Breast torture, also known as tit torture (or simply TT), is the practice of inflicting pain on the breasts or nipples of a sub. Nipple torture is a form of breast torture. Breast-oriented BDSM activities range from relatively safe and benign, such as the use of clothespins on the nipples, light flagellation, or simple breast bondage to activities that can include great risk, such as more severe caning, amateur piercing, or being suspended by the breasts.It is practised by gay and straight people of both sexes and the gentler techniques are very popular in SM play.
Background
While it is well documented that the non-consensual sexual torture has been common in both modern society and in the past, the term “tit torture” in this context applies to consensual sexual activity. It can be argued that many sexual fantasies, including those involving breast torture, reflect a desire to use a partner without fear of consequences, regardless of how extreme the use. Rational people understand this kind of desire is just that – sexual fantasy – and that most of these fantasies can be role-played safely, sanely and with enjoyment on the part of both partners.
In an erotic context, both the giver of breast punishment and the receiver receive some kind of pleasure from the experience. In many cases, experience increased physical pleasure as a result of the release of chemicals called endorphins into the blood stream. Their pleasure may be psychological, derived from being completely controlled by another person and/or from the pleasure the other person gets from the experience.
The person delivering the punishment may enjoy the power they have over their partner, or they may simply enjoy more basic sensual satisfactions, such as seeing the bouncing ripple of a victim’s breast from a riding crop’s blow or the puckering of a dark nipple between the jaws of a clamp, feeling the breast flow between crushing fingers or the nipple harden in a rough tweaking pinch, or hearing the victim’s moans as the tips of his breasts are slowly chilled with an ice cube or his whimpers as the cold crevices of his chilled areola fill with molten wax.
Both may enjoy sexual roleplaying their actions, such as acting out a dominant lover’s latent nipple-fixated vampire dreams or a submissive partner’s breast torture rape fantasy. Regardless, in most cases the pleasure is derived from some combination of these physical, emotional and psychological factors.
Erotic tit torture involves a combination of sexual activities that are considered paraphilias by many psychologists and sexologists. Paraphilia has many definitions, most of them with negative connotations that imply “perversion” or “deviancy.” The paraphilias noted in many texts that most commonly apply to tit torture include:
- Algolagnia - sexual pleasure from pain
- Sexual sadism - sexual arousal from giving pain
- Sexual masochism - sexual arousal from wanting to be humiliated, beaten, bound, or otherwise made to suffer
- Vincilagnia - sexual arousal by bondage
There are other paraphilias that, depending upon a person’s fantasies, might also be added to the list. Because of recent understanding that consensual BDSM provides pleasure to each participant, there is a growing number of clinicians that believe that, unless a sexual activity is blatantly illegal (such as pedophilia or zoosadism), or involves a violation of consent, it is not a paraphilia. Under those circumstances, erotic tit torture would not be considered clinically paraphiliac behavior. The controversy continues, however, because other paraphilias are still seen by society as being so deviant, regardless of consent, that they are not acceptable. As a result, all paraphilias, including those involved in erotic tit torture, remain questionable by sexologists and clinicians. As long as parts of society view consensual BDSM as as being deviant, while others see it as normal behavior — or at worst a harmless eccentricity — the controversy will rage on.
History
Tit torture has been used throughout history, both as pure torture and in a more sexual context.
As early as 300 B.C. books such as the Kama Sutra discussed what would later be known as sadism and masochism acknowledging that pinching, biting, and flogging erotic body parts was encouraged as long as it was done with consent. The Kama Sutra went so far as to name all the different kinds of bites and scratches, including those focused on the breasts and nipples.
Torture focusing on the breasts is documented as having been used during the Spanish Inquisition. Particular attention was often paid to the breasts and nipples in order to extract confessions from alleged witches. During this time, torture manuals such as the Malleus Maleficarum made specific reference to the suitability of breasts as objects of torture. Certain devices, such as the breast ripper, were actually designed with just the breasts in mind.
Other historical references to breast-related BDSM include the fictional writings and alleged practices of the Marquis de Sade. In his book, The 120 Days of Sodom, there are dozens of references to tit torture, many of them extremely brutal.
Sexual torture involving the breasts was documented in World War II during the Holocaust and in the sexual slavery of Japan’s “comfort women.” Sexual torture in general, and tit torture specifically has been suspected in many more recent socio-political events as well as in modern day sexual slavery rings.
Erotic tit torture –- like many other sexually-oriented practices –- has seen a tremendous increase in popularity as a result of the Internet. There are thousands of web sites that include tit torture as part of their content, and some that specialize solely in the practice. While typically categorize as pornography, many of the sites are used as informal, and in some cases formal, references for people that practice tit tortureand other breast-oriented BDSM activities.
Methods
Most of the methods of torturing breasts can also be applied to other parts of the anatomy. Cock and ball torture are typically seen as the nearest equivalents to tit torture. Modern erotic punishment activities that can be applied to breasts and nipples include, but are not necessarily limited to:
Breast binding – compressing the breasts against the chest wall with tape, bandages, ropes, and so on.
Flagellation – Slapping, whipping, caning, paddling, and other forms of striking the breasts. Light flagellation can involve the hands, paddles, crops, or low-impact whips, and usually results in nothing more severe than stinging and redness. More extreme forms of flagellation involve canes, whips, cords, etc. and can result in bruises, scrapes, cuts, or other lacerations.
Clamping – the use of clothespins, hardware clamps, household clamps, hair pins, and so on, or clamps designed specifically for use on the nipples or on other parts of the breast. Clamping can range from relatively mild to extreme forms that result in hypoxemia (the deprivation of oxygen) if left too long on a nipple.
Electricity – the use of electricity, typically on the nipples. There are some devices, such as the T.E.N.S. or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator and Violet Wands, that have been specifically designed for use on human flesh and are relatively safe if used by educated persons. Other types of electricity, such as household current, batteries, or devices such as stun guns and Electroshock weapons, carry greater risks of burning or far more dangerous effects.
Piercing – temporary, play piercing involves the use of accupuncture needles and/or hypodermic needles, or other atypical piercing devices; or permanent piercing such as nipple bars or nipple rings.
Edge or blade play – the use of razor blades or other edged instruments on the breasts and nipples. Edge play is an extreme form of erotic tit torture that is sometimes used to produce deliberate scars, or scarification.
Wax – Wax play involves hot wax being dripped or poured on the breasts and nipples, frequently after they have been chilled with ice.
Temperature play – using flames, ice, or other things that can burn or freeze such as curling irons, dry ice, etc. The most extreme form of temperature play is branding.
Biting, scratching and pinching – either lightly or taken to an extreme that may bruise or draw blood. Vampire and similar gothic types of role-play regularly involve biting. Breast-related gynophagia fantasies also fall under this category.
Suction - use of vacuum devices. Suction devices can be strickly for nipples, from snake bite cups to medical vacuum suction devices designed for use on inverted nipples. They can also be used on whole breasts using specialized breast cupping sets or penis pumps.
They can also include breast pump milking devices and an assortment of specialty bulb pump devices.
Chemical play – the use of balms and ointments such as Ben Gay, Icy Hot, Biofreeze, etc.
Abrasion – rubbing the breasts or nipples with sandpaper, scrapers, or other abrasives.
Plants and animals - Enticing or domestic animals to lick or nip at the nipples, luring insects to bite or sting the breasts and nipples, or using stinging plants, such as nettles, on the breasts.
Safety
Complications from unsafe tit torture can include infection, disease transmission, external scarring, fat necrosis, fibroadenoma, and breast cancer, as well as burning and possibly electrocution. People that engage in breast-oriented BDSM should use due caution, research their activities, and establish rules in advance.
Skin covering the breasts has the same healing ability as other skin and can take much of the activity involved in breast torture without long-term effects. The nipples and areola were designed for suckling and can also take a certain amount of harm. Because they have a more refined blood supply and nerve complex, as well as lactiferous ducts, they can be more sensitive and need more caution, however. The inside of the breast is composed of fatty, glandular and connective tissues and is at greater risk of rupturing or other damage if mishandled.
Flagellation - Breasts should be struck with extreme care. Blunt trauma is a primary causes of internal breast injury. Breast-oriented blows should not go deep, and any bouncing should fall within the normal range of motion for the recipient’s breasts. Even skin-deep spanking can cause broken capillaries and/or a loss of sensation in the nipples and areola if carried to an extreme. Hard whipping, flogging, or any other activity that breaks the skin could also cause scarring that may not disappear with time.
Clamping - Clamping anything onto a nipple can be more painful than anticipated. Often, the pain spikes when the clamp is removed and full circulation is restored. Always consider applying clamps so that they are either completely behind the nipple where it connects with the areola, or at least partially so. Nipple sensitivity varies throughout any given month, and what may be acceptable one day may not work the next.
Binding - Hypoxemia can cause nerve and tissue damage if rubber bands, ropes or other bindings are left in place too long, even with the simplest breast or nipple binding. Any time a breast or nipple begins to darken or become cool to the touch blood circulation has been restricted and the risk of damage increases. Binding the nipples and areola, particularly with rubber bands or other deep-biting constrictions, will tend to deaden the area the longer the binding is left in place. If binding is combined with other BDSM activity, it is important that you considerater this when gauging the potential for damage.
If the choice is made to strike a bound breast, blows should be superficial. Binding a breast interferes with its natural ability to shift on impact and compacts the tissues so that any hard blow can intensify any damage that may occur.
Suspension - While there are many references hanging a woman by her breasts, on the Internet, there is concern that it can result in damage ranging from stretch marks to internal rupturing and tearing. The long-term effects of breast suspension have not been studied. It is highly recommended that breasts not be used a sole means of suspension and that only persons with proper equipment, skill and training consider engaging in this activity.
Electricity - Using electricity on the breasts or nipples is highly debated due to the risk of cardiac arrest and other complications. At least one autoerotic fatality resulting from electrocution has been documented involving current traveling from nipple to nipple. If electricity is used, only devices designed for use on human flesh should be used, and current should not be allowed to travel from one breast or nipple to the other. Regardless of the cardiac risk, care should be used to avoid burning any time electricity play is attempted.
Piercing - Piercing carries its own risk. Infection should always be a concern. Sterilizing the site and the instrument is important. Autoclaves or other sterilization devices and techniques should be used when not using pre-sealed, sterile devices. Hypodermic] or acupuncture needles should be used instead of objects not specifically designed for human skin. These types of needles have beveled points designed to puncture flesh and decrease resistance. The use of safety pins, skewers, nails, and so forth, even if properly sterilized, increases the risk of infection, scarring, and may cause nursing complications. Piercing the breast itself risks damaging the tissues inside the breast as well as causing internal bleeding.
Because they are hard to re-sterilize, hollow needles should not be re-used. The tubular center can carry tissue from one piercing into another regardless of any method used to sterilize them, increasing the risk of infection, abscessing or transmitting disease.
Sterilization is not only recommended for the safety of the “victim,” but also for the person doing the torture. This becomes even more important when edge play is considered. Wear sterile gloves any time bleeding is a possibility. If the dominant has any open wounds, any activity that could result in bleeding shoud be reconsidered. This also includes biting and scratching, as both the mouth and the fingernails harbor germs that can be transmitted through open wounds.
Wax and heat - Hot wax, though considered one of the safer methods of breast torture, is not without risk. First degree burns happen. Hotter waxes risk second degree burns. Edible sauces should be no hotter than 120 degrees (49 degrees centigrade). Flames, or the use of heated devices (such as curling irons) increases the level of caution that should be exercised. Though it would take almost a deliberate act to cause third degree burns, lesser burns can happen quickly. Cigarettes are often considered in erotic tit torture, however, snuffing a hot ember out on flesh is dangerous, often resulting in second degree burns and scarring.
Ice and coolants - Ice is also considered relatively safe, and is often combined with hot wax. Be careful to avoid frostbite, particularly on nipples. Other coolants, such as dry ice, the propellants in “canned air” and so on, are much colder than frozen water and can cause frostbite almost immediately on contact.
Suction - Excessive suction can cause breaks in capillary blood vessels, resulting in a “hickey” type bruises. There has been some concern about using these in conjunction with nipple piercing. It is probably best not to use suction on unhealed piercings, regardless of whether they are permanent or temporary, or any other open wounds.
Balms - Chemical balms and ointments that have been formulated for skin can be relatively safe. Read the hazard warnings for the particular product before applying it to nipples or areola.
Plants and animals - Unlike humans, animals aren’t familiar with why we might be doing this. When hungry or excited, they may not bother to discern between the peanut butter that’s coating a nipple and areola and the flesh beneath it, resulting in a mauled breast or worse. Insect stings can be very dangerous, with results ranging from swelling and rashes to severe allergic reactions to anaphylactic shock. While not as dangerous, the use of stinging nettles could also result in allergic reaction.
Regardless of the method, or the level to which it is taken, safe and consensual BDSM always involves the use of safewords. A safe word is a word or phrase that tells the actor to stop, the activity being performed. It is considered dishonorable and even immoral to ignore a woman’s use of a safe word. Most people that choose not to use safe words are in relationships where both partners are intimately aware of the others limits. Regardless, having a safe word, with an understanding of when and how it will be used, is advised by most people that practice BDSM. Finally, people new to BDSM should research anything they may be considering before attempting any kind of erotic torture on breasts or other body parts.
Nipple Torture
Nipple torture, related to breast torture (which is also known as tit torture), is elevating the manipulation of two well-known erogenous zones into the realms of S&M, something well beyond the usual nipple stroking found in conventional sexual contexts. It involves the stimulation of the nipples by a variety of techniques. While sometimes done purely for the pain it inflicts on the sub, the majority of instances are because the receiving individual wants it. Among homosexuals, mutual titplay is usually the rule. The practice, with a male dominating usually involves not just the nipples but the entire breast and to an outsider, might seem to be entirely pain-oriented; nonetheless. There are doubtless many happy heterosexual and lesbian couples where the partners are very much into torturing each other’s nipples.
As erogenous zones, the nipples are to a certain extent erectile tissue; they get hard when aroused. Homosexuals into titplay often refer to their nipples as their other two penises, where stimulation of the upper two brings an extreme ultra-hard response to the lower equipment.
The sensations caused are a sexual arousal/pleasure combined with genuine pain, but merged in a hyper-sexuality, one that afficianados regularly attempt to reproduce. Nipple torture is not really BDSM, but simple S&M, as those into it tend to find each other and provide mutual pleasure, but this is not to say bondage is not a part of tit torture; consensual bondage is often necessary to get to the next level.
Nipple torture is a distinct subculture in the leather community. Men into tit torture show up at leather bars with their shirts open, ready for action. They sometimes have nipple clamps suggestively arranged on their habit, or display some serious toys on their jacket or dangling from their belt (using tit clamps joined by a chain to clamp together the cloth of one’s wide-open shirt to more fully display both nipples is especially provocative). While many forms of sadomasochism have questionable legality, some practitioners consider the activity entirely legal in most American and Commonwealth gay bars; it certainly goes on in Europe.
Tit rings fascinate those into tit torture, and most into it eventually try them out, but eventually reject them as they tend to interfere in the arousal process.
Technique
The techniques are endless. They begin with simple manipulation by the fingers, lips and teeth. The overall best technique is just with the fingers, pinching, pressing, rubbing circularly, now and again applying some sharp nail. Kissing and sucking are also nice, but mainly fetishistic (one kisses the object one adores). Nibbling by the teeth is serious fun, but seriously dangerous. Rapidly flicking the nail-side of a finger against the nipple is the next step up, as is willfully abrading the tit with one’s nail.
Various devices may be employed. “Snake bite kits” and other such suction devices are available in sex shops; these suction devices pull fluid (blood, interstitial fluid, lymph, etc) into the nipple, usually very rapidly, engorging them; these engorged nipples are exquisitely more sensitive. For people with large enough breasts, breast bondage may be used to similar effect. Suction devices may be the start and end of the scene, but also can be the prelude to something far more intense. One should not allow suction to continue beyond 10-15 minutes (one’s nipples go cold at that point and all sexual interest disappears).
Nipple clamps are a very common item in sex shops often taking the form of alligator clamps (roach clips). Alligator clamps should be eschewed as one does not know what the metal is made of, that they are difficult to disinfect, and that the sharp points often cause unwanted damage from the point of view of all parties. Other types are also offered, but as a practical matter, most are not appropriate for the more intense scenes. Vise grips can be used, but some sort of covering for the coarse gripping surfaces is a must. Hemostats (a medical instrument) and related clamps are much better, in that they just about never slip off and are designed to reduce the possibility of damage to tissue.
Weights, in conjunction with tightly-fitting clamps such as hemostats carries the scene further, heightening the erotic pleasure-pain sensations. Lead fishing weights, obtaininable from any sporting-goods store, then attached to S-hooks are a very cheap source and are amenable to fine-tuning for the scene and go from one ounce up to five pounds. Weighty scenes such as this are to be done only with hemostats or other such clamps designed for use with human tissue, in that one does not want something weaker that could slip off a nipple (these devices are easily obtainable (without prescription) at large medical supply stores in major cities). Five pounds per nipple is easily achieveable. Having one’s master’s boots hanging from your nipples is a fun photo opportunity.
Temporary piercing, most common among leathermen, is also a form of nipple torture, and forms a smaller subset of the larger tit torture scene. This brings in sanitation issues, as blood and other bodily fluids can be exchanged, as well the risk of simple infection. Great care must be exercised in this scene and very thorough cleansing afterwards is a must. Sanitation can be introduced as part of the scene, by the use of full-strength hydrogen peroxide (which stings a little) or even alchohol (cheap straight Scotch, spat onto your tits by your partner can be hot). The pleasure derived is from the sudden prick through the nipple, and then the sub seeing himself so-pierced in a mirror. Weights may be brought into the scene once a suitable supporting scaffold of piercings are in place.
Tit torture is often involved with CBT (Cock-and-Ball Torture). If one is prepared to push needles into the tits, needles in the superficial tissues of the genitalia are also often in order and can also involve weights suspended from a genitally-pierced superstructure.
Abrasive techniques can be used. Emery boards and fine-grit sandpaper can be very carefully applied to the nipple, abrading away epidermal tissue, making the nipples exquisitely sensitive to pleasure-pain. This is often an auto-erotic technique. As this can leave the nipples sensitive for days, it has the added benefit of providing a continuous erotic sensation through one’s day, every time your T-shirt shifts.
Chemical applications are known. ‘Hot’ substances such as Ben-Gay may be applied. Wax can also be dripped on to the nipples but great care must be taken; if the wax is too hot, it will burn the skin. These two practices tend to be part of a larger BDSM scene, and are not characteristic those into mutual TT.
Fire is also sometimes brought into play. The tip of a lit cigar or cigarette can be brushed against the nipple. This has to be done carefully, as serious permanent damage can quickly occur. Getting one’s tits burned can be erotically stimulating for some people, with the inherent danger being part of it.
Other techniques involve placing small rubber bands around the base of the nipple to force its protrusion. This can also be done by tying thin string around the base of the nipple. Caution is needed to ensure the pressure provided by the string / rubber band is not enough to cut the skin.
Many, especially those in the leather scene, actually want their nipples to be very sore, even reduced to crusted messes, as the sensitivity of the nipples can last for days, providing continuous erotic pleasure. Once into the scene, many want to have their areolae permanently deformed, by making them become protracted forward through extremely prolonged action, leaving long tubes, and erasing any suggestion of an areola. Men at this state often have areolae tattooed on around their nipples.
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