Brenda Love - Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices

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ABDUCTIONBondage, struggle, and intimidation are often involved in abduction play just as in ancient times when men abducted future brides from other tribes, afterward keeping them in bondage to prevent escape. Bride capture existed in various forms until the 19th century in parts of Europe. (The ritual of a husband carrying his bride over the threshold stems from this tradition.)

Today some people use abduction as part of a negotiated sex scene that involves a mock capture of a hostage, prisoner, slave, or rape victim. The scene is acted out in the privacy of the home using a bedroom, closet, or garage as a jail cell. Others are more daring and stage their abduction scenes in a public place. The amount of physical resistance in this case is limited because potential observers may not know that the abduction is consensual. Costumes and uniforms are used in scenes, particularly for military or police arrests. Couples also make use of handcuffs, thumbcuffs, rope, tape, blindfolds, and other types of bondage paraphernalia.

CAUTION: Physical resistance during abduction sometimes leads to accidental injuries.

(See also BONDAGE, FANTASY PLAY, INTERROGATION and SLAVES)

ABRASIONS(Carpet burns—on carpet) People create abrasions by using metal emery files, brushes, or other items that are rough to the skin but that do not leave residual particles of any type. Abrasions are generally less severe than rug burns. Nipples are sensitized by sanding lightly with a file and the glans penis or labia is brushed with a fingernail or an artist’s oil brush to accomplish the same effect. This type of torture builds in intensity as time passes and most stop short of creating pain. The desired effect is simply to make the area much more sensitive to normal touch.

CAUTION: Locations on the body are selected that will not be rubbed by clothing nor have pressure on them. Non-sterilized instruments can cause infections.

(See also BITING, BLOOD SPORTS, CUPPING, DEPILATION, PYROPHILIA. PHLEBOTOMY, SCRATCHING, SENSORY ENHANCEMENT, TICKLING, TOUCH and URTICATION)

ACOUSTICOPHILIA(Melolagnia—music) An acousticophile ( acoustico : sound; phile : person with attachment) becomes aroused by sounds. Sounds preferred may be in the form of music, song, love poems, verbal abuse, sexual commands, comments in a foreign language, screaming, panting, moaning, groaning, sighing, heavy breathing, as well as any other natural sounds people make during sex.

People who do not normally vocalize feelings of arousal—but who would like to develop this skill—do it during masturbation by concentrating on sounds that express ecstasy. Sounds don’t need to be loud and are preferred when natural and spontaneous. These sounds not only stimulate the person making them but also serve as a very effective method of communicating pleasure with a particular caress, position, or act. This helps the partner learn the techniques needed to keep them aroused.

Group sex can be very exciting for people because of the variety of sounds in close proximity. Some duplicate similar sounds by making a recording (or video) of their love-making and orgasms to play during the next interlude. Others are aroused by hearing or speaking curse words.

Certain music has become associated with sex. One concert pianist said he was capable of eliciting various emotions in his audience by different notes, using “middle c” for sexual arousal. “The Spanish Flea” is used for stripping, and “Bolero” is popular as an accompaniment to sex. Other classical pieces are Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata,” Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique.” People who enjoy lying in front of fireplaces on rainy nights purchase recordings of rain storms or the sound of ocean waves. In a similar way, music such as dirges or funeral hymns are used to help the mood for some necrophiles. Hard rock music triggers a sexual response as well, however in an altogether different manner. Michael Koss, who is the president of Koss Stereo Headphone Corporation, is cited by Jillyn Smith in her book, Senses and Sensibilities, where she says, “…the excitement that people, especially teenagers, get from high-decibel music results from activation of the peripheral nervous system by low frequency sound waves beating against the body.” Koss contends that “people can get ‘high’ from this feeling, because it switches on the body’s fight or flight mechanism, bringing a rush of adrenalin (a reason for battle music?)” (p. 39).

(See also AGREXOPHILIA, CONFESSIONS, COPROLALIA, ECOUTEURISM, EROTOGRAPHOMANIA, FANTASY PLAY, HOMILOPHILIA, HYPNOSIS, JACTITATION, LOVE POTIONS, NARRATOPHILIA, OBSCENE PHONE CALLS, PHONE SEX, SERENADES and TEASING)

ACROPHILIAAcrophilia ( Acro : highest point; philia : attachment to) refers to a person who is sexually aroused by heights. Sky diving and bungy cord jumping are high altitude activities that elevate one’s adrenalin. This excitement can then be transferred to passion and sex. Both of these activities include a form of bondage, vertigo, and suspension.

S/M partners who suffer from acrophobia are sometimes blindfolded and made to climb ladders. If this is done often the phobia seems to dissipate and along with it the sexual charge it first produced. (“Terror,” QSM lecture by J. C. Collins, November 28, 1990)

Another popular form of acrophilia is having sex at a high altitude. This is humorously referred to as becoming a member of the “Mile High Club” and is done in airplanes or other aircraft. (Conversely one wonders if there is a “Mile Low Club” for submarines.) There was a group of pilots in New York that had their own version of a Mile High Club. The requirements were that the pilot and passenger went up in an open cockpit bi-plane, and when they reached an altitude of 6,500 feet, the passenger would disrobe, climb out on the wing and into the back seat, returning to the front seat after having sex with the pilot. All without falling off the wing! (Personal communication, 1980)

Aerobatics can be sexually arousing for a few people. Stunts in a small plane offer 4–5 negative G-forces and 3–4 positive Gs. These affect the body by pushing the blood into either the head or the lower body, and result in feelings of lightheadedness, floating, or sinking, depending on the maneuver. There is a tremendous adrenalin ‘rush’ and a simultaneous sense of power over the airplane and submission to it. The feeling of being bound is greater in stunt flying than with other sports because the belts have to hold both body weight and chute through every maneuver. There are very few sensations that compare with hanging upside down while one’s weight pulls them toward the glass bubble that separates the pilot from the rapidly approaching ground. This feat provides enough sexual stimulation to cause at least one female pilot to experience spontaneous orgasm. (Personal communication.)

Finally, there are people who claim to have been captured by creatures from outer space and impregnated while aboard flying saucers. Their stories have provided many with a sexual fantasy, one that is acted out with the aid of readily available space costumes.

(See also AGORAPHILIA, CLAUSTROPHILIA, FANTASY PLAY, PHOBOPHILIA and SUSPENSION)

ACROTOMOPHILIA(Amelotasis—attraction to the absence of a limb) An acrotomophile ( Acro : extremity; -tomy : to cut; philia : attachment to) is a person who is aroused by the thought of having sex with an amputee or by fantasizing about it.