Entry for January 30, 2006
“How can I introduce BDSM to my significant other?”
Entry for January 30, 2006< PlayGirl(SEXY_CRUISER) 57320752 Views |
| “How can I introduce BDSM to my significant other?”
A frequently asked question, and one I hesitate to answer honestly. However, I was just asked about this very issue times in two days, so I think it’s time to have some open discussion on the matter.
Sexual incompatibility within a long-termed relationship can be a serious source of unhappiness. It’s no secret that sexual problems have brought down many an otherwise reasonably solid relationship. Things can be especially difficult for the submissive or fetishist who doesn’t understand his or her need for kink until later on in life, sometimes years into a marriage. Because alternative sexuality is so taboo in our society, many people feel all alone with their fetishes and fantasies. By the time they learn that there were other people like them in the world of BDSM, they may have built their life around a vanilla relationship. At this point, a person has 3 options: ignore the issue and continue a life of frustration, break up their relationship to find another, or find some way their current life could accommodate their sexual needs. In this last option the fledgling kinkster can either convert his or her partner, or find satisfaction outside the primary relationship, either in secret or with full consent of the significant other. I have some idea what the politically-correct advice would be. Share your sexuality with your partner, make your vanilla relationship more satisfying. And I would venture a guess that the politically correct advice might also be that you shouldn’t be quite as kinky as you are, or that you should relegate the more serious stuff to fantasy. There’s kind of a double-standard when it comes to these things. If “normal” sexual desires are not met in a relationship it tends to be seen as a valid problem. But if alternative desires are not lived out, the burden is put on the kinkier partner to accept the situation. I am going to go out on a limb here and give you the non-politically correct advice, because frankly, I don’t think that the politically correct advice is working. We have an enormous, international, BDSM/Fetish industry based on satisfying kinks that people are not getting at home. The need for kink does not seem to be taken seriously by society at large outside of the adult industry. At best, it’s treated like a laughable sexual quirk, when really, it’s more of a sexual orientation. Sex workers do not have the luxury of political correctness. We must see the world as it is, and not as how it “should” be. And since you are here, in this world, I’ll give you my down-and-dirty take on the situation. I have two opinions to offer, and you may not like either of them. (For simplicity, I’ve used the male pronoun to describe the kinkster and the female pronoun to describe the vanilla partner, since My main audience is kinky heterosexual females, but we all know that kink does not discriminate, and every possible combination of pronouns could be used in these cases.) 1.Kinkifying your partner takes serious, sincere effort: In attempting to convert your SO to BDSM: don’t whine, don’t coerce, don’t complain…. seduce. Even though you might be very frustrated by your situation, try not to put things in a way that will make your partner feel hurt or rejected. I can’t imagine it will help things if she feels inadequate for not turning you on enough. Personally, I don’t suggest you bring up the issue in your therapist’s office. Not at first anyway. I think that might be step 5 or 6, not step 1. Instead, do the “spice up our sex life” thing, and start sharing fantasies. The key here is that you should focus on genuinely spicing things up for both of you… it’s not going to work unless you actually want to find new ways to turn her on too. I don’t mean that you should perfunctorily live out a few of her desires only because you’re impatiently waiting with a hidden agenda to transform your SO into a dream Domme out of your favorite porn site. No, no, no. Pressure is anti-seductive. You should entice her with real pleasure, prolonged attention, patience, encouragement, and understanding. She needs to have a reason to want to do new things. It needs to become irresistible. That’s much better than making it into a problem she needs to solve. Start where she is, and slowly incorporate more as her comfort level grows. Open communication about your issues and frustration also has its place in the right context. But I think it might take a little more than emotional processing to get your wife to, say… pee on you. Or to bitch-slap you and drag you around the house by your hair. Or to dress you up in her best lingerie, the stuff you put on when she’s not home. Just for example. And if you want to be locked in chastity, only to be allowed out of your device once a month for a ritualistic “milking” routine that ends in you drinking your own juices… well, the advice given by the average marital crisis self-help book isn’t really going to apply. Certain types of kink are easier than others to introduce to a partner. Foot fetish, if it only entails foot worship, is one of the easier ones. A fetishist could simply ask his SO if he can give her a foot massage. Learn to give a really good one. If it were presented the right way, many women could appreciate some attention given to their feet. Move on to foot kissing, etc, but don’t indulge in excessive slobbering. Think of her enjoyment. Perhaps she’ll let you paint her toenails and you can do a weekly ritual of toenail painting. Being Dominant can be a lot of work, but it’s also a pleasure, ladies. Practice your sincerest submission by putting him first, and showing him the pleasure of being served and treated like a king. Do it in a self-respecting way. Take care that your submission is not mistaken for low self-esteem, which is unattractive. Let him know how hot you think he is when he’s in control. You’ll be making space for a new side of himself. Don’t have expectations about what he unique dominance will be like. Cultivate a genuine curiosity about his. Nurture her Dom-side with patience, encouragement, and forms of submission that interest him. Now, that being said, on to part 2: The above may well not be enough. I do think that most people have a little kink in them that can be expanded if given the right opportunity, maybe even quite a lot. But I have to say, and I think most other kinksters will agree, the odds are against you totally kinkifyng your partner. As I said, it’s my opinion that being kinky is a sexual orientation, like being gay, ladies. Being kinky in a vanilla relationship is like being gay in a straight relationship. Being mostly kinky in a mostly vanilla relationship is like being a mostly-gay bisexual in a straight relationship. That is the situation many submissives, fetishists, etc. face. Especially if they have a very taboo kink that needs satisfying. You might be able to induce a little sub/Domme dynamic into a vanilla relationship, or indulge a fairly mainstream fetish, like foot fetish. But if your needs are less moderate, ladies, I think your chances of getting a partner not only to indulge you, but to enjoy the play himself, are pretty slim. I’m sure conversion has been done and can be done in some cases, but I think it’s important to be realistic about things. I hesitate to say all this, because I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying to convert a partner to kink. I have just seen the unhappiness it causes when people don’t prioritize erotic satisfaction as a goal in life, and take a practical approach to finding what they need. Every once in awhile I hear about a fully kinkified partner, and I’ve certainly brought out more than a few latent tendencies in mine myself. More often what I see is people not being very realistic with themselves about how strong their fetishes are and how important it really is that those needs be satisfied. I don’t want submissives and fetishists to be full of guilt, confliction, secrets, and inner turmoil. I don’t like to see the cycles of self-denial followed by erotic binges on porn and pay-day visits to any Dominatrix available with only an hour notice. Especially if you are in the dating phase of a relationship, don’t be naive about the chances of most women you meet satisfying your obscure desires. If you are, like Me, very, very kinky, you are going to have to face the following reality: the desires are not going to go away. You are probably going to be longing for those things for the rest of your life. You can decide not to act on your needs, and keep the kink in your private fantasy life, or you can make a point of living out your desires. What ever you decide, I hope you make a conscious decision about what you’re going to do about being kinky. It’s better to decide what to do than to put off the issue until the next time you have some kind of outburst, followed by guilt and confusion. I want My fellow perverts to enjoy their erotic lives. I don’t want us to be like the fag walking around with a limp wrist, renting Barbara Streisand movies every Friday, replaying “YMCA” in his queeny little mind, all the while insisting “I am NOT gay. Shut up, shut up, shut up!” It’s enough to make Me want to say “Sister, snap out of it. It’s not that bad. Get up off the couch, turn off the Judy Garland special, and get thyself to the dance club. Your public awaits you!” What’s the Kinky equivalent of stepping out? Let Me make a list of a few options: Get involved with the BDSM scene: You can find info on all of these things on the net, most of the above are linked from this blog. I do work with couples in session, and if you would like to talk these things over with your local friendly-evil Dominatrix, you can always consult me, ladies, via My IM on MSN or Yahoo. I help people with these things over Instant Messager all the time. Monday January 30, 2006 - 10:58pm (PST) |
