Shy And Sweet Till Need Be 😈

A few additional things that can easily kill or at least severely injure a sub:

Any kind of tie that tightens itself, and many that don’t. This includes places other than the throat, and definitely includes thigh ties that necessarily cross the femoral artery.

You can still do them! But keep close watch for signs of swelling and/or discolouration, and be ready to quick-release (knives are sexy, but not the best tools for cutting rope in an emergency, you want shears) and gently massage. Aspirin will also help (beyond its analgesic properties, it is a blood thinner and will reduce clotting; don’t mix it with blood play, though, or it’ll look like Quentin Tarantino directed an episode of Dexter in your bedroom).

Anything that leaves somebody suspended upside-down for more than a short while. Time to death varies widely based on individual and circumstantial specifics. Cause of death is generally brain haemorrhaging. 

If you’re going to do that sort of thing, go to rigging classes, learn from an expert, and know your partner’s limits well. Start small and work up. As with all bondage, but especially this, do not leave the sub unattended. That works only in porn, not in reality. 

Bloodplay

If you’re going to do this, you need to know anatomy well. There’s a difference between looking like an Anne Rice scene (trickle of blood over skin) and looking like a Japanese dolphin slaughter (blood everywhere, on everything, and a lot of hot wet red death), and that difference is measured in millimetres.

CBT (Cock and Ball Torture, not Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)

On a related note, watch what you’re doing there too. While everyone’s focussed on the nerves available here, do remember there’s some pretty major plumbing here as well, and if everything’s going well, it’s going to be under very high pressure. You can cause a lot of (harmless) pain without causing injury if you respect both anatomy and physics.

Hair-grabbing