Last month I ranted on the topic of limits and avoiding them. I didn’t intend that rant to turn into a monthly occurrence but, as luck would have it, I do have a new topic to address – chilly dungeons. It’s not quite as serious an issue, but what use is a blog if you can’t have a good rant now and again?
Admittedly a cold dungeon is probably more realistic. I doubt that medieval castles had much in the way of underfloor heating or goose down duvets for their prisoners. Yet oddly enough, when I’m naked and being carefully tied to a spanking bench by an attractive lady dressed in leather and heels, historical accuracy isn’t high on my list of requirements.
You might also think that a masochist would enjoy the extra torment of a freezing space. Or that it might help distract from the actual pain being inflicted. Yet oddly enough, I find it makes it much harder to deal with intense play. Everything is more snappy and stingy when it’s cold. Skin is more sensitive, and it’s hard to get into the right head space when being distracted by shivering body parts. I want to relax and soak into the pain, not spend my time wondering how warm the straight jacket hanging in the corner would be.
In the handful of times I’ve encountered this problem, it has never been the fault of the domme I was playing with. They’ve always been renting a space that was badly set-up, too cold to start with, and they couldn’t fix it in the time we had available. So if you’re reading this and you own a play space, my ask to you is either…
- Design it as one or more small spaces that can be warmed up quickly and individually, or
- Get enormous and efficient space heaters that can quickly warm up your large space, or
- Have some way of dynamically partitioning up the space (e.g. heavy curtains) so that one area can be heated separately if necessary.
I think the perfect set-up is to have one large traditional playroom and then several smaller spaces that can be used if necessary. That’s what Lydia has and what I’ve seen in several other commercial spaces. Or I guess you could live in a hot region and play outside like these two. He might now have to worry about ants and spiders, but at least he’s warm.
This is Isis Love and Rok from a Men in Pain shoot. I found it on the Femdom Experience tumblr.
It really isn’t much fun if both are freezing, I recall one dungeon in Germany who spent an absurd amount of money for outfitting the dungeon rooms, only in the winter it was drafty as hell.
The Rudolph red nose look just doesn’t add to a domme’s appeal, and additionally, you want the subbie shiver from a bit of fear or delicious anticipation and not the cold.
You’d think it’d be obvious to keep it warm in places you expect people to spend a lot of time naked (or close to it), but apparently not.
I remember one session where the domme was obviously as chilly as I was. She’d alternate beating me for a bit, and then sticking her hands on my red skin to warm them up. I didn’t notice the color of her nose, but those cold hands were almost as painful as the beating was!
-paltego
The cold hands are actually good, though freezing is not fun I used to have a bucket of ice cubes where I dipped my hands in just for that effect. Risking arthritis for the pain of subbies, that’s how nice some of us sadists are!
That was certainly thoughtful of you! If I was warm and my skin my particularly glowing I can imagine it being a really good sensation. Less so when I’m already cold and that skin is the only warm bit of me 🙂
-paltego
Chilly dungeon space is a pet peeve of mine. One of the rooms in my commercial dungeon is like a Frigidaire, and I won’t session there. The client is (usually/eventually) nude and I’m often in skimpy sexy domme gear or even lingerie if it’s a sub session. As you say, being uncomfortably cold distracts from the session.
Re: the photo…I once had a guy come in who wanted to be covered in ants and locked in a cage! He even brought in the ants! No kidding! Maybe this couple is doing something like that…. 🙂
As always, thanks for blogging
Surprised they’ve got a consistently cold room at your place. My experiences have tended to be one offs that we didn’t have the time/equipment/facilities to fix. As you say, everyone is wearing very little most of the time, so it seems particularly dumb to have a room that’s consistently cold.
I remember your post on the ants guy. That was definitely one of wackier scenes I’ve heard of! Thanks for writing that up and giving me a smile 🙂
-paltego