pinching, hot wax, knife play (without breaking the skin), electricity play, tickle torture, cupping, fire cupping, fire play

Tools:nipple clamps, clothespins, zippers (clothespins or clips strung together) clips, candles, vampire gloves, knives, TENS unit, violet wand, cups

During a scene, a top is the “doer,” the person who is in charge, initiates activities and actions, and does things to the bottom. A bottom follows the top’s lead, receives stimulation from the top, and has things done to him or her. For example, in a spanking scene, the top is the spanker and the bottom gets spanked. Top and bottom can also be used as verbs, as in “I topped my girlfriend last night.” A switch is someone who enjoys playing both roles. Whether a switch becomes a top or a bottom can change from one scene to the next; switches may take on a particular role based on the partner they play with or the activity. They can also switch between both roles within one scene.

Sadomasochism is the enjoyment of giving or receiving pain or discomfort. A sadist is one who derives pleasure from inflicting pain, intense sensations, and discomfort on someone else. That pain or discomfort can be physical (like during a spanking), emotional and psychological (as in an interrogation scene), or both. This is just a brief definition; Chapter 16, Inside the Mind of a Sadist, by FifthAngel, is a thorough, thoughtful look at sadism. A masochist is someone who enjoys receiving pain or intense sensations, being made uncomfortable, or being “forced” to do something they don’t enjoy. Remember that sadists and masochists experience these desires and pleasures in the context of consensual BDSM scenes.

I enjoy being restrained but my preference is to be held down by human force; I like the feeling of hands squeezing my wrists and a knee on my chest, a hard palm pushing on my face. I also enjoy being called names and told that I am only good for fucking and for giving the other person pleasure. Something about being used makes me feel really hot and confident and empowered. Feeling out of control when there is trust and desire involved takes me to a transcendent place that I don’t get to on my own or during non-BDSM sex.

Rough body play:slapping, face slapping, hair pulling, spitting, punching, pushing, wrestling, biting, scratching

Tools:hands, mouths, bodies, boxing and other gloves

Let’s talk about pain, since it’s part of SM and comes to mind when people think of activities like flogging, caning, or piercing. When people experience pain, adrenaline, endorphins, and natural painkillers flood their nervous system. People get off on this chemical rush, which many describe as feeling energized, high, or transcendent. Pain is not just a physical event; like many things in our culture, it is also socially constructed and reinforced. When we see a person slap someone’s face, we think, That hurt, that was unpleasant. But, in the context of a sexually charged scene, some people, when they are aroused (and their pain tolerance is much higher), process a face slap in a different way: it feels good . They like how their flesh responds and their pulse quickens. It may feel shocking, intimate, stinging; add the taboo of dominance, punishment, humiliation—whatever that slap signifies for the two people—and you’ve got a recipe for an intense experience. In certain contexts, one person’s pain can be another person’s pleasure. Or, as Patrick Califia writes in Chapter 15, Enhancing Masochism: How to Expand Limits and Increase Desire, which delves much deeper into this subject, “Euphoria and agony are next-door neighbors.”