Footnotes

How far is too far when caning or whipping your partner’s feet? Sasha’s got some hot tips on bastinado.

Dear Sasha,
My boyfriend is really into this thing called bastinado, which is having me whip and beat his feet. He particularly likes it in the arches with a cane. I’m fine with doing this, but I do worry about hurting him in a way that renders him unable to walk, or something. Can you offer some insight?

—Toe The Moon Alice

Dear Alice,
Bastinado is certainly something to be cautious about. It is a particularly popular form of torture outside of the bedroom because it doesn’t leave a lot of marks, but it certainly generates a shitload of pain and suffering.

BDSM professional Morpheous shares his experience, supplemented by some of the writing he’s done on the matter.

“Bastinado is derived from the word ‘baston,’ which in English becomes ‘baton,’ a stick for striking the bottom of someone’s feet, originally used as corporal punishment for thousands of years worldwide,” he says.

“Every major culture has used some sort of bastinado in corporal punishment as a way to do bad things to bad people, i.e. criminals. Nowadays we used it in kinky play to do bad things to good people. Your boyfriend and you are going to work on making this an intense but sensual experience.”

As you don’t mention whether or not your boyfriend is a newcomer or a longtime enthusiast, Morpheous provides some beginner and intermediate tips.

“One of the psychological implications of having one’s feet whipped is that of removing someone’s mobility and making them dependent on you for mobility and reinforcing their submissive position to you,” he says. “Forcing them to crawl because they cannot stand is a fine way to make sure he learns his place during playtime.

“The foot is an extremely complex and amazing machine. It is also very delicate, with many joints, muscles, bones, tendons and tissues that can be severely damaged by intense play. Nerve endings are exposed in the feet — if your toe can tell the rest of your body how warm the bath water is, you can bet it will let you know in immediate terms whether or not it likes being caned.”

Make sure you have a safe word from the outset. People in BDSM use traffic signals like green, yellow and red to represent go, slow down or stop, as well as the one-to-10 system to denote pain levels — one being the lightest and ten being the strongest.

“The primary strike areas are where the feet meet the ground,” says Morpheous. “Stay away from the tops and sides of the feet —the fleshy bottom of the foot is where all the fun is. Be careful of the arches. Right on the ball of the foot and towards the outside edge along the bottom. Even the fleshy parts of the toes are fair game. This doesn’t mean you are going to haul off and beat their feet like you are whipping up cake batter. On the contrary, slow and steady wins the race — learn and respect the limits you set when playing. When in doubt, go slow at first, get feedback and use your best judgment.”

Via Flickr

Beginner tips:

Morpheous says you don’t need to invest in a high-quality cane collection (“Although they are yummy!”) and suggests you begin by experimenting with a wooden spoon. “It has both a wide, flat end for striking and a narrow handle for more intensity.”

Try these positions for your boyfriend first:

• Sitting up on the bed with his legs straight out in front of him

• Face down, feet over the edge of a table or bed — you can give him a pillow to yell into if you live in an apartment with thin walls

• Chair and stool to elevate the feet. Tie the person to the chair — don’t tie the feet. Order them to put their feet back out when they yank them away

“I prefer to have the submissive well-aroused before beginning,” Morpheous says. “Do things that turn your boyfriend on and get his motor running. Once he has his sexy on, he should be hot enough under the collar to do whatever you want and willing to see it through.

“‘Stinginess’ of toy is what we are looking to achieve, not ‘thuddiness.’ Light, surface-impact play where the pain is intense but the force of the impact isn’t too much to drive it down into the underlying connective tissue of the feet.”

Impact:

• Caning: Thin and light. Use motions that will cause fast, whippy sensations
• Yardsticks: great/terrible memories for the Catholics among us
• Flogging: use light floggers, not heavy. Flog using the tips, and don’t wrap around the foot.

Non-impact foot torture:

Wartenburg wheel: Great for mixing up the sensations
• Clothespins on the webbing between toes
• Hot wax and ice

Bonus tip: Wetting the feet causes increased stinging

“Like I said, go slow and enjoy the whole scene,” he says. “Make it a part of your evening play, rather than just one activity you do and finish. For some people into bastinado, there is no greater connection than with the one they care about leading the playtime. He asked YOU to do it, not just some random.  Afterwards, hug and hold him and tell him you are proud of him.”

Kelly Perras, a registered Canadian reflexology therapist, also gives her thoughts on the effects of bastinado.

“Because of the sensitive nature of the soles of the feet, especially the arches, as the whole inner edge of the arch is where the spine points are, there runs a risk for injury,” she says. “But having said that, the reflex for the scrotum, penis and rectum all exist in the same area of the foot: the inner arch above the heel. So the pleasure derived from stimulation of these reflexes can be very intense. Firm pressure should be plenty!”

And hey, for all of you kinksters who want to get right down to business, a new App from Morpheous: KinkMe, available for free. It’s a great new way to negotiate with potential play partners.

“The learning curve is about 30 seconds,” says Morpheous. “Fill out your checklist, then bump phones with a partner and see how compatible your playtime interests are!”

I filled it out and it’s super easy. Check it out! 

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