Downstairs

We breeze into the local dungeon on a Friday night, lugging backpacks and toy bags. We take a moment by the lockers to change into revealing black clothes. We’re late – the dungeon closes at one, which is only a couple hours away. It’s a slow night, and most of the other folks there probably volunteered that evening – we were some of the few who actually paid.

Downstairs, a woman is screaming.

Beadings All Around II…

… the continuing adventures of Pepper, Jen, Ari, and Debby with needles and beads.

In some ways my experience was easier then Debby’s and in some ways it was harder. After Debby had her “semi permanent piercings” in at Pride, we (Pep, Ari and I ) all decided that we wanted to do it for a special occasion. We went shopping for beads and spend about $50 on an excellent set up!

Beadings All Around…

… the adventures of Pepper, Jen, Ari, and Debby with needles and beads.

The day before Pride, Pepper and I (Debby) went to a “Genitorture with Needles” workshop, taught by Desiree. I had been hoping to learn a little more advanced needle technique (yes, I had previously participated in a birthday “crown of thorns” piercing, but I still didn’t feel qualified to start sticking needles into those oh-so-sensitive bits (or to let others poke needles into mine)). One of her demo bottoms was sporting a very pretty necklace, consisting of probably nine pins stuck vertically through her chest, each with elaborate beadwork. At the end of the class, Desiree offered to let us practice genital piercings on each other under her supervision. Nobody was super psyched to try it then and there, but we asked if she could instead teach us how to do beaded piercing jewelry. Desiree was eager to do so, and offered to let us use her beads to create our own design.

Topping?!

His name was Cami, and we met at a summer job. He seemed quite a bit younger than me but maybe it was only 2 years. He was small, about my height and weight – really small for a guy. I guess I had become his safe space, since he would come talk to me about stuff he couldn’t talk to other people about. One night he came and sat in my lap, he said “I have a secret, I like somebody.” He went on to tell me about how he really liked this guy we worked with, someone who could have been his twin as far as looks went. Some night after, Cami came over to my house to drink and watch movies. We curled up on the sofa together and we kissed a couple of times. I remember thinking that I couldn’t date him, because I would just steamroll over him and crush him. I was worried that I would hurt him, emotionally and physically. What scared me was that I wanted to.

Kink or Climb?

A while ago, I attended a class on pain processing and catharsis, given by Lark and Keri.  While listening to their presentation, it occurred to me that I get some of the same things out of climbing as I do BDSM… and if I’m doing much of one, I tend to do less of the other.

One common theme is that of overcoming the body and the mind.  For example, in the class, Lark talked about strategies a bottom could use to prevent fainting (the idea being that the bottom didn’t want the scene to stop, and most tops would stop if the bottom fainted).  These were physical techniques (such as trying to feel your feet on the floor, keeping your eyes open, focusing on a single spot to prevent tunnel vision from closing down your vision entirely).  I don’t see an exact analog to climbing here, although paying careful attention to what you’re doing with your body while climbing is totally necessary (e.g. making sure not to overgrip holds, “resting” while in strenuous positions by deliberately switching your weight from one limb to another, etc).  Of course, processing pain differently than in regular life is important to both BDSM and climbing.  The techniques they taught for scening were interesting, but not relevant to climbing.  In climbing, one more often just wants to ignore pain, and continue on, hopefully to a position one can rest in.