Secrets of the Women's Self-Bondage Cult (5 page)

Variations on the hogtie

       Experienced self-bondagers will tell and show you a tremendous range of hogtie situations. One common interest position is, as I mentioned before, pulling the arms back and getting the elbows close together. This is not easy and often not safe. Perfecting such a position takes a lot of planning and testing, but it can be done. The real problem is not getting your elbows bound; it's getting out of it. As many BDSM practitioners know, the combination of a chest harness, a hair tie, elbow bondage and hogtie can render even the most enthusiastic captive nearly immobile. Attempts to use the same arrangement in auto bondage can be very challenging. Since this survey asked for specifics of my own experience, I can tell you how I have, on a few occasions, managed to achieve this or part of this position. Once in it, I experienced the very strong, somewhat claustrophobic need to escape at once, the position was so strict. That back-of-the-brain fear of being abandoned for a long period in such a strict situation quickly came to the front of my head and I wanted out, quite desperately. Here's a summary of how I did this initially:

       First of all, I decided not to use rope or some other flexible media. I elected cuffs and chain for reasons that I will explain as we go along. My first move was to put on a stainless steel, rubber-lined, shaped collar that has several D rings on its outside circumference. I locked it and attached a two-foot long, light chain with snap hooks at each end. These snap hooks are very small and it took some time to get them into the D rings on each side of the collar. Sliding free on the chain was a two-inch brass ring with a large double snap hook attached to it. This ring slides along the chain and the snap hook makes a good attachment point for the elbow cuffs once the chain is behind me and the hooks reach down my back. In this case, the chain was not quite long enough, so I added another double snap hook to the sliding one and this brought the hook close enough to connect it with the elbow cuffs, which were not yet ready.

       Then I locked a pair of closely connected leg irons on my ankles. A single link of chain connected the twin cuffs and brought my ankles close together. This meant that the side-by-side ankle position was going to be used. I knew I could set this up for crossed ankles, but the side-by-side seemed stricter. I closed the security lock on the cuffs to hold them in this one setting and not tighten further. [Note: security locking any cuffs is generally a good idea, but it makes getting free more difficult because on most cuffs, you must turn the key one way and then the other to release the lock before opening the cuff].

       The second binding was of my knees, using a pair of giant cuffs, designed as collars. I set them above my knees with enough space in the cuff's opening to allow for muscle expansion when my legs were pulled back and the knees well bent. I locked the bands so they would not slip tighter. Using a duplicate pair of large cuffs, I placed these just below my knees. Now my legs were quite effectively immobilized.

       Next, I needed a gag and selected a simple ball gag with a long dog collar chain through it. With the ball wedged deep in my mouth, I could still get some air there, as well as through my nose. The chain collar already in its closed loop, choke collar mode, was long enough to go over my head. Once the gag was in place, I put another chain on the end of the gag chain with a snap link and let it hang down my back until I needed it later.

       I now had two different chains resting on my back: the arched one with the sliding ring from the collar's D rings and the single one hanging down from the gag chain.

       My plan was to get my arms and legs fully bound, but keep my hands free. My next to final move would be to hook the long chain extension from the gag chain to my feet. This would accomplish three things: it would pull my head back, tighten the gag chain in my mouth and complete the hog tie, more or less. The final action would be to secure my hands and I had not yet really decided on what I would do with my hands other than use a pair of cuffs, but that decision was still to come. This would be a critical decision because if I could not free my hands, I could not escape.

       Next, I prepared a third set of the giant cuffs to fit loosely around my arms just above the elbows. These super large cuffs have large steel rings welded to them on a swivel so that they can rotate freely. This ability to turn 360 degrees may seem mundane, but in SB, especially with an elbow restraint, it is an important benefit.

       I tested the arrangement by placing my arms into the cuffs, sliding them up and over my elbows and then, with some difficulty, locking the snap hook hanging down from the collar chain to the welded rings on the elbow cuffs. It turned out that the only way to do this was to release the one snap hook from the D ring on the right side the collar, lower the chain until I could reach the sliding ring and its snap hook and insert the welded cuff rings into it. Then, working hard, I pulled it up and reattached the chain to the D ring on the right side of the collar. This arrangement put enough strain on the elbow cuffs to hold them closely together and left my hands and lower arms nearly parallel, but still relatively free. Even though this did not bring my elbows totally together, it was enough for the moment and I let it stand as it was.

       At the risk of over-explaining this, it is important to understand that if I locked the elbow cuffs firmly on my upper arms, I could not find a way to connect the welded rings to the collar chain. Someone with more versatile joints and agility may be able to do this, but I needed to be able to slide these cuffs on and off my arms if necessary.

       I was almost done and sweating madly, even though I had not a single stitch of clothing on, having removed the bra and thong that I originally thought would go nicely with the position. There is something more erotic, I think, about rolling around on a hard wood floor or carpet, fully bound and gagged, in bra and panties and even stockings, if everything else is just right. In my fantasy, it follows that my male captors would enjoy the sight of a chained woman in her skimpy bra and panties, writhing about on the floor and totally at their mercy.
[iii]
In this case, my safety sense was running so high that I decided to skip the underwear entirely.

       So, my next move was to place a
single
hand cuff on each wrist. These cuffs were modified and not connected with the usual chain links. Instead, they had a large brass snap hook joined to the cuff itself with a split ring on a swivel fitting. In this position, I could not easily lock the ratchet on these cuffs,
[iv]
so I just put them on, tested the snap hooks to see how much slack I would have and then released them, freeing my hands once again.

       Now came the critical final moves: connecting the gag chain to my feet and reconnecting my hands. I brought my feet up and back so that I could actually grab hold of my toes and instep with my hands. Keeping one hand on my feet, I used the other to grab the end of the gag chain extension, connect its snap hook to a ring on the ankle cuffs and slowly let go with my hands. My legs relaxed a bit and then the tension increased on the gag collar chain, pulling it deeper and setting up a nice pressure to hold my head back and my legs bent.

       In other sessions, I braid my hair, finishing it with a large steel ring at the end. Connecting this ring to my bound feet provides similar tension between head and feet, but does not involve the gag. I enjoy both set-ups and use them interchangeably. I have also tried using both. The double tension on the chain gag and hair can be exquisite, but not something to endure for extended periods. A third option is to wear a head harness or hood and connect it to the feet. The multi-point pressure on the head and gag, caused by trying to straighten your legs can be fascinating.     

       It went just as I planned. The efficiency of this position was amazing. I was well-gagged with a gag chain through my mouth and connected to my feet. My neck collar held a chain connected to the large cuffs holding my elbows nearly touching, my knees were tightly cuffed together and so were my ankles, which were now bent back with heels touching my ass. I quickly snapped the wrist cuffs together and found that there was really too much space between them, so I unsnapped the hooks and then attached one hook to the ring at the base of the other cuff, effectively shortening them by removing an inch or more from the slack between the wrists cuffs. That worked much better. I was done. I was hog-tied with chain and cuffs, gagged and collared and I was so excited that I wanted to scream, not that it would have done any good.

       Once you get into this sort of position, your mind may develop several conflicts. On one hand, you desperately want to bring on the sexually erotic rewards, but you cannot touch yourself. Because in this case, I had not planned for any automatic sexual stimulation, such as a ben wa, dildo, butterfly vibrator or some other internal or external device. I was stuck, literally, with the increasing erotic thrills of the restraint, the back-of-mind fear of not being able to get free and the always there worry that something or someone would interrupt my play.

       I regretted a couple of things while I lay there, tugging on the steel bands around my wrists, elbows, ankles, knees and neck, breathing heavily through my nose and around the ball gag, wishing I had put at least one dildoe inside me and put on a blindfold as well. (One very stimulating addition which I have used often is to attach an elastic strap or bungee cord between my chained feet and the base of an in-place dildo or butt plug or both. A similar elastic crotch strap must be used in this configuration and it can be extremely effective as you extend your legs a bit and pull on the end of the dildo, then relax and allow the elastic crotch strap to pull the probe(s) back inside. It's not the perfect fucking machine, but it will do. But it was too late for those additional things, so they'd have to wait until next time. Meanwhile, I was just having the usual fantastic time. As time passed I would release one hand and move it to my ass or wiggle it down between my legs, bringing on the needed culmination of the long build up. This manual assistance supplemented the fantasy that my captors were playing with my sex, driving me higher and higher, enjoying the spectacle of me struggling against the chains, shivering and crying into the chain gag as I came.

       Each time the sequence was a bit different. At one point, there was a rough hand rubbing and spanking my ass, making me strain against the cruel elbow cuffs. Later, there was another hand squeezing my breasts and pinching the nipples. Then there was the hand that went down the sweat-soaked crevasse between my chained thighs and found my totally liquefied cunt. That finger could only reach so far and I was denied the urgently needed touch on my clit until I bent my body into a sort of S shape and the exploring finger found its target. The slowly building climaxes came up through my body, making me tremble and cry into the gag.

       I believe that one of the reasons people select SB as a means of sexual release is that they can control, to some extent, their own orgasms. A close girlfriend, (the same one who sent me the comic books), told me this many years ago and that input helped me move into SB over time. I have had enough male sex partners, including a nearly worthless husband, to be able to validate the difference between the sexual experience that includes another person and the one that is self-generated. Religious and quasi-scientific cautions notwithstanding, I think that both are acceptable. Both can bring on very strong, intense responses, but SB has thus far proven to be my preferred sexual outlet. Yes, its masturbation. Yes, it's selfish because I’m not sharing the experience with a lover. I suppose it can be habit-forming, but to me, this is what SB is all about: setting up the scenario in your mind, creating the strict restraint and then enjoying it as long as you can.

       I was astonished to hear the mantel clock strike three, which meant that I had been in this luxuriously self-indulgent, erotic fantasy for over three hours. It was time to get free. I did this more quickly than I would have imagined…certainly faster than anyone who saw me fully chained and gagged would expect. The secret to release lay in the snap hooks on critical connections. The hooks between my wrist cuffs came off right away. I reached up to my cuffed ankles and freed the snap hook holding my head back and the gag in place. Freeing the elbow cuff connection to the collar was the most difficult and my sticky, sweaty hands kept slipping as I tried to reach and release the tiny snap hook holding the dog chain to my steel collar. There was a moment of fear when I wondered if I had screwed up and what could happen if I could not release the elbow cuffs from the collar. For a few minutes, I stopped trying and slid over to where one cuff key lay, fumbled with it and then began to try to get it into the cuffs on my knees. This task proved even more difficult, as the keyhole was in the wrong place for me to reach with my elbows still cuffed.

       I went back to the snap hook on the collar and got it on the first try. My arms slid out of the elbow cuffs and from there it was only a few minutes until knees and ankles too were free and I was headed for a hot shower and a very pleasant sleep.

St. Andrew's Cross/Spread Eagle

       Early self-bondage experiences often seem to involve use of an X- shaped cross and trying to bind wrists and ankles to the ends of the beams. More than one SB player has discovered that once the hands and feet are caught in the slip loops on the end of the cross, they cannot be released without help. As John Willie used to write in BIZARRE, "don't let this happen to you". The spread eagle pose is a natural and many people find it at initially at the top of their "gotta try it" list, having discovered ways to get out of it once they are spread on a bed or the floor or against a wall. There is no secret here to getting free, but I have found that using single hand cuffs with large snap hooks and/or spring releases lets me get into this position. As long as my fingers can reach and operate the spring-loaded snaps, I can escape.