I received an email from someone who runs this website that hosts this illustrated guide and they asked me to take a look at it and maybe share it with my readers. So I did. You can check it out here: BDSM Ideas: An Illustrated Guide or keep going to see my review of it.
It’s hosted by School of Squirt and the main function of the website seems to be teaching people to have better orgasms. It’s adult oriented obviously, but in an educational way. I can’t really say much about whether their techniques work or not, but they also have illustrated sexual positions and other resources you might find interesting or entertaining.
My interest, of course, was the illustrated BDSM guide. However, I do want to say that because their focus is on sex, the guide also focuses pretty heavily on sex as well. As a result, when they discuss and illustrate some of the topics, like punishment, they aren’t really talking about punishment but funishment, or role play scenes for pretend punishment.
I’ll give you an example from their site:
“The Difference Between Punishment and Sadomasochism
Beginners, and even intermediate players at BDSM can often get confused between punishment and sadomasochism. While there is the same base of pain in punishment and sadomasochism, there is one major difference.
Punishment or discipline does not always end up in an orgasm, at least for the recipient. Typically the punisher, dominant, or master, is the one who gets to be released and the receiver must either watch or be punished without means of release.
Discipline is to retrain the receiver so that they are more obedient to the dom or master. Where sadomachisism is inflicting pain to a point of orgasm.”
As you can see this is all very orgasm related. People who live lifestyles with discipline and punishment are more aware that orgasms are often not involved in punishment at all, on either side. And while edging can be used as punishment not everyone in a Discipline relationship even incorporates sex.
So just keep in mind that this guide was created by people who are more into bedroom BDSM and not so much lifestyle.
They started off with some GREAT newbie advice for bondage. Don’t trust the cheap stuff. If it seems like a great deal, it’s probably not a good purchase for something you’ll use in a dangerous situation.
I learned that lesson the hard way with a set of handcuffs that jammed and are the reason I now keep bolt-cutters in my toy box. There are places where you can do cheap, but handcuffs aren’t one of them.
I enjoyed the illustrations, which are well done. I also thought many of the topics were covered well. In the toy section I was pleased to find one of my favorites listed: the Wartenberg wheel. Whether you like pain or just sensation this is a fun toy all around.
But again, it was fairly obvious that this was only for a more sexual player. They did list paddles, but you won’t see any of the more traditional punishment implements like belts, canes , wooden spoons, or hairbrushes and that did surprise me a bit. I expected belts at least to make the cut.
Scrolling a little further down, we have a section on figging. This was a pleasant surprise since a lot of places don’t cover the topic. And it has an illustration too!
However, I was disappointed to find that there was no safety advice given with it. Nothing about testing the ginger first on a less sensitive area in case of reactions. Nothing about making sure to cut the ginger so it has a wide base so it can’t accidentally get lodged inside. It actually has no instructions for preparing the ginger at all.
And some of what is said is incorrect. Using lube with ginger will NOT intensify the sensations. It does the opposite and will cut down or even remove the warming/burning/stinging entirely until the ginger is basically just a butt plug. Typically, you don’t use lube with ginger anyway, because when its properly peeled it’s slippery enough without it. If it’s not and you feel like you need to lube you stick with a small amount.
(Note to self add figging to the list of articles. I could have sworn I’d done one, but I guess not!)
But overall, the subjects seem well researched and it was an interesting read. The illustrations also lean more towards sexy but are very nicely drawn. The other place where this page shines is with the scenarios they have setup.
If you like to roleplay scenes, they have listed some good ideas here. Some of them are almost a script that you can use to play. And I saw a couple that were different from the typical ones I’ve seen suggested.
I think there is some great material here for people who are new to the scene, or people who are looking to try out some fun, light kinds of play. There’s a lot of emphasis on sexual rewards and most of them are geared for that kind of relationship, but could easily be adapted for discipline only roleplay as well.
I do at times feel frustrated that so much of the material out there about BDSM is focused on the sexual, which is why I make an effort here to talk about the other types of relationships. However this site is a sexual education resource, so you have to expect that and it didn’t really bother me. I enjoyed the guide and the illustrations. If you feel like going over to check it out, you can let me know what you think in the comments.
This isn’t a paid review or recommendation. Sometimes people just send me their resources to look over and if I find them useful, I share.
My next serious post will probably be after both Enslaved By Magic and Keeping His Brat are released and will be a follow up to the relationship maintenance article. I wanted to do a discussion of how to deal with your needs not being met because it’s something I’m asked about a lot.
So that’s it for now. Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay home if you can!
Musings of a Chaotic Mind 