Secrets of the Women's Self-Bondage Cult (13 page)

       Of course, there were other sources. Even
National Geographic
often showed detailed drawings from ancient times when slaves were sold in the marketplace, dressed in nothing but a frown, standing with shackles on wrists and ankles and perhaps even a collar. In those days, no producer hesitated, as they do today, from showing chains or rope engulfing the heroine while she struggled on the railroad tracks or in the path of a buzz saw. It was all part of the entertainment and I loved it. So that's some history for me.

       I have practiced self-bondage for several years and sort of graduated to steel after trying and using other materials. Right off the top, the biggest problem with metal is its weight and bulk. I travel quite a bit for business and I can't exactly stuff thirty pounds of chain and cuffs and all the other accessories into a small overnight package, but I have made do when traveling by putting a modified overnight kit into a sturdy, well supported back pack and this seems to work well. Occasionally a hotel bell person will ask what is in the bag and I'll say its metal samples for my work. That usually works. If it doesn't, I tell them its ammunition and that gets a response.

       My immense collection today includes a great deal of metal. I have perhaps a half dozen sets of basic handcuffs, four or five sets of leg irons/shackles, dozens of connecting chains which are mostly metal dog collars with welded rings on each end, metal and leather collars including one that was custom made for me and has a devilish lock in the back. Also essential is an array of padlocks in every size and several sets of keys for everything. One problem I solved some years ago was finding the correct key while blindfolded and trying to free myself. I developed a system of small notches in the base of the key. One notch matches a similar one filed in the side of a padlock. Two notches may identify the plain-looking key for the stainless steel collar. Three notches mark the vital key for the chastity belt, etc, etc. This method works, but it takes time to identify the right keys when you are trying to get out of a mass of locked cuffs and chains. One way to improve this situation is to buy locks with identical keys, matched sets, which are available at most hardware and home repair stores. 

       Another, easier and cheaper solution is not to use locks at all and substitute spring-loaded snap hooks, U-shaped, threaded shackles and other non-locking devices to secure chains to cuffs and cuffs to collars. For safety, this is a better idea than using locks, but it is important to recognize that even a non-locking gadget can become uncooperative if it gets snagged in a chain link or otherwise non-functional. I always test these set-ups before relying on them to easily release and I recommend this for any chain/cuff users. One thing I can strongly recommend against is the use of a chain dog collar, the kind with a welded ring at each end, as wrist bindings. It seems so well suited for such a function that I made the mistake of using it a great deal some years ago until I got trapped in one and had to cut the chain with bolt cutters to escape. The problem is that the end loops can get twisted or snagged and then the rings may not slide back far enough for you to get your hands out. I know this sounds unlikely, but I personally do not recommend using this type of bondage cuffs.

       I like the feeling of handcuffs and the larger variations. I use three different sizes:

1. conventional hand cuffs which, for me, only fit my wrists;

2. leg cuffs or shackles, with a larger opening that fits ankles without boots and my arms just above the elbows; and

3. finally a set of very large cuffs from Chicago Handcuff Company, which were modified and sold as "collars" but barely fit my neck.

       For now, I'll refer to these as the A, B and C cuffs, C being the largest. I have multiple sets of each and there are two totally different types of keys needed for this group. The cheaper type A hand cuffs take a larger key. These cuffs are often sold for under $10 a pair and work fine, but require a bit more care and attention because they are very cheaply made and have a sort of swing arm locking switch, which may lock up when you don't want it to, or spin freely to the point where the cuff becomes unusable. If you have or use these economy cuffs, I strongly recommend your using a fix for this problem. Use a small amount of a two-part epoxy fix-it glue to coat and cover the locking lever in the unlocked position. Let it set a few days and this will keep your cuffs unlocked and safer. By the way, these cheaper cuffs are usually much easier to pick. For your information, there are two traditional ways to pick handcuffs: using a hairpin or similar metal probes in the keyhole to push the locking lever and using a makeshift shim to push aside the pin that holds the swing arm of the cuff in the ratchet. Usually the ratchet has a strong spring on it, but it can be moved back and this allows the notched arm of the cuff to slide free. Double locking cuffs are harder to pick, but can be done the same way if you know what to do.

       Some important accessories that I have added over many years, buying a few every now and then, include dozens of double-ended snap hooks in several sizes and various spring loaded hooks and connecting devices to connect cuffs and chains. I use three types of snap connectors: large and small double-ended ones that have a snap hook at each end, and large and small ones with a fixed ring at one end and a snap hook at the other. All of these have their uses and your own creative applications will help you find how to best use them. Hardware stores offer a tremendous selection of this sort of thing, but you need to inspect them before you buy to make sure they are not cheap junk with springs that will break or snaps that will bend or freeze up. I buy most of this equipment from marine supply stores and find that although they are more expensive, they tend to offer a form of brass or stainless steel rather than carbon steel and this will prevent rust from salty sweat. The range of connecting fittings is huge and you will find many really interesting items that may suit your chain/cuff combinations. If you can spend the time, browsing a catalog or internet site from such places will reveal many fun connectors at reasonable prices.

       One device that is an excellent accessory and has a built-in safety element is a quick-release fitting used to release a chain or rope when there is strong, continuous tension on the line. I first saw these used to fasten horses in cross ties in a barn while they were being groomed or worked on by a vet or blacksmith. The purpose of the quick release was evident when the horse became agitated and was pulling hard on the connecting chains or ropes. Unfastening the conventional snap locks could be impossible and, until the fitting in the walls pulled out or broke, there was no way to free the panicked animal. The quick release fitting allows you to just pull down on the spring-loaded release and the closed ring opens. You can find these wonderful hardware items in feed stores and equestrian supply houses. They are not cheap, but can be useful and may even save your butt if you get too entangled in your own chains. Remember though that there are weight limits to all of these accessories, so check and test before putting your body weight on any item, no mater how strong it seems.

       In addition to the cuff sets, and in the interests of economy, I have added quite a bit of hardware, including flexible aluminum bands to clamp legs, elbows and ankles. These clamps are nothing more than bent bands formed to enclose legs and arms at certain points. Once you measure the wrap-around length for, say your legs above the knee, you cut the bands with a hacksaw or rotary cutting tool and bend, use vice grips and pliers to bend small U-shaped "hooks" in each end. One end should fit into the other. Allowing them to interlock, essentially making two 180 degree C-shaped fittings that, when pressed together, interlock and hold the clamp in place.    To visualize how this works, take your hands and curl back the fingers and then place the fingers of the left hand into the slot made by the right hand. As you can tell, this makes a very efficient lock as long as you keep tension on both hands. The same system is used on the couplers between railway cars. The beauty of this design is that you can stay clamped in this arrangement as long as you want, but can instantly get free by simply compressing the band a bit until the interlocking C fittings unlock. If you work the design carefully, polishing it up with a file or rotary drill with a grinding wheel, you can even make them so that they release easier by just sliding apart or less easy to unlock by bending the ends so that the C fittings sort of snap together and need more force to release them. For additional functionality, you can use small chains to connect these bands or to cinch them. If you want total security, a combination of these bands and connection bands or chain make a very nice, multi-band enclosure that you can use from toes to head, creating a kind of body cage.

       Making these bands up is easy and you can buy all kinds of flat aluminum stock in many hardware or home maintenance stores. Working with this metal takes some level of skill and you will do best if you have a strong vice mounted on a work surface, some locking pliers, channel locks and a few other tools to help you cut and bend the metal. You can make metal bands that work very well to clamp your extremities and body parts and you don't have to lock them. If you do want to use locks, drill multiple holes at half-inch intervals on both ends of the clamps and put the locks through these holes. This may sound more complicated than it is and over the years, I have played with this sort of restraint and even made a crude, but functional chastity belt with this material, a few locking bolts and small locks.

       But, back to cuffs. One complaint from some users is that cuffs tend to cut into the skin if they are too tight or too much pressure is placed on them from the chains. One way to fix this is to line the cuffs with thick leather bands that you also can make. I have never seen these for sale, but the concept is not too complicated to make your own, using the U-shaped portions of padlock hasps to slip the cuff bands through. I have also used contact cement to hold leather linings on cuffs and this works well enough, but does not last long.

       Here's a typical self-bound session: My first consideration is how long do I want to stay in this bondage. This is an important factor. It will determine what I use and how fast I want it to come to an orgasm.

       Dressed appropriately, I first put a chain around my waist. For safety and speed, this belt chain is connected with a pair of double-ended snap clips. If I am confident that I have time and the ability to get free later on, I may use a lock here instead, but the clips serve the purpose well and are what I use most of the time. I lock a pair of closely connected B shackles on my ankles. I use a set of C cuffs on my legs above the calf and just below the knee. As an alternative, I use a one-inch aluminum clamp band around my legs above and below the knee. These are far more inhibiting than the cuffs and don't cut into the flesh as much as the cuffs do.

       If I want to bind the upper thigh, I'll use a double length of chain and, before locking it, pull the long end through the space between the legs and back again, tightly cinching the chain around the upper thigh. I find this very stimulating, but it needs to be very tight so it doesn't slip down later. If you do this, allow some slack so that when you bend your legs the muscles will take up the slack when they expand. If you don't intend to bend your knees, make the binding tight to start with.

       There is an alternate to this: Cut two lengths of chain the same size and measure them to fit around the upper thigh, just where the leg meets the crotch. We women have a better nook there than men do and a chain around that highest portion of the thigh will stay in place if the tightness is carefully adjusted. I use short chains with snap hooks on the ends to suspend these thigh chains from the chain belt that I already have put on, the suspending chains running down the outside of my hips. This works well to hold the thigh chains in place without them having to be frightfully tight. As always, if you get creative, you can run additional chains all the way down the outside of your legs, locking or clipping them to each band or cuff set as you go towards the feet.

       If this gets too complicated for you, you can always go to rope, which can be equally rewarding and weighs a lot less.

       As to narrow escapes, I guess there have been a few. I once cuffed a new boyfriend to a piling on a beach only to find out that I had lost my keys in the sand. As the tide came in, we both panicked and I enlisted the help of a cop to set him free. He was amused but said nothing other than suggesting that we carry a spare key. My boyfriend was less amicable.

Chapter Twelve

The privacy and confidentiality aspects of SB pose some interesting points for consideration here.

The double standard is very plain:

There are many people who know a great deal about SB and probably practice it themselves, but are still unlikely to admit it.

Carol - The double standard

       If you have BDSM inclinations like I have had since I was a kid, you soon discover that there is a double standard about the whole subject. Even though you know there are millions of people like you out there, you may have a very hard time finding someone else to play with.

       The double standard is just like the one for sex…everyone pretends they aren't into it and everyone knows that everyone is. For the B&D practitioner, the combination of double standard ("oh, not me") mindset and the lack of out-of-the-closet players carried me directly to my own door and I began to get seriously involved with tying and restraining myself. Even as I write this response to the survey, even knowing that my name and any identification will be kept secret, it is still tough to open up and talk about what I do and how I do it. Although I know some people, men, women and transsexuals who all admit to enjoying and being into self-restraint, they all recognize the double standard mentioned above and are most discrete about whom they discuss it with. I don't blame them. I still haven't figured out how to bring up the subject with anyone.