See also the articles about safety in general, for hitting on the buttocks and for flogging
Slaps on the face are dangerous. Hitting anywhere in the head is dangerous and, as you probably noticed, the face happens to be at the front of the head.
Never, ever hit with the closed hand, with the fist (that means no, nein, non, não, nyet (or it should be njet?). If you still don’t get it, get a dictionary and translate “no” from English to your language.
But even with the palm and fingers, you could hurt your sub.
First, you will shake the head. That is dangerous because of the whiplash effect on the neck, which could hurt the neck vertebrae, muscles and tendons (or, at the extreme, break the neck). You could hold the punished‘s face with your other hand, for diminishing this effect.
Second, you’ll shake the brains, which will hit against the inside of the skull, producing a small concussion. That is why the slapped gets dizzy and is the reason for the boxer’s knock out. Too strong or repeated impacts could, as in the boxers, damage the brains.
Shaking the head can also detach the eyes retina. If there is any weakness, it could happen with a not too strong slap.
Never hit on the temples (it can kill a person) or over the ears, (the air pressure can break the eardrums). There is a torture practice, which consists of slapping both ears simultaneously, but torturers aren’t usually concerned about the well-being of their victims. You should be.
The face has very little padding. You can feel the bones from the outside. So, the pain of the slaps is caused by crushing the muscles and nerves against the bones. There are many small muscles in the face, and all of them help in giving the human face its expressions. If you damage any of them , the face will look strange, less “human”. And if you damage an important one, you will disfigure your partner.
Of course, if hitting hard enough, you will break the cheekbone (damaging almost inevitably some nerves), or dislodge or break the jaw articulation, which, even when being very strong, is not designed for receiving a lateral impact. For diminishing the possibility of this damage your sub should close forcefully the mouth.
You could even break or take out the teeth.
If the impact is strong, or the slapper is bigger than the slapped, the slapped will lose balance and s/he will risk falling or hitting against a wall, the furniture, or something.
So, forget that backhander that turns the face back, and sends the punished whirling around with ringing ears. It can look impressive (and exciting) at the movies, but the thrill of it is not worth the risk of damage.
That is the worst, but it is not all. When hitting the flesh against the bone, you could break veins, leaving bruises. A man with bruises in the face will receive some frontal jokes and could get along with another joke (“you should have seen the other”). For a woman, it is much worst, because no matter which ingenious explanation she devises, people will talk at her back, and she will be marked as a battered woman (unless, of course, she explains that she is in BDSM and that it was just a sign of love. But then she will be considered a pervert. Her choice). Of course, it will be worst if the bruise is in the form of a black eye.
Not too much force is needed for cutting the lips or the inside of the cheek against the teeth. This is the reason for that “taste of blood” in the mouth.
The slapper must remove all the rings on his/her hands, and the bracelets of her wrists. The slapped, the earrings or similar.
When using the back of the hand, remember that it has the bony knuckles protruding. Do not hit with the back of the hand, or do it lightly.
So, hit only for the sting, and play safe. No game is worth the risk of hurting your partner, and if you hit hard, you WILL hurt your sub.
Published: 10/03/04
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