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I was wondering if you recommend some gear that a bottom might wear during a scene. Information about different cock rings, collars, gags, etc. and when a Master would force his bottom to wear them would be great.
Signs and Signals
A few decades back when gay sex and SM were much more taboo than they are now a whole series of secret codes of dress were developed to help players recognise each other without frightening the neighbours or attracting the queer-bashers. Handkerchiefs with a complex system of colour codes , the positioning of keys and belt buckles, collars and types of clothing…  Always: on the left for dominant and on the right for passive. While these are still in use, they are by no means universal or certain. Guys wear hankies and keys and collars who have no interest in SM… and Goths and punks wear SM paraphernalia when they may have no interest in SM action. So best ask before you rape them in a fraternal kinda way… the hankie in the back pocket may just be a fashion statement…

This is a big area but I’ll explore some of the basics here and expand it later into a full article.

There are different sorts of clothing for a sub…

Roles and Costumes
There are those clothes that are the costume for the play. Biker, cowboy, hardhat, gladiator, penitent… even the diaper for the baby. If it’s your thing, you’ll know what you need to wear… If you are gonna play with me forget the diaper…

Most of these role-play costumes have a TOP and a bottom version – or ways in which they are modified to make the orientation of the wearer apparent to those with eyes to see. There are no rules here; it’s just a tendency. If you are TOP or bottom by inclination, you’ll tend to like to wear clothes in that way naturally. After all, you are drawing on the same accumulation of associations that makes the form of dress erotic and guys oriented opposite to you more sexually appealing when they are dressed this way. So think less and feel more. It’s part of a creative process and you should have fun with it…
Getting Your Kit Off … the Hard Way

Clothes can also be a very dynamic part of the SM action. I enjoy a scenario where I literally rip the cloths off the sub as we play, exposing his body bit by bit through the torn fabric – working on him section by section. Tearing holes in his singlet to expose his nipples to be worked on hard until they are red and sore… Ripping the seat out of his jeans but leaving the seam pulling tight in his crack while you welt his ass with a strap… pulling his balls and sac out through a small hole in the crotch of his shorts before working them over… in each case the bottom feels more at the mercy of the TOP … vulnerable.

This sort of action takes planning. If you simply rip away you will soon find that seams and hems are a lot tougher than you thought. This can be dangerous. A resistant hem can pull against the throat like a rope or cut into soft skin like a wire. The trick is to prepare the clothing first – or instruct your sub on how to prepare it and make sure this is all done before you begin. [for some ideas on preparing clothes click here].

Obviously it’s important also to separate reality from fantasy. Best check if that expensive pair of torn jeans is for show or for shredding before you set about them with the scissors. Personally I like old tee-shirts and cotton shorts or old worn-out jeans. If you don’t wanna sacrifice you own clothes go buy some second-hand at the Op-Shop.

Later in the scene the shredded clothing can be used to wipe sweat outa the TOP's pits or as a cum-rag… and after that maybe a gag if the sub is whining… I’ve know bottoms take the ripped clothing home and jerk off into it for weeks – and one guy who had his favourite tee-shirt shredded in this way as a punishment framed it afterwards like a sports trophy and hung it so it faced him in bed…

Getting Your Kit On

There are a whole range of accessories available for a bottom to wear that have a direct function. Collars, wrist and ankle cuffs, cock rings and Y-pieces, plugs and prostate stimulators. They are all in one way clothing accessories – symbols of accepting the role of bottom, of submissive, of slave. But they also have a practical use. Any good catalogue from an SM store will introduce you to a wide range of products. Here are a few for starters:


Body Harness
A set of interlocking straps that fit tightly around the upper body and sometimes the lower trunk. Heavy-weight versions with the right support can be used for suspension. If you get a harness with D-rings on the straps then the wrists and ankles and cock can be tethered close to the body.


Slave Collar
Potent symbol of slavehood. A leash can be attached to lead the slave around in public, or wrist restrains can be fixed here to keep the slave's hands away from the TOP's  'working areas'.


Head Harness
An extension of the collar that can combine detachable blindfold and gag.  If it fits tight it can be used to tether the slave in a standing position, but take great care of the neck to ensure no undue strain is applied to the upper spine.


Wrist cuffs and Ankle Cuffs
Make showy accessories and are already in place when it's time to secure the slave in a spread eagle...


Y-Piece
Links clips to nipples with a cockring. Usually elasticated. The linking Y-shaped straps are a little shorter than the torso, forcing bottom into a stoop to save his sore tits. That is, until the TOP commands that he stand to attention!


And the Rest
There are hundreds of variants and forms of fetish clothing available and many more you can make yourself... or invent new ones. SM is play for the imagination... use it and have fun!
There is a great deal more could be said about dressing up for SM play, about using clothes actively in a session and not just as costuming,  and about clothing as a signal of sexual taste and availability. I will be writing more on this in later entries. In the meantime if you have any specific questions, observations or suggestions, please email me.