Figging and Using Ginger in Your Play

I could have sworn I’d done an article on figging already, but I looked, and I couldn’t find it. I think I might possibly have done an abbreviated version in a larger post, rather than doing one on its own. So, I guess it’s time.

Figging is the act of inserting a piece of ginger into an orifice. Most commonly we hear about it being used in anal play. However, you can actually do it in the vagina and in the urethra as well.

I’ll get into the history of figging later, but the reason we do it now, as a kink, is because of the sensations it produces. Ginger juice is an irritant that warms and stings when inside the body. For some the feeling can be quite harsh and punishing. For others it can be arousing.

Most people I know who have done it, including myself, find it to be a bit of both.

As with any kind of insertion, care will need to be taken, but since this is a food item there are some extra steps to take for safety. As always, I emphasize RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink) so know what the dangers are and do your best to minimize them.

Ginger has a lot of health benefits. Some claim that you can get these benefits even through insertion rather than eating—but I doubt there have been many studies on this. What we do know is that people can have food allergies, and that people can experience the affects of things like this differently.

While ginger figging is generally quite safe and many people even find it enjoyable, you do need to test to be sure you’re not one of the few who will react badly to ginger juice in an unusual place. If you eat ginger frequently than most likely you will not have to worry about an allergic reaction. You should still test because the range of reactions to ginger are wide.

Because of this you’ll want to give yourself a couple of days between when you prepare the ginger, and when you are planning to play with it. There’s actually a couple of reasons to do this, but the first is safety.

We’ll start by going through the whole process of preparing the ginger fig.

If you are the Top in your relationship than it’s often a fun task to assign to your bottom, especially if the ginger will be used in punishment. There’s lots of squirmy feelings involved in having to prepare your own plug, trust me. But if this is the first time for both of you then I suggest you do it together as a learning experience.

Ginger can be found in most large grocery stores. It will be located in the cooler sections in produce. It’s usually called a hand because it looks like one. It’s light tan, knobby, and has fingers jutting off. Buy the biggest one you can find.

When you bring it home, you’re going to carve off one of the fingers to use for this. Now, this part is important. You want to cut it off low on the hand so that you have a wide base at the bottom. You can also look for one that has a large knob coming off the side, and leave it on as a handle. With any insertable item you want a wide base that does not go inside, this is to keep the item from getting sucked in and stuck.

Trust me you don’t want to end up in the hospital having a doctor remove ginger from your butt.

So, you’re going to cut off a finger and a big chunk below it. And then you’re basically going to skin it and carve it into the shape of the buttplug. Ginger peels easily, but be sure not to whittle it too thin around the base. You don’t want it to break off or you risk that really embarrassing hospital adventure. (Have I repeated this warning enough?)

The urethra is a little bit different. This is usually done with the penis, and with that you’re just going to want a sliver of ginger, rather than a plug. But you want it long so that a good portion stays outside the penis. I’ve never done this, or seen it done so I hesitate to give any further advice on urethra figging, but there are some sites out there that probably go into more detail.

If you’ve done urethral sounding then it’s the same basic theory.

Now back to the bigger orifices. You want to aim for the size of plug you’re comfortable with, but of course you’re limited also by the size of the ginger hand. Most likely the plug you’ll end up with won’t be too big for comfort anyway.

Once you’ve peeled off all the knobby brown outer skin you should have a pale slippery, but pretty firm ginger fig. The slippery part is important by the way. Ginger juice needs to actually inflame your tissues to have any effect and it can’t do that if you have coated the fig in lube so generally figging is done without lube, or with a very small amount. And because it’s smooth and slippery you can usually do that without any danger.

But we’re not going to worry about inserting it anywhere right now. First, we’re going to do a patch test. The most sensitive skin for this test is behind your ear or your inner elbow. So, rub the wet ginger there and then wait 24 hours to make sure there’s no reaction. If you have a history of allergic reactions or if you want to be really careful then you can wait a few days, but generally after 24 hours you’re probably fine.

Now you’re going to put the peeled ginger into a plastic bag and seal it. Drop it in the fridge. People who do figging, often do this even if they aren’t testing. That’s because the juices of the ginger will intensify while it sits in the bag. It will stay moist, which is what you want when you go to use it.

If you haven’t eaten much ginger before or in a long time, I think trying it in your mouth first is a good idea after the patch test. It is an orifice filled with sensitive tissue after all and if you have a reaction then your mouth is a little less embarrassing to explain. It will probably sting a little and burn but that’s normal and kind of the point. It’s a good last test before jumping straight in to the anal or vaginal figging.

Spice allergies are uncommon and by the time you reach adulthood you’ve probably had ginger many times especially if you eat Asian food. But it’s always best to be sure when experimenting with something new. And of course, if you know you have a ginger allergy then don’t do this. There are other irritants you can try instead like mentholated gel, or hot peppers.

Now we’ll skip ahead a couple of days and you have a nice, skinned fig that’s been sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. It’s been marinating in its own juices. This means it will be more powerful than a freshly carved fig would be. Since this is your first time you may not want to use this fig.

I know, I know, why did I have you go through all the work of carving it if you only needed a piece for testing, right? Well, some people do want the most intense experience. And also because it takes practice to carve the plug right. To get it the correct size, make the base wide enough, etc, it may take you a few tries.

Luckily one ginger hand should give you a few attempts. So, the one you test with and let sit in the fridge to test with after a longer wait does not need to be the one you use for your first time. If you have any hesitation about it being too powerful just go ahead and carve a fresh one. It will be less intense.

And if, when trying the fresh one, you feel you didn’t get enough of an experience then you have the stronger one waiting. Give it some time though, it doesn’t necessarily kick in immediately. In fact… the best way to make the ginger activate is to squeeze tight around it.

That is exactly why spanking with a ginger fig in is so popular. The more you tense up and squeeze … the more intense the inside burning is. That encourages the spankee to stay relaxed, which makes the spanking hurt more. It’s a nice vicious circle of burning and there’s really no way to win.

Isn’t that fun?

It takes a few minutes, sometimes longer for it to get to full effect. Once it’s there it will last about half hour, so if it’s terrible for you at least it won’t last long.

What if you aren’t really into inserting things or you’re worried about it getting lost inside? Does that mean you can’t use ginger in your sensation play?

Nope! You can score/cut the ginger and rub the juices on sensitive areas, like the anus or the clit. I know people who have shredded the ginger and placed a small pinch inside the rectum or between the labia (lower lips/folds), which is easily expelled with no worries. Also, you can use ginger powder for a much milder experience.

Remember that the powder loses the potency of the fresh ginger when it’s dried. But that does make it a very easy way to try ginger for the first time. Add a small bit of water to create a paste and then rub it wherever you like, including on a buttplug which is then inserted.

So that leaves you with other alternatives for ginger play besides the figging.

For those who were just here for the important how-to stuff, you can go now. For the people who are curious about the history of figging … stick around!

How the heck did people start doing this anyway?

There are a lot of stories about figging historically. Most of them can’t be confirmed. I’ve seen resources that stated the Greeks and Romans used it to punish slave girls. It’s also said that in Rome and Greece it was used to punish sexual crimes.

Next, we hear of it popping up during Victorian times. As you know the Victorians were incredibly naughty people and were very into experimenting sexually so it’s perfectly believable that this would become a kink for them.

However the stories say it was also used in school when students would be caned. The ginger kept them from clenching so the cane would hurt more, and also cause less damage to the skin.

I honestly find that just bizarre on so many levels, especially considering how many adults find the irritation to be sexual. How would that occur to a parent or teacher as a punishment for a child I will never understand. Hopefully, it is one that’s no longer used except on adults, but historically people have done a lot of weird and inappropriate stuff.

Now, one thing that people tend to ask is how did you get the word fig or figging from ginger root. But the term figging comes from the 19^th century word feague. To feague or feaguing had a lot of meanings but most of them are now obsolete, except this one. Which means ‘To increase the liveliness of a horse by inserting an irritant into the anus.’

A piece of ginger, onion, pepper, or even weirder irritants (don’t ask) were inserted into the anus of the horse to make them act and look younger, or healthier so they could be sold for a higher price.

It would, not surprisingly, have that horse lifting its tail and trotting around like a colt. This is no longer legal in most countries since its animal abuse. They test for it too just to make sure. It probably works really well on pony girls though and that’s legal enough as long as you have consent.

So feaguing eventually became figging and now that’s the word we use. The use in horses is not only historically confirmed but until recently was still common. And actually, people do still try it, but they usually get caught.

So what’s the real story?

We do know that it was used in Victorian times, but the part about using it on school children has not been backed up by proof and many people argue that it didn’t happen. I have seen stories of people in other countries who said it was done to them as children in more modern times than that, so it’s possible.

As far as it happening to slave girls in ancient Rome or Greece again there is no proof of this. No one has been able to find anything but unsubstantiated stories about this being done and nothing documented from that time.

We do know, because there are documented stories, that vegetables from the radish family (Raphanus family) could be used to punish sexual misbehavior.  A large radish could have been inserted in the anus of someone who cheated or raped, for instance.

However, the documents we have also imply that it’s more of a humiliation thing, so people would mock them, and not an irritant like ginger.

Rhaphanidosis (inserting a root from the Raphanus family into the anus) has some basis of proof in the writings of Aristophanes. However, there is debate about whether this was ever actually done. Some think it’s just an allegory for public humiliation.

When you read the history of figging, which you can find on like 30 websites they all say basically the same thing. It started with the Greeks, then the Romans did it. Finally, the Victorians picked it up. It’s almost word for word the same, but there are never any historical citations to back up the stories, and I’ve looked. So, we may never know the true history.

I do have a feeling that the image of a slave Roman girl writhing around while being whipped because of ginger in her anus is a sexier fantasy for people to think about than a middle-aged man waddling around with a baseball sized radish up his butt so his neighbors could point and laugh though.

But wherever it started, it has been fully claimed by the BDSM community now. With care, and research, irritant play can be done safely. If you’ve tried it let me know in the comments how you reacted to it.

That’s all for now. So stay safe, stay healthy, and please don’t lose things in your butt.