Whips cracking…

I’m always asking one question, when I get to know SM people: When and how did you recognize the first signs of your addiction to the harder side of male sex? Asking myself the same way I have to admit that a classic technique of torture – having influenced me since the early days of my SM history and keeping its fascination until today – stars in the leading role of my scenario.

For some time during my teenage years I was sitting in front of my family’s TV set each afternoon just to watch one special series, a Brazilian telenovela called „Sinha Moça”. This series about South American slavery during the 19^th century presented slaves bound to a whipping post and severely punished on a more or less regular basis; at least more regular than in any other TV series I ever saw.

Not knowing why I was seriously attracted and somehow thrilled watching the slaves suffer under the lash. It did not take a long time until I started to coax a friend of mine to re-enact the scenes on my parents’ garret. The delinquent was really bound to a post; however the whipping was not administered with a real leather whip, but with softer material and with the t-shirt not stripped off. It was a game and I couldn’t imagine me to want it harder or it to get a deeper denotation. But as things went on, I lost control and the day when I wanted to see leather whips on nude bodies had come earlier than I thought. It still took some time – approx. until I reached full age – but then I finally saw a leather lash dancing on my friend’s naked back and shortly afterwards, when I found a boy who did not need to be persuaded but really liked flogging, the beating got heavier and the facets of lashes I used grew more and more.

What is it that attracted me so early on TV, captivated my mind in reality soon and hasn’t lost its fascination till this day? An attempt, as far as one can put such feelings into words:

The lash is classic

I always liked classical torture in my SM life. The thought of cotton plantations with slaves bound to whipping posts, of the Roman Empire or of public lashing on medieval market squares detains my thoughts more than modern torture like electro play, needles, sleep deprivation, etc. I’m highly attracted by the view on a body – bound to an upright post or heavily stretched out on chains like an X – that is piled with sweat just after the announcement of a severe whipping. It seems that my fascination on such scenarios is not an uncommon one, when I look back to the times of market squares crowded by a town’s whole population in anticipation of public torture and suffering. The image of the sadistic torturer beating a defenceless body under the not less sadistic cheering of the mob contains a great deal of affection on me that I could not resist (and really cannot resist seeing a victim bound to the hooks even without the cheering mob).

The lash is versatile and thereby measurable

Lashing perfectly allows the Top to diversify the cruelty of the bottom’s suffering. Apart from the number of strokes and the intensity of the beating the kind of whip plays a decisive role during a beating. The impact on the bottom differs in multiple shades from the leather flogger to the four meter bull whip regarding the induced reactions and of course the marks that it leaves on the victim’s body. The bottom will moan in lust or cry in pain depending on how, where and wherewith it is beaten, whereat those reactions can shift widely during a lashing according to my own experiences. Strokes that were answered by howling in pain in the beginning may lead to silent moaning in the end, but vice versa the Top is able to trigger the opposite reaction by suddenly intensifying the torture if it should be a real punishment only. All lust can be torn away and only suffering will remain or, maybe, the lust of hopeless submission will prevail over the pain in the end despite (or even due to) the cruelty. All those nuances have their own appeal to me, and the possibility to combine more of them makes it even more appealing.

The lash can be a damned hard thing

For I am a real sadist, too, I also like the whip as a means of extreme severity of SM. There might be not many things equalling the value of pain of a heavy whipping, even without leaving irreparable damage. Other than shown in most of movies with whipping scenes, even a hard whipping can be administered without squirting blood and remaining injuries or scars, but will nevertheless not fail its effect. The choice of the instrument is an important issue in this regard. Whilst a bull whip causes sudden and extremely biting pain, the aching of a flogger feels less biting but more burning on a bigger area of the bottom’s body. As far as I can tell from my sessions cat’o’nine-tails with braided tails produce the worst feelings. The heavy tails hit harder and ache deeper, what necessitates more careful handling by the Top. Softer leather straps often cause lighter redness only, whereas longer lasting bruises and blue coloured weals can easily be the effect of such heavier whips.

The lash leaves a mark

Top and bottom will always gain a memento of the torture for a certain period of time depending on the matter of the lashing. It is nearly impossible to whip a slave without any visible traces, if the whipping would not be just leather petting. Even lashing with soft leather straps will at least cause the skin to be red for some hours. Furthermore it is possible to create souvenirs for longer timeframes without risking extraordinary dangers. Floggers can be used in such a way that the redness of the treated body part will be visible as a proof of the action at least for the next day. The bottom will feel this clue for his suffering as heat on the skin. Beating with heavier whips however can end up with bruises that can be seen and felt for days or even weeks, especially when the bottom wants to sit or loll. Even just wearing tight clothes may remind the delinquent of its punishment. Single tail whips like the famous bull whips might actually induce bloodshot marks. To achieve such persistent reminders is not too difficult with the proper tool, if marks are a target of the game. It should be self-evident, that as soon as blood is part of the game special caution is needed in regards to health issues. For whips, especially the plaited ones, are difficult to clean and to disinfect, whips used in bloody games should only be used on one bottom.

The limit of the game has to be decided by the players themselves. Personally, I’m not fond of bloody adventures, but very well of marking a bottom for a certain time, and by that to make him aware of his role for the time after the session, too. Another benefit of marks is the reminding of the reason for a punishment, if there was one. In the case that there wasn’t a reason – Tops do not always need reasons – the bottom will bear his position in remembrance while he has something to look at in the mirror.

The aspect of my opus on a whipped slave boy’s body or the incoming message “I did not know that lolling can hurt so much!” the day after a whipping took place do simply arouse me.

So far, that’s it, the attempt to interpret some of the facets of whipping that caught my attention for such a long period of my live. I’m afraid, I will never be able to state exhaustively, what is going on in my brain – and I have to admit in lower regions of my body, too – when I see a body branded with the signs of my work wriggle in chains. The deeper cause of those feelings? I don’t know them, … but I relish them.