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Playing With Pain: Stories from My Life in Leather

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Call it an intense stimulation, unpleasant sensations, or a cathartic catalyst. Whatever you call it the reality is pain. It can be a motivating force or a consequence but in the world of BDSM it is a key to unlocking some of the most amazing experiences imaginable. Though many people who enjoy BDSM will tell you that they are not “into pain”, they forget that in almost any kind of activity in the dungeon or bedroom, pain plays a significant role. From a playful swat of an erotic spanking to an out-of-body experience brought on through an intense temporary piercing, pain can produce amazing effects. Explored through stories drawn from actual experiences, Hardy Haberman takes readers into the world of SM through the eyes of an experienced practitioner. These safe, sane and consensual encounters illustrate the many ways pain heightens our experiences. Playing with Pain explores the often overlooked secrets of how people process pain in an erotic setting and the dynamic power exc

130 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2007

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Hardy Haberman

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
1 review
October 13, 2015
There they can lose the last vestiges of ego and become a primal, ecstatic being. OK, so it sounds a little hokey, but it’s about the only way to describe what happens. When the person I am playing with moves beyond their struggle against the sensation and lets the waves of pain bathe them.

However, if as a Top or bottom I am not willing to take responsibility for something going wrong, and prepare to deal with that eventuality, then I have no business playing in that realm.

I believe that whether a sensation is considered painful or not is largely a subjective matter.

This is where the magic of SM comes in. I sincerely believe people who enjoy SM are gifted. We have been given the gift of transformation. We can take something that most people would consider frightening and embrace it as foreplay.

Sometimes it may take days before you fully process what worked and what didn’t during a scene, and that should be taken into account. Touching base with your play partner a couple of days later is a good idea, especially if you do not live with him or her on a full time basis.

Violet Wand. I turned the control up until it was making a audible buzzing sound, then I picked up a knife that I had in my toy bag. Holding the tip of the knife just a few inches from her girl’s breasts I moved it slowly closer. As it reached a height of only about a quarter of an inch, a bright blue spark jumped from the tip to one of the needle points in her breast. She jumped at the shock. I slowly

As you might have gathered by now, I like delivering pain with precision. Call it what you will, the ability to control the amount and specifics of pain really makes it valuable as a plaything. Sloppy pain delivery is just brutality, but doing it in a precise manner is artistry,

Note for Tops only: I like to play safely, and some say I am overly cautious, but I find I rarely get into trouble that way. The bowie knife I use in this scene is specially prepared. It looks and even feels sharp at first; however I have dulled the blade using a piece of emery paper. This extremely fine-grain abrasive takes the edge off the blade without making it appear dull. With enough force I could chop something with the knife, but I get it to a point where it is dull enough to be safely dragged across the skin without cutting. I then polish the blade to remove any scratches the dulling process might have left. This sounds like a lot of work, but it really takes only an hour or so to do a good job, and the knife can be used over and over without worrying about having to do it again.

Then I saw the reason for his screams. Another man was slowly removing strips of ordinary duct tape from his skin. One by one, he slowly pulled the tape off the bottom and as his screams attested, it was profoundly painful.

Then I tried pulling the tape across itself, folding the strip back so that only a thin edge of the tape was pulling off the skin at one time. That’s when I screamed!

like to deliver a “thuddy” flogging, bringing as many of the floggers tails into contact with the back of my partner as possible. The effect is like being hit with a heavy bag of sand. The force of the flogger comes into contact with the full area of the back and shoulders and really packs a wallop.



This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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Author 1 book58 followers
September 4, 2014
This was a good book for those interested in the subject. The author told great stories from his experiences that ran the gamut of emotions for all the participants.

I think my favorite was the "annual beating" he and a female Top gave each other, which culminated in both of them laughing like children. See? It's fun and games!

My only problem with this book were the copy editing mistakes I kept running into throughout the book. Since it came out on 2007, one would think they'd have been found and corrected by now!

Otherwise, I enjoyed this book a lot, learned much, and would recommend it to others with an interest in the topic.
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