by subaltern

 

Don’t even TALK to me about how safety procedures take the fun out of it. That’s just dumb. Think about it- you do many risky things every single day, but you do them with safety in mind. Crossing the street is risky, but you can mitigate that risk significantly by waiting for the light to turn green, and I know we all do this. There’s no use in protesting that that "takes the fun out of crossing the street". In other words- no one is saying don't do. We’re saying do safely. And in the interests of do safely, I’ve surfed the net so you don’t have to. Here are some links to sites with related medical information (standard disclaimers concerning advice apply), and information on how to do most of the most common play practices well -and- safely.

 

Some General Information Sites:

http://www.soj.org/links.html The Society of Janus webpage. This has tons and tons of links and is rich with information as well.

http://www.queernet.org/deviant The Deviant’s Dictionary. Everything you always wanted to know, organized alphabetically. Extremely well-written and organized.

http://www.cuffs.com A wonderful site chock full of information and links.

http://woods.bianca.com/shacklet/Boner More along the lines of -general- sex information, but quite a wealth of good material nonetheless.

http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/asb.archives.html. The archives of the Alt.Sex.Bondage newsgroups, which was quite lovely before it fell victim to our pals the spammers. In here you will find an almost overwhelming amount of information and commentary. Most of the specific safety FAQS on this page were in fact taken from there, so if you know right away what you’re looking for, head right over there forthwith and skip the middleman.

http://www.frugaldomme.com/frugal.htm The Frugal Domme’s site is wonderful wonderful wonderful. Here you will find a wealth of safety information, as well as tips on etiquette, home toy manufacture, ideas for scenes, and lots of links. This is technically a commercial site, as she and her partner Feynman also have an online product catalog, so I should insert a standard disclaimer about how we don’t endorse/not endorse said products. Normally I would have some qualms about listing a commercial site in a list like this, but it is so rich in solid, practical information and sunny good humor that I couldn’t NOT list it here.

 

Bondage

http://ms.ha.md.us/~tammad/ Tammad Ramilia’s page- A recognized authority on the subject. Notes on Japanese bondage techniques as well as others, and links to other bondage how-to pages. Note also that this page isn’t long on safety information, so if you’re mainly interested in finding such, I’d suggest another site. But for the technical side, this page can’t be beat.

http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jalbro/bdsm/knots.html An illustrated guide to tying a bowline knot which will not tighten. Invaluable for those just learning, as the bowline is the basic knot.

http://www.bondageu.com/ Dr. Bondage has some valuable safety lessons to teach.

http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/self.bondage.html An excellent article by the excellent David Stein, on safe self-bondage.

http://www.queernet.org/LeatherOnline/LO_004_AskDrS.html Dr. Slakker isn’t a medical doctor, but he has some good advice concerning rope burns.

 

Caning

http://www.smartweb.net/~raven Conrad Hodson’s Caning FAQ. A classic.

http://queernet.org/deviant/fsflgprc.htm#Caning the Deviants’ Dictionary entry.

http://www.sexuality.org/l/bdsm/cane.txt Some basic notes on caning.

http://www.frugaldomme.com/dangers7.htm#canes and The Frugal Domme has written a very good and well-worth reading essay on safe caning.

 

Flogging

Grimm’s Flogging FAQ is considered somewhat authoritative. It can be found at the Alt.Sex.Bondage archives at http://magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/flogging.html

The Society for Human Sexuality at The University of Washington also has a very good FAQ at http://www.sexuality.org/l/bdsm/floginst.txt

 

Clothespins

The Frugal Domme has a comprehensive on safely playing with clothespins at http://www.frugaldomme.com/dangers/dangers4.htm#clips and clamps. PLEASE read this. You may think that clothespin play is not something you need to read up on because of the "common household item" nature of the object, but there may be hazards you hadn’t thought of. Any time you’re playing with human circulation, there is danger involved.

 

Wax play

http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/wax.html Some useful waxplay tips from Elf Sternberg.

http://ux3.accesscom.net/~ironwood/waxplaytips.html A gentlemen by the name of Ironwood houses this excellent essay on wax play at his site.

http://www.frugaldomme.com/dangers/dangers3.htm#hot wax play Another excellent set of warnings and tips from the Frugal Domme. If you’re interested in some hot Fire & Ice play, you might want to look at her page on the dangers of Ice Play at http://www.frugaldomme.com/dangers/dangers3.htm#the dangers of

 

Electricity Play

Gandalf’s Playing With Electricity is at the Alt.Sex.Bondage archive site also at http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/electricity.html

 

Piercing

Usenet Piercing Facts- This very useful site is located at

http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/bodyart/piercing-faq/top.html

 

Breath Control

The two most recognized authorities on the subject on the net are interestingly, on opposing ends of the spectrum as far as whether or not TO do this. Both Jay Wiseman AND Ol’ Sarge have valuable information, so links to both FAQs (both are at the alt.sex.bondage archive site) are presented here, as well as dirk’s entry at the Deviants’ Dictionary.

Jay Wiseman- http://magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/bc.jay.html

Ol’ Sarge- http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/bc.sarge.html

Dirk- http://www.queernet.org/deviant/bfbreath.htm

 

General Medical Information

Jay Wiseman also has written a very useful essay on Seizure Management at http://www.sexuality.org/l/bdsm/seizure.txt

There is a page put together by Lisa Connor specifically concerning people with disabilities located at http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Cliffs/9818/

Latches has some excellent advice concerning herbal remedies for bdsm-related injuries at http://latches.webslaves.com/herb/herbal.htm

The D/s Health and Safety Information Site is located at:

http://members.tripod.com/~ThroTchr and it is chock full of good stuff.

Specific topics include (but are not limited to):

Advice concerning various specific medical conditions: http://members.tripod.com/~ThroTchr

Advice concerning bdsm-related injuries: http://members.tripod.com/~ThroTchr

 

Advice for meeting people safely

Gloria Brame’s "Different Loving" site has an excellent list of tips for meeting someone from online safely as part of the "Submissive Women Speak" section at http://www.gloria-brame.com/meetsafe.htm

Non-famous Lauren wrote a good essay on this topic, which specifically addresses meeting people from online in real life. It is at the Alt.Sex.Bondage Archives at http://links.magenta.com/lmnop/users/sd/meeting.doms.html. Though it is primarily geared toward submissives meeting dominants, much of the advice given is generally very wise.

poenkitten has two very good articles on getting references and finding mentors, hosted by the newbie section of the Latches site, at http://latches.webslaves.com/newbies/cybertort.htm