BDSM Digest

Posts Tagged ‘punishment’

Few topics in the BDSM world generate as much debate as does the issue of punishment. Whatever form it takes, it is an integral part of every D/s relationship, and is the source of much misunderstanding.

It’s important to understand one fundamental thing about punishment. By it’s nature, it is something that is not enjoyable. It is unwelcome, to be avoided, and acts as negative motivation (“I’ll not do this because if I do, something I don’t like will happen to me.”) Many novices confuse “punishment” for something that is erotic and enjoyable: a spanking, a flogging – something desirable. But it is not. Punishment is not play. Punishment is meant for one reason only: to alter behavior. It is a useful and necessary tool, and exists in some form in every close relationship we have. With it, dominants can teach submissives how to behave and help submissives modify their behavior to better please.

There is only one fundamental offense: displeasing the dominant. Failing to do so or intentionally displeasing the dominant is grounds for punishment, and it is the dominant alone who makes the decision as to whether or not the submissive has been pleasing. Punishment can take many forms – from a disapproving look to a beating – and is limited only by your imagination and how well you know your submissive.

Is there too much corporal punishment in the scene? It is the easy way out for many dominants. Often it is a reaction, rather than something that is considered. It takes much more effort to come up with a non-physical method of correction. Many of us were brought up with corporal punishment, learning that misbehavior should lead to physical pain. Those social influences can be very powerful. In the long run, however, physical punishment is usually the least effective way to alter behavior.

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Canes are stiff, yet flexible, regarded by most, and encouraged by writings of the Victoriana School Days of Boys and Girls, as tools for corporal punishment, which of course is true. However their other uses are often over shadowed by the impressions one has of them in one’s mind’s eye. In the right hands they can be sensual and in the wrong hands a nightmare. Caning, sometimes referred to as: the English, the English Method, English Discipline, or English Style, is an art form which takes practise. A lot of practise. An exercise in control not easily attained. It is a serious play implement, it is capable of causing serious damage and is not for use by someone who has read five web sites and hit a pillow a dozen times. It demands a level of concentration above that expected for other forms of BDSM play. If you seriously wish to pursue this as a form of play take the time to seek instruction from an expert. It is not something we would undertake in a crowded or small play space as a back strike could do as much damage to an onlooker as a forward stroke could do to the party being caned. One has to be extremely aware of all the safety measures, strike areas, density, resilience, length and diameters of the implements as they all account for a different effect. No two rattan canes behave in the same way and should be treated individually.
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Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping (Latin flagellum, “whip”) the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o’ nine tails and the sjambok. Typically, flogging is imposed on an unwilling subject as a punishment; however, it can also be submitted to willingly, or performed on oneself, in religious or sadomasochistic contexts. In some circumstances the word “flogging” is used loosely to include any sort of corporal punishment, including birching and caning. The flogger, in various forms, has played a surprisingly vital role in shaping the history of mankind. Throughout the centuries, our ancestors have incorporated it not only into their sexual practices, but into their spiritual, judicial and even medical practices as well. Flagellation in the name of a god is far from being a rare thing. Nearly all of the mother religions, the ancient mystery cults of the great Mediterranean civilizations of Greece, Egypt, Rome and Persia, and even the religions of Islam and Christianity have, at some point in history, incorporated flagellation into their spiritual rites and practices.

In pagan Sparta each year, during a festival called ‘Day of Flagellations’, young men were brought before an altar dedicated to the goddess Diana where they were whipped for from dusk to dawn. People would turn out from all over the countryside to view the whippings and to cheer and encourage the boys to ‘bear the pain with fortitude.’ Priests, who would bear witness to the entire ceremony, would, at the end of the day, examine the wounds on each of the boys, and, according to the sizes and shapes of the wounds, would predict the young men’s futures. It was not uncommon for some of the boys to die from the terrible wounds inflicted upon them during this ceremony, often without ever having uttered a sound.
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Sheila fretted on her Master’s bed. She lay face down into the pillow, her wrists cuffed to her ankles. Her bared bottom was high in the air making her vulnerability and shame complete.

She had been in this position many times before awaiting her Master’s pleasure. But tonight was very different as she had angered her Master like never before. She had gone too far tonight and His face had been purple with rage. One look from Him had her hurrying home from the party in some distress.

The night had began well enough with Master taking her along to meet His many friends, the majority being Masters like Himself accompanied by their slaves. It was Sheila’s first party and she was determined to make Him proud of her and also to have a good time. She dressed very carefully in her black leather mini skirt and matching halter-top. She wore thigh high leather boots and wore her favourite gold Celtic jewelry, which Master had given to her when He had collared her and made her His slave. Her full lips she coloured fuchsia pink to match her nails. There was one thing missing, but Master came in and adorned her neck with His collar. She was complete. He smiled at her and she her eyes shone, as she knew He was pleased with her appearance.
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The garrote, also known as garrote vil, garotte and garrotte – the execution device used by the Spaniards until the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship as recently as 1974. In Spain, it was abolished, as well as the death penalty, in 1978 with the new constitution. Originally, it was an execution where the convict was killed by hitting him with a club (“garrote” in Spanish). Later, it was refined and consisted of a seat to restrain the condemned person while the executioner tightened a metal band around his neck with a crank or a wheel until suffocation of the executee. With the handle the executioner slowly crushed the victim’s neck causing death from asphyxia.

The safe prototype of the garrote without movable parts is used now in BDSM play. This device is intended only to fix the submissive without causing an injury of the vital structures of the neck.

This device has a Spanish name because it was improved in Spain. It is not clear how complete earlier records are and even modern ones are somewhat patchy. But at least 736 people, including 16 women, were executed in Spain in the 19th century. 65 men and 2 women were executed by garroting between 1950 and 1974 in various parts of Spain. The first woman to be garroted was Juana Rivero in Madrid on the 3rd of November 1824 for robbery. Twenty seven year old Mariana Pineda became the first woman to suffer for treason when she was executed on the 26th of May 1831 in Andalusia. It was reported that the spike of the garrote pierced her neck and protruded through her mouth. Garroting was last used on the 2nd of March 1974, when two men were executed on the same day for the shooting of a police officer during a robbery.
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A BDSM film studio was raided in Hungary by the police after a model complained that her treatment went further than she had consented. Three people were arrested in Ujpest (a neighbourhood not far from central Budapest). We don’t know the name of the studio, but both websites of Hungarian studios Mood Pictures and Elite Pain appear to be offline at the same time.

The Mood Pictures BDSM Studio produces a very special video releases for those who like whipping and spanking. Most of the video series from The Mood Pictures is widly regarded as the world’s hardest punishment series. The girls are beautiful and young and can endure extreme pain. Most of their films contain over 250 extreme hard cane strokes and many severe whippings. The backs, bottoms, legs and feet are often beaten until the blood comes pouring out, the stories are wild and exciting. This is only real show, real audience, real whipping, real caning, real tears and real pain. As The Mood Pictures said “most of the girls enjoy this experience.”

The woman was unemployed, in an extremely bad financial situation. She had replied to a job (a non-sex role in a BDSM film where everything was supposed to be imitated and not real). She signed a contract, but did not receive a copy. They explained that it was all about a sadomasochistic shoot, but they lied when they told her that she would be very lightly hit, or only pretend-hit and she would play at feeling pain.
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Psychological vivisection, encasement, torture, and savage sexual eruption all these you can see in today’s gallery set. Master sneaks into girl’s room as she sleeps. He drags her to the basement, chaining her to a wall. He leaves her in darkness. Suddenly girl’s shackled onto the spiked chair with the Garrote about her neck. It’s just the beginning of a long ordeal. A terrifying array of harsh bondage devices and severe positions entrap slavegirl in a nightmare dance of ecstasy and extreme agony.

Master lowers girl’s ass onto the bed of spikes. All of her weight rests upon her ass and thighs, settling onto this spiked chair. Master designs for his sub a construct of irritation and pleasure. A thick metal collar chains her neck tightly to the sadistic chair. The metal band around her waist is more than tight. It constricts her liver, her stomach, her spleen. Metal shackles lock her ankles outward. The relentlessness of metal. The little pains accrue.
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From prehistoric days mankind has needed, used and hated the stinging nettle. An enemy of the farmer and gardener, the bane of children’s bare knees, and an instrument of torture with which medieval monks flagellated their bare backs, the plant has been reviled by one generation after another. Since the discovery of the holly leaf being a great torment to submissive and slaves alike… the idea of the stinging nettle came into question in the BDSM world.

In places where stinging nettles are abundant, such as Northern Europe, every child learns quickly to fear and avoid this plant. When fighting or doing nonsense, a child may sometimes chase or fling another child into nettles – a possibly traumatic experience which can amplify a fear into a phobia. The concept of being deliberately punished with stinging nettles is therefore extremely fearsome.

Hot, intense burn of a nettle can last for up to 24 hours. The sensation takes a long time to cool and you’re aware of it the entire time due to the almost electric tingle through the area effected. Reactions vary, but most spankees show an intense burning irritation, which is also visible as reddening, and a series of little lumps, like small mosquito bites is common. The effect is very similar to the warm feeling that comes just after the sharp pain of a whipstroke fades. This is wonderful for longterm BDSM sessions or verbal and light play in public. However there is an opinion that regular use of nettles for many spankees seems to lead to a partial immunity.
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The ancestor of wooden pony – wooden horse is a sharply angled torture device a wide triangular wooden plank, set sharp end up, mounted on a saw-horse like support. The victim is forced to “ride the horse” putting full body weight on the genitals. The helpless victim is lifted into the air and set upon the horse, his full body weight supported on the most tender flesh – his genitals, which rested on the point of the angle. Additional weights or restraints were often attached to the ankles to keep the victim from falling off. His legs are forced wide by the width of the lower part of the plank. Used on both men and women.
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Bastinado (falanga, phalanga, falaka, falaqa) was a Spanish word for the act of punishment in the basic sense of beating with a stick or similar implement. The word ‘baston’, in English ‘baton’, means a stick or club. Falanga, phalanga, falaka, falaqa – variants of the same word which is used in countries, such as Persia, Turkey, Greece and in general the Muslim countries, to refer to a small crop like weapon to inflict punishment to the soles of the feet. It is a thick and long pole with a rope tied at its ends. Bastinado is a form of corporal punishment whereby the soles of the feet are beaten with a cane, a cudgel, a rod, a stick, a piece of wood, a club, or a whip.
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