Over the last few weekends, Blue and I have been doing hip harness testing with various harnesses for rope suspension purposes. I really like hip harnesses; they’re a lot of fun, and honestly when you’re learning suspension I think they’re probably one of the most important directly suspension related ties a person should learn.
Why’s that?
For one, the hip harness supports the natural fulcrum of the body. It’s a very good place to have support when you want whoever is going up to have a good time.
Two, it’s a tie that you can tie on yourself reasonably easily – which makes it very, very useful. It gives you the opportunity to put yourself up and experience what all the fuss is about when it comes to suspension.
That’s invaluable experience. You really can’t appreciate the amount of stresses that can be placed on a person in rope suspension unless you’ve experienced it yourself – and even then, you can find that what you can tolerate may differ dramatically from what someone else can tolerate.
Take me, for example.
I’m a big, heavy guy. Naturally, you would expect that if I go up in a hip harness made exactly the same as the harness I put Blue in, gravity and extra mass would kick in and mean that I would find that harness more uncomfortable, because of all the extra pressure on those same bands of rope.
In practice, no – because for whatever reason, I have a much higher pain/discomfort threshold than many people. Definitely not more than some of the hard core masochists I know (you guys are nuts!) but still, higher than the average.
So that’s really good learning – that even when physics would suggest otherwise, pain and discomfort tolerances differ dramatically between people. And I got that learning by testing the same hip harness on both myself and on Blue.
To be honest, I already knew that that was a thing – we all know that people have different pain thresholds; but having it reinforced in a rope context is always helpful.
(I made notes. Because I’m a nerd. )
We also discovered a couple of other things, one of which was a reminder of just how exhausting full rope suspension can be. It really does take a toll on your body’s system, so if you have a busy weekend planned, it’s not a good idea to go up in the morning first.
The best learning though, the one I’m super pleased about, has been the discovery that hey. I can bottom to things in rope suspension, and have a damn fine time with it.
That was a HUGE surprise!
Here’s this guy who’s all about tying up other people and having a good time with that, who is usually the guy in control and provoking reactions… and suddenly he’s suspended in the air, experiencing a surprising degree of helplessness…
and is being thoroughly “taken advantage of” by a perverted, petite woman. And is enjoying it.
It’s kind of weird how you can stumble across these things…
In my head, it felt very much like a bound, suspended male captive being taken advantage of by someone, and it was super hot. The fact that Blue is so tiny and yet had the ability to “take advantage” made it even hotter.
So that was really cool. I’m pretty excited about that. I’ve always envied “switches” those people who can experience and enjoy both bottoming and topping, because they get to experience and enjoy everything from both angles AND it gives them the potential to be fiendishly good tops!
And now, I get to play on the bottom side, as well as the top… which is going to be a whole different dimension to explore, and a hell of a lot of fun.
It may even make me a better rope top! Which I’m all about.
So yes, just thought I would share that with you guys.
Also, another thing I already knew but which got reinforced yet again…
Goddamn, I bruise easily. I get rope bruises more easily than anyone I’ve ever tied. Blue had no marks at all from either weekend, and I end up with these long lasting red/purple rope lines in my skin. I must be a delicate fucking flower.
Are there any other rope switches out there who have experienced similar? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the benefits it can bring.
