by Terry F.

Why do we all like gags and plugs? They’re small and portable, and they bear psychologically significant meaning.

We use gags and plugs for practical reasons such as shutting someone up (muffling unwanted screams or stopping the bottom from talking), forced feeding and sensory deprivation.

These practical functions often relate to psychological effects. Gags and plugs can assist in exploring the primary BDSM issues of control, power and submission, by providing a symbology that links physical acts to the deeper elements of individuals’ desires.

The ability to speak, for example, gives you power, and if someone takes that away from you, dominance is asserted and you are left less powerful. Similarly, you usually have the power to make a decision about what and when to eat, but if someone decides for you about that fundamental physical act, a comparable shift of power results.

Insertion gags or plugs make a double statement, not only underlining the translation of the power in the relationship but also breaking the boundary of the body. The body orifices have functions legitimized by societal norms. By plugging an orifice you transgress the boundaries of society. Moreover, this taboo is paradoxically enjoyed by both the bottom (the powerless, and even sometimes unwilling, perpetrator of the transgression) and the top (who lures the bottom over the boundary yet doesn’t transgress it him or herself).

Hoods with insertion gags attached are especially powerful: they block senses (sight, hearing) and they transgress the boundary of the orifice (mouth).

A gag and a buttplug used at the same time provides for a double pleasure: intellectual, in that there is a personally meaningful symbolism involved; and physical, in the sensual, primal pleasure of erotic gratification.

Gags that are incorporated into hoods often make the bottom docile after a few minutes. The combination of sensory deprivation, loss of speech, a certain amount of breath control, and the secure feeling of the pressure of the hood render a bottom sometimes wantonly submissive. Eyes, too, become ultra-expressive.

Ironically, a gag sometimes can evoke more noise from the bottom than he or she would make without it. The gag loosens inhibitions, and groans, moans, and muffled screams can be eerily loud.

Any gag that inserts even slightly and that isn’t absorbent will make the bottom drool if it is left in long enough. The humiliation for the bottom who drools down his or her face, neck and chest is the humiliation of one who has lost control over a bodily function essential to the norms of even the most marginal societies. Forcing a bottom to drool can be a highly effective and erotically charged way to humiliate.

Do not be deceived by the appearance of a simple gag: being gagged is a powerful physical and deeply symbolic act, and a top has to be aware of both those elements. For the physical, the top has to watch extremely closely for injury and for difficulty in breathing or swallowing, as well as take the usual precautions with body fluids and bacteria. The symbolic must likewise be closely controlled. It may be too intense, for example, for a bottom to be both gagged and bound at the same time.

TYPES OF GAGS

Bandanna; socks; sock firmly pushed into the mouth; rope, braided like a bit, or single strand with a knot in the middle, placed in the mouth; duct tape, with or without something inside the mouth; elastic athletic wrap; leather strips, wound around and around the head; fingers or fist in mouth and throat (grabbing the teeth and jaw at the back is also an effective way to lead a bottom from one place to another); and soft balls of different sizes (toy stores are a good source).

Also: harness gag, horse-bit gag, and ball gag: each of these is a store-bought leather-metal-plastic combination, and they must be well and strongly made.

The harness gag is a network of leather strips, and often has a few hooks with which to attach the head to something; the horse-bit gag is great for playing horsy as well as for keeping the bottom from talking; the ball gag (besides giving the bottom a comic-book startled expression) is a highly effective mouth stopper. You can also make your own rope harness, and attach a gag to it.

Even more: dildo-gag with rubber insertion plug just long enough to touch the uvula, prompting intermittent gag reflex and tube gag, or “piss-gag,” consisting of plastic tube that fits into the mouth and a leather strap that goes around the back of the head.

GAG SAFETY

• When using a sock (or any other piece of cloth) be sure it’s not totally dry, since that will cause dryness of the mouth and possibly choking.
• Never leave a gagged person alone.
• Gags must fit. The jaw is anatomically related to the ear, and thus to dizziness. If the jaw is in a position that is not natural for it a bottom can faint, temporarily lose hearing, or have the jaw go out of joint. (The latter can happen, by the way, with alarming ease.)
• The bottom must be aware of what can go wrong with a particular gag. (This is not knowledge for a top to withhold.) A bottom most know his or her limits, must know the top, and must know all the risks. Bottoms are proud of their feats, and want to perform well for their top, and this can only be done when all the practical aspects of the scene are known and mastered.
• Since a bottom cannot speak, arrange a safe signal (as opposed to a safe word).
• Clean gags with a germicide or anti-bacterial soap. Leather should be thoroughly washed and well dried.
• As with any type of restraint, have blunt-tipped scissors always at hand for a quick release, if necessary.
• Tape around the head with duct tape loosely, so the bottom does not bite cheeks. A good way to do this is to have the mouth open while taping.
• Make sure the nose is clear and the opening is not blocked, and that the bottom can breath sufficiently through the nose alone.
• Use insertion gags that are molded in one piece, since the insertion part of a two-piece gag can break off in the mouth and choke the bottom. For the same reason, avoid using the dual-purpose gag that has a detachable insertion piece.
• Before using an inflatable gag, check the inside of the bottom’s mouth for excessive dental work or other sharp points on teeth, and, of course, ask the bottom if he or she is aware of any sharpness in his mouth anywhere. An inflatable insertion gag that pops can cause serious injury.
• Beware of over-inflating inflatable insertion gags: make sure the breathing channel at the back of the throat is open so the bottom can continue to breathe through the nose.
• When using a tube gag for ingestion of liquid, allow the bottom to practice swallowing before the scene. Swallowing with this type of gag is different from swallowing without a gag, since the tongue is restrained by the tube. Train the bottom not to choke.

FURTHER READING

• Deviance & Desire – Illustrated Guide – Open Mouth Gags
• Deviance & Desire – Illustrated Guide – Gags
• Wikipedia – Gag (BDSM)
• Fetish Bank Blog – 28 Different Kinds of Gags
• Kinky World – BDSM Advice Series: Gags