The Passionate Prisoners
By Will Henry
Introduction by the Author
"My husband and I often employ bondage as a form of foreplay,
and we have found that it invariably makes the sex that follows
all the more exciting!"
The above comment by an attractive young housewife in the
under-thirty age group illustrates the growing acceptance of
erotic bondage in the era of the sexual revolution. For many
years, a relatively small number of sexual sophisticates has
understood the erotic implications of bondage. However, it has
been only in recent years that bondage has achieved widespread
appeal among the sexually knowledgeable. What accounts for this
change of attitude? In the author's opinion, there are a number
of reasons why bondage has achieved its current popularity.
In the first place, we are living, as I mentioned before, in
the era of the sexual revolution. Thus, today, the average person
has a much greater knowledge of the highways and byways of human
sexuality. Not surprisingly, this increased knowledge has been
accompanied by a greater desire to experiment with the so-called
offbeat or "kinky" varieties of sex. As a result, many modern
couples both married and unmarried have experimented with bondage.
As might be expected, some have discarded it; but others have
become bondage enthusiasts. Such bondage fans often build up
extensive collections of pillories, leather straps, discipline
helmets, and numerous other paraphernalia associated with erotic
bondage.
There are various reasons why bondage has such a grip on its
followers. At the level of purely conscious experience, we must
recognize that bondage has great esthetic appeal. Erotic and
often exotic clothing is an essential item at nearly all bondage
sessions. Thus, the feminine victim may wear black brassiere,
panties, and garter belt together with sheer black nylon stockings
and spike-heeled shoes or exotic boots. She may wear long, black
kid gloves or other items made of leather or rubber, and will
sometimes even wear a complete outfit made of such items. In the
reverse situation, where the female plays the role of the
aggressor, she will be expected to dress for the role. Sleek
boots, either knee or thigh length, are quite common apparel in
such situations, along with other items made of leather or rubber.
The masculine victim may be required to don tight-fitting leather
or rubber items of apparel, or he may even be required to wear
feminine clothing.
Naturally, such exotic costuming has an esthetic effect,
particularly when worn by the female. However, the esthetic
appeal of bondage is not restricted to the costuming commonly
associated with it. For example, white clothesline rope employed
to bind nylon-clad ankles and thighs together is esthetically
appealing also, particularly when the victim is wearing black or
dark nylons which make a vivid contrast with the white rope. And
there are numerous other examples of the esthetic appeal of
various forms of bondage.
In addition to its esthetic appeal, bondage has connotations
that strongly suggest sex at a somewhat sublimated level. An
example will serve to make this point clear. Among bondage fans,
it is quite common to employ a red rubber ball strung on a dowel
stick or rope to gag a victim. The sight of an attractive
feminine victim with her mouth forced wide open by such a ball,
her face straining with obvious discomfort, produces a highly
erotic effect on bondage fans. The reason becomes obvious when we
realize that the rubber ball is a phallic substitute. Thus, the
gagging ceremonies are a form of symbolic fellatio, and a highly
realistic one at that. The obvious strain on the victim's face
duplicates that of a fellatrix attempting to accommodate a large
penis.
Moreover, at an unconscious level, bondage is often employed
to reinforce traditional concepts of the role to be played by each
sex in relation to the other. Thus, traditionally, the male is
expected to be the aggressor, while the female is expected to play
the role of the submissive and yielding partner. Where a wife or
other feminine partner submits to bondage as a form of sexual
foreplay, both parties are permitted to act out their fantasies in
a way that conforms with traditional role concepts.
While bondage is often thought to be the special interest of
the male partner in such relationships, the gratifications for the
female should not be overlooked. This is particularly true where
the female comes from a sexually conservative or repressive home
background. Women who come from such backgrounds are often highly
inhibited, particularly when it comes to practicing offbeat or
"unnatural" sex acts such as fellatio. For such women, bondage
serves the function of allowing her to perform such acts without
experiencing the guilt she would otherwise feel. When tied up and
"forced" to indulge in such acts, she can rationalize that she had
no free choice in the matter and therefore has no reason to feel
guilty about it.
In addition, there appears to be a growing number of modern
women who enjoy bondage for quite another reason. With the
developing role of women in modern society, more and more women
are obtaining responsible and even executive jobs in the world of
business. Many such women are somewhat troubled by the dominant,
unfeminine role they are expected to play in such situations and,
in their private relationships with men, they like to reassert
their femininity by playing the traditional submissive role. For
such women, bondage has a strong appeal. Thus, for example, one
lady executive who supervises numerous men at work likes to spend
her weekends at the rural cabin of a younger boyfriend who
subjects her to somewhat rugged bondage sessions that she finds
thoroughly exhilarating. "It makes me feel like a woman again!"
she remarked in commenting about the bondage sessions.
Of course, not all women like to play the submissive role.
In fact, a growing number appear to prefer acting the dominant
role in their relationships with men. In acting out sexual
fantasies in situations where the male is submissive, bondage
plays a practical and almost necessary role since it eliminates
masculine physical superiority. Under these circumstances, it is
not surprising that there has been an increasing interest in
erotic bondage in recent years.
In this book, we intend to examine the implications of erotic
bondage by the use of case histories. We will examine bondage as
practiced by married couples, singles, and groups.
San Francisco, California February 1972
Will Henry
