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Please read also Safety, and Safety: whips
Scourges, or cats, are also multi-tailed whips. The difference with the floggers is that they have less tails, at most 12, that the tails are round or braided, sometimes even knotted, and usually that they are longer and heavier. They could be made from leather or cords
Scourges were used along all human history for punishing people. The flagrum, the pleti, the cat o'nine, were designed for hurting, not for stimulation or sensation.
The tails will at least raise welts, and they can also abrade and cut the skin. Be careful when using one for playing, and practice a lot, until getting a good control of where the tails will hit, and on the force with which they will hit. When finally hitting your partner, begin slowly, and watch carefully the reactions of the subject, and the effects of the tails on the skin.
Again, it is better to go for professionally made ones. You can find them in the Internet in shops specialized in BDSM, or from professional whip makers. A good cat is expensive, as it should, because making one require skills and good materials.
The instrument most people recall when hearing the word whip is the bullwhip, a single-tailed whip, with a long tail (over 6 feet long) made of braided leather, the instrument used by several movie heroes, from Zorro to Catwoman.
These whips are made for efficiency in transfering the force applied at the handle to the point of the tail, as they are made for cracking. Animals are driven by cracking the whip at its side, and whips are seldom used to hit on them. The characteristic crack of the whip is obtained by making the tip's speed pass the speed of sound, when it produces a small sonic boom.
These single-tailers are typically made form thin and narrow strips of leather, braided tightly over a "belly", which could in turn be also braided. (A first quality long bullwhip can have three or four smaller whips braided inside). It can also be braided over a leather strip, and in cheaper ones, also over a piece of rope.
For better enhancing the energy transfer, the tail tapers from about ¾ of an inch or even more on longer whips, to a size about ¼ of an inch at the tip. To the tip is usually attached what is called a fall, a thin strip of leather. To that fall a popper can be tied, usually a thin cord, that is the part of the whip that will actually crack.
Many well made whips will crack even if shorter than 6 feet. You should never crack a whip on a person, as the tip, when traveling over the speed of sound (760 mph) can cut anything on its path, from a beer can to your sub's flesh.
The bullwhip, even with all its flair, is not commonly used in BDSM. It requires a large space for handling it, and it requires a specialized skill that takes hundreds of hours of practice to use safely, as it is a dangerous weapon.
If you like the bullwhip, you could trade it for a shorter version, about four or at most five feet long. They could be called also bullwhips, but they are most commonly called signal whips or dog whips.
As our game depends heavily on fantasy, the use of a shorter whip will not take any of the flavor of a good whipping from the scene, while greatly increasing the safety of the game.
Even these shorter whips are difficult to control, so you should practice enough for being sure of where the tail will hit, and with which force. Usually only the popper, or the fall if there is no popper, should hit the subject. A lash with a whip will at least raise a welt, often leaving bruises.
For better control, you should use good whips. They are very expensive, for the time and skills required for making one, but they are worth their price, for the satisfaction of using a good whip and for the look and feel of a good piece of leather workmanship. You can find them made by specialized whip makers, usually from outside the BDSM community. Just in case, don't explain why you want one. They are not going to ask, because even if some of them don't like BDSM, they make a living by selling whips, and, as all of us, they like the money.
Do not use fancy strokes on your partner, just the basic ones. Play safe. Let the show to the professionals. Again, a whip is a weapon.
A strap, a flat and wide strip of leather is also used with these techniques, and it is the traditional punishment instrument for children, mainly in the form of a belt or, in the past, a long razor strop.
It is mainly used on the buttocks, but for older kids (and for adults, as in or games) it can be used on the bare back.
The straps tend to abrade the skin, and leave welts and eventually bruises.
The old military leather belt, as the ones used nowadays by workers or for jeans, is wide, form 1 ½ to two inches. Basically, being wide for their weight, they sting more than producing pain. The modern ones, used for suits or casual pants, are thinner, and can bruise and cut the skin.
Be sure that you always hit with the flat part of the strap. Practice until you can control them. Hitting with the borders is dangerous, as you can easily cut the skin.
A belt is used by taking the buckle on the palm of your hand, and wrapping it around the hand until the free tail has a length you feel comfortable with. Of course, never hit with the buckle. Another way of using it is doubling it over, holding the buckle and the point on your hand and hitting with the doubled part. As the tail becomes shorter, it is easier to control, and the doubled end will not hurt as much as the point.
Published: 05/07/04
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