Rope

Miss Pamela and I have known each other for quite some time – since 1987. Our friendship has survived high school crushes, a drunken college make-out session or two, living in different cities, her marriage – it’s really flowered into one that I cherish immensely. It’s a real benefit of growing older, to see a relationship change and grow for nearly 18 years. There are, to be sure, benefits to being young, but nurturing a friendship over the course of almost two decades has its challenges and its great rewards that are unknown to those younger than us.

We seem to have this great mixture of common interests and a common past along with differences that make things interesting. Having gone to high school together, we can talk about those awkward times with a laugh and, perhaps, compare ourselves to our former classmates. Our interests in the arts converge at some points and diverge at others. So we can appreciate our mutual interest in, say, the music of Wilco, but then introduce one another to new bands such as when she burned me a copy of Get Born by Jet. We can freely confide in one another and just enjoy spending time together. She’s such a pleasure to be with. How could I not be attracted to someone who is smart, makes me laugh, and is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet? Of course, Pam is also very beautiful.

My eyes drifted from looking at the rope back to my fellow students. The womyn in the older couple looked to be in her mid-40s but she still looked good. She was about 5’8” with nice curves and long hair. One of Sarah’s friends – the one who had cut her hair – was also very beautiful. She looked to be more my age. Olive skin, black hair that ended just above her shoulders, and nice curves like the other woman but shorter. The instructor gave a brief spiel about BDSM including why anyone would want to get involved in it and safety. The safety bit was obvious to me but a couple of the reasons one might want to tie up a lover or be tied up had never occurred to me. For whatever reason, I had always thought the appeal of tying up a womyn would have to do with exercising power. But when Sarah remarked about the erotic nature of it, I thought to myself, “Well, duh! How did I miss that?” By erotic nature I mean being close to your lover and applying the rope on his/her skin. Making patterns with the rope that complement your lover’s body. It requires strict attention and concentration on certain areas. And you’re touching your lover through most of the process as you run rope between legs and under arms. Why I always thought of power as opposed to the sensual/erotic nature of it escapes me. See, you learn something new everyday.

Sarah then handed out a sheet with instructions on tying various knots and had us open our bags and check out the ropes inside. There were two gauges: a piece 33’ in lenth and half an inch(?) thick and a much shorter run that was about twice as thick. Nylon. Sarah went over the uses of various gauges of rope and the various said she’d begin by showing us a fairly simple harness. Her guinea pig was the hottie, Miss Hairstylist. She started by hanging a loop down Miss Hairstylist’s back and then began wrapping the rope around her front. Sarah herself is pretty good-looking so right off the bat I was titillated by watching one beautiful womyn tie another beautiful womyn up in knots. As the harness came together, I noticed that it really accentuated the womyn’s curves. For example, she was wearing rather loose clothing but nearly the full outlines of her breasts were exposed by the rope pulling as it pushed the sweater against her skin. As Sarah finished tying off the rope in back, I was given a chance to ogle Miss Hairstylist’s behind which was quite nice. Beautiful hips, lemme tell ya. Having seen an example, it was now up to us, the Padawan BDSM learners, to give it a go.

Before any tying could commence, Pam and I had to figure out which of us would tyer and which would be the tyee. Pam decided she wanted to tie me up. (I should have known.) I took my position in the circle and she threw the loop down my back. Then she went to work. Even wearing clothing, it was a nice sensation to have the rope looped around my body and pulled tight. Not too tight, though, just kinda snug. Nothing was constricted and the pressure of the rope was rather nice. When Pam was in front of me, I could see a look of concentration on her face, like that of a painter hard at work before a canvas. She was really getting into it. Watching her reach between my legs and feeling her tug on the rope so that it pressed against me was erotic even though we were in a roomful of strangers and fully-clothed. Not only were the physical sensations pleasing but I also like the idea of being submissive, of being tied. When she’d disappear behind me, I’d look at my classmates and try to see what they were doing as I’d be tying Pam up soon. Just to my left, the older womyn was being tied up. She was, quite frankly, hot. Her shirt would occasionally lift up revealing her flat tummy and I’d stare at it as long as I could before I got paranoid that she’d see my gawking. Looking to my right, Miss Hairstylist was tying up Sarah’s other friend. She was a big girl. Not so much overweight as just stout. Still, Miss Hairstylist was hot as tyer as well as tyee.

Next it was my turn to put the harness on Pam. It took me a while and some help from Sarah but I was able to complete it. I must admit that it was a wonderful, erotic experience. It was my turn to reach between her legs! At one point, I stood there staring at her breasts trying to figure out what kind of pattern I wanted in front. As with the other womyn, Pam’s breasts came into sharp relief with the rope pressing her shirt to her body. It was difficult to concentrate at times. But I quickly understood what Sarah meant when she talked about the artistic aspect of it. It was a challenge to try to devise a pattern, say, that looked right on Pam, that matched her curves. It became immediately apparent that I would need lots and lots of practice. As I was tying, I remarked to Pam that I should have brought my camera. The older womyn overheard me and graciously allowed me to take some snaps of my work in progress. I got the harness mostly completed by the time I needed Sarah’s help to figure out the best way to tie off the ends. When it was done, Pam looked at herself in the mirror and was somewhat impressed.

The next lesson involved binding hands and ankles. (Remember: 2 fingers of space!) This is fairly easy and I managed to bind Pam at the wrists and ankles without having to ask Sarah for any assistance. Then it was Pam’s turn. She got all creative and tied my wrists behind my back and, for this, the camera came over with the womyn taking the picture herself. At this point, Miss Hairstylist had her wrists bound behind her back and was preparing to be freed when Sarah asked if she could demonstrate hog-tying on her. Luckily, she agreed.

Man, was I glad she did. Lying prone on the futon mattress, Sarah began to bind her ankles and then connected the rope to that at her wrists. Now, being from Madison, I’ve been inculcated with ideas that white men are evil rapists and that our society degrades womyn. And my brainwashed gray matter equated a womyn being hog-tied with oppression. But then I saw that she was very comfortable and I was able to shake off my preconceptions. I must admit that seeing her hog-tied before really aroused me. It just looked so incredibly erotic and I could feel my penis beginning to get hard. Looking back, the scene was just a wonderful confluence of things that arouse me. Firstly there was the fact that she is an incredibly beautiful womyn. And I was really attracted to how her lovely hair fell over her face. Secondly was that she was in a helpless position. Thirdly she was being tied by another beautiful womyn. Lastly was that, because she was lying prone, attention was drawn to her shapely ass. I suppose I should add the sheer thrill of it. By this I mean that I had never seen a person, much less a hottie, hog-tied before so there was a certain visceral newness to it.

Somehow I managed to calm my erection down in time for the next lesson…