"My husband and I often employ bondage as a form of foreplay, and we have found that it invariably makes the sex that follows all the more exciting!"

The above comment by an attractive young housewife in the under-thirty age group illustrates the growing acceptance of erotic bondage in the era of the sexual revolution. For many years, a relatively small number of sexual sophisticates has understood the erotic implications of bondage. However, it has been only in recent years that bondage has achieved widespread appeal among the sexually knowledgeable. What accounts for this change of attitude? In the author's opinion, there are a number of reasons why bondage has achieved its current popularity.

In the first place, we are living, as I mentioned before, in the era of the sexual revolution. Thus, today, the average person has a much greater knowledge of the highways and byways of human sexuality. Not surprisingly, this increased knowledge has been accompanied by a greater desire to experiment with the so-called offbeat or "kinky" varieties of sex. As a result, many modern couples both married and unmarried have experimented with bondage. As might be expected, some have discarded it; but others have become bondage enthusiasts. Such bondage fans often build up extensive collections of pillories, leather straps, discipline helmets, and numerous other paraphernalia associated with erotic bondage.

There are various reasons why bondage has such a grip on its followers. At the level of purely conscious experience, we must recognize that bondage has great esthetic appeal. Erotic and often exotic clothing is an essential item at nearly all bondage sessions. Thus, the feminine victim may wear black brassiere, panties, and garter belt together with sheer black nylon stockings and spike-heeled shoes or exotic boots. She may wear long, black kid gloves or other items made of leather or rubber, and will sometimes even wear a complete outfit made of such items. In the reverse situation, where the female plays the role of the aggressor, she will be expected to dress for the role. Sleek boots, either knee or thigh length, are quite common apparel in such situations, along with other items made of leather or rubber. The masculine victim may be required to don tight-fitting leather or rubber items of apparel, or he may even be required to wear feminine clothing.

Naturally, such exotic costuming has an esthetic effect, particularly when worn by the female. However, the esthetic appeal of bondage is not restricted to the costuming commonly associated with it. For example, white clothesline rope employed to bind nylon-clad ankles and thighs together is esthetically appealing also, particularly when the victim is wearing black or dark nylons which make a vivid contrast with the white rope. And there are numerous other examples of the esthetic appeal of various forms of bondage.

In addition to its esthetic appeal, bondage has connotations that strongly suggest sex at a somewhat sublimated level. An example will serve to make this point clear. Among bondage fans, it is quite common to employ a red rubber ball strung on a dowel stick or rope to gag a victim. The sight of an attractive feminine victim with her mouth forced wide open by such a ball, her face straining with obvious discomfort, produces a highly erotic effect on bondage fans. The reason becomes obvious when we realize that the rubber ball is a phallic substitute. Thus, the gagging ceremonies are a form of symbolic fellatio, and a highly realistic one at that. The obvious strain on the victim's face duplicates that of a fellatrix attempting to accommodate a large penis.

Moreover, at an unconscious level, bondage is often employed to reinforce traditional concepts of the role to be played by each sex in relation to the other. Thus, traditionally, the male is expected to be the aggressor, while the female is expected to play the role of the submissive and yielding partner. Where a wife or other feminine partner submits to bondage as a form of sexual foreplay, both parties are permitted to act out their fantasies in a way that conforms with traditional role concepts.

While bondage is often thought to be the special interest of the male partner in such relationships, the gratifications for the female should not be overlooked. This is particularly true where the female comes from a sexually conservative or repressive home background. Women who come from such backgrounds are often highly inhibited, particularly when it comes to practicing offbeat or "unnatural" sex acts such as fellatio. For such women, bondage serves the function of allowing her to perform such acts without experiencing the guilt she would otherwise feel. When tied up and "forced" to indulge in such acts, she can rationalize that she had no free choice in the matter and therefore has no reason to feel guilty about it.

In addition, there appears to be a growing number of modern women who enjoy bondage for quite another reason. With the developing role of women in modern society, more and more women are obtaining responsible and even executive jobs in the world of business. Many such women are somewhat troubled by the dominant, unfeminine role they are expected to play in such situations and, in their private relationships with men, they like to reassert their femininity by playing the traditional submissive role. For such women, bondage has a strong appeal. Thus, for example, one lady executive who supervises numerous men at work likes to spend her weekends at the rural cabin of a younger boyfriend who subjects her to somewhat rugged bondage sessions that she finds thoroughly exhilarating. "It makes me feel like a woman again!" she remarked in commenting about the bondage sessions.

Of course, not all women like to play the submissive role. In fact, a growing number appear to prefer acting the dominant role in their relationships with men. In acting out sexual fantasies in situations where the male is submissive, bondage plays a practical and almost necessary role since it eliminates masculine physical superiority. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that there has been an increasing interest in erotic bondage in recent years.

In this book, we intend to examine the implications of erotic bondage by the use of case histories. We will examine bondage as practiced by married couples, singles, and groups.

San Francisco, California February 1972

Will Henry