Hand Strapping & Tawsing
Have you ever read a about a professional BDSM dominatrix giving a hand strapping? Here you can. Do you find it strange, unreal? Is it appealing and do you know why? Read on if you are interested.
In the context of a B&D session, a hand strapping or tawsing is just like it sounds. The palm of the slave is struck by the dominatrix with a leather strap or a tawse.
There is no mystery in how it’s done. The mystery lies in the why and how of it, but as in all things, there are reasons.
This post will go into the subject of hand strapping and tawsing, mainly from a pro-domme session point of view. This is what I have extensive experience with and these are my experiences. Others will undoubtedly have other experiences and viewpoints.
However, if you wish to translate this into other forms of BDSM play, be my guest – I hope you can gain some benefit. Reading about real pro-dom sessions is probably not that common either as it is a very private (and expensive) experience.
I shall try to be as accurate as possible.
Hand strapping is a neglected art form in modern media and BDSM teasers.
In all the BDSM teasers that have been in modern films, and I have watched closely, hand strapping has not been featured. I can’t remember seeing it. Sure, there is a slave in bondage and maybe in suspension or on a cross, a cane maybe, a whip for sure, but no hand strapping or tawsing.
Maybe this is a subject too difficult for film producers, or is it too private and personal to be admitted to? Maybe it is not that common? Maybe they struggle to believe that someone would subject themselves to this (I think this sometimes myself).
You be the judge.
Hand strapping is unusual as the mistress faces the slave which does not happen with other forms of corporal punishment. Typically the mistress is behind the slave and might only be seen in a mirror.
For a hand strapping, the slave is close to the mistress, she is in his personal space. He must watch the mistress use the instrument of punishment, see her prepare for the stroke, then watch her deliver it to his defenseless and sensitive palms. She’ll watch as the hand is shaken, as the slave gasps with the pain and she will be right in front of him. Then she’ll give another stroke.
It becomes a highly personal experience, with a lot of other emotions. There can be embarrassment to be facing someone giving a hand strapping. There can be humiliation in there as well as you react and can’t control yourself, you show how much it hurts and you can’t control that. What does mistrtess think? Is she disappointed in you for not taking your hand strapping better? As you wait for the strap to descend it is an intense and difficult time.
For example, a thick heavy tawse brought down along the fingers and palm feels excruciatingly painful with just one stroke. The hand bursts into flames in the intense sting. You wave it around to try to reduce the sting, you rub it, you gasp at the pain and wonder why in hell you asked for this, then the mistress calms says, “hands up,” and then you struggle. You look at the mistress with the tawse and feel a little fear. She is going to give you another stroke. How will you be able to accept that? Can you accept that? will you be weak and call mercy? Then she gives gives another and the pain increases. This is a real test.
This makes hand strapping a very different experience compared to, for example when getting caned on the butt or flogged across the back and shoulders. Typically for a caning the slave is bent over something, the mistress is behind and to one side and then uses a cane. Similarly for a flogging. Sure there are mirrors in the dungeon (and as we all know, that is part of the fun) but there is distance involved. There can be an element of denial happening with this tye of corporal that you can’t get with hand strapping. You are not looking into the mistresses eyes as she straps you, she is not directly in front of you.
Regression into a different time and space is easy with hand strapping. It is hghly immersive. Suddenly you really are someone else, getting your hands strapped. Suddenly you really are under the control of mistress as she commands you to raise your hands and she stands in front of you then straps them.
It is overwhelming. With hand strapping, mistress is right up close and in front of slave. It really is much more personal.
Hand strapping, when phrased like that, is a much more personal experience.
Hand strapping is far more intimate, more kinkly, more fetish.
I am laboring this point, but it is hugely real.
Slave kneels and looks into the eyes of the dominatrix right in front of him. She looks into his eyes. She holds the strap and she shows him how he is going to be punished.
With the mistress standing right in front of the slave she is in his personal space and dressed in fetish. She is tweaking all his fetish and kink fantasies.
As she stands with the strap or tawse in her hand, she looks totally formidable. She faces her slave. She looks strict, stern, and formidable.
If slave is shy or slow or reluctant, mistress will tell him, “HANDS UP SLAVE” which can be a huge part of the session. Maybe slave has asked in the pre-session briefing for “Mistress to demand the hands are raised then she gives six of the best, time and again, and she shows no mecy,” (and I am thiunking about my next session!).
Hand strapping is all about role play, acceptance, fetish and fantasy.
“HANDS UP” says the mistress making slave present his hand to her.
Maybe she will hold the strap between her hands. Maybe she will raise and lower it.
Then she raises the strap and the discipline begins.
Two tawse and a punishment cane.
Taking her time, she will raise the strap or tawse over a shoulder. Slave will be watching intently, looking at the mistress in front of him as she is poised to deliver.
Then the strap will crack down, once, twice, many times. Each time there will be a reaction. Each time slave must accept the strapping. Each time the command, “HANDS UP!” is given if slave is slow.
Terms and Definitions
My focus is with sessions between a professional mistress and her client. I call him (or her) the slave. Forgive me if I (badly) blur the terms and definitions of both the implements and the players.
The alternative is to tie myself in knots trying to cover all the bases and roles – and being tied in knots is my not really thing – but it is getting there.
Tawsing. While I call it ‘hand strapping’ this equally applies to use of the tawse and hence the terms hand strapping and hand tawsing can be used interchangeably. Also, of historical note, this was also referred to as ‘a belting’ even when a tawse was used as quite often the tawse was referred to as ‘the belt.’
Historically, in schools in my area it was called ‘getting the cuts’ and the word strap was seldom used. We got the cuts, not strapped. We’d never heard of a tawse.
Hand caning is also in-theme for this post. The mistress uses a cane, of course, and usually applies it side on where as the strap is often applied lengthwise. I’ve had that and it just dosen’t do it for me. My fetish for leather just isn’t tweaked by hand caning. The feeling of a hand caning is actually quite similar to a severe tawse, there is not much to choose between them. Both hurt a lot.
So forgive me, I’ll refer to ‘the mistress’ and to ‘the slave’ but of course this applies equally to all players and forms of BDSM play no matter how the roles are defined. Same to the types of implement used.
The Anatomy Of Straps and Tawse
The strap may be the end of a belt, a folded belt or a purpose made strap designed specifically for punishment. The typical dimensions would be at least a foot long, and often eighteen inches, though two foot long straps are also common. For hand strapping, a width of about one and a half inches is usual and the thickness can be whatever is available though the thicker leathers are of course more severe. Historically a piece of harness leather or an old belt would be pressed into service, and more than likely, only for BDSM would a purpose made strap be used these days.
Size matters.
A wider strap spreads the force out a little more but it still stings if used with force. The more thick, solid, less flexible the strap the more the sting gets in.
Straps made of a doubled belt are more ‘thuddy’ compared to a single length. A narrower strap stings more.
Wider straps land with perhaps less sting but also perhaps a little harder. The best (most painful) strap is a single piece of leather about an inch and a half wide, eighteen inches long and fairly stiff. The thicker the better and the more easily controlled.
In general, the longer the strap, the more speed the end of it has when it comes down on the palm and fingers. This can make it less accurate. A two foot long strap is about the maximum as beyond that it becomes difficult to control and aim.
The slave’s palm is often quivering and not the biggest of targets. The palm is held up and out waiting for the strap to descend and it can often be shaking from previous strokes, moving slightly. Unlike a slave in bondage getting a flogging or a caning when bent over something, a palm held out for the strap is not restrained.
Hand strapping does require precision so a strap that is manageable and well controlled is important. As mentioned, about a foot and a half long is ideal and somewhere around an inch and a half wide is optimum for the sting and thud mix.
Shorter straps are easier to use, to control and aim, but their effect is less. I have a ‘school strap’ that I had made. It is just over a foot long and really quite mild. I have an old belt that is used doubled up for a hand strapping. The leather is old and supple and not overly thick. Even though it is longer and two thicknesses of leather, it is still quite mild.
The sound of a strap on palm is distinctive. It is a full bodied high pitched and substantial crack, particularly if the hand is held flat, not cupped. Often the gasp of the slave follows soon after.
A tawse is in my opinion much more severe even though they are so similar to a strap.
A tawse is a strap split down the middle once or more times. This gives it a number of narrower tails, each perhaps a half inch wide, maybe up three quarters of an inch wide.
The effect of this is to increase the sting, dramatically. A well delivered tawse stroke feels significantly more painful that a strap stroke. The tails being more narrow seem to get in and sting more like canes than a strap. The tawse feels like it burns in its sting.
In schools in Scotland, the tawse was very much in use in the 1900’s till it was banned in the ’80s. Many saddlers made them for teachers and advertised them for sale. The most famous was the Lochgelly made by John Dick and descendants. Here is its story.
A Lochgelly tawse is a formidable piece of leather. Just a few strokes leaves all but the most experienced and hardened slave bent over and rubbing the infernal sting that’s burning deep in the hands.
Tawse come in many shapes and sizes but with strong similarities. Typically they have two or three tails and usually are about eighteen inches long. A two foot long tawse would be a long one. The type of leather used for original Lochgelly tawse was both dense and thick making it even more painful to receive.
The multiple narrower tails of the tawse, all traveling at speed penetrate more than a wider strap. The feeling is closer to being caned on the hands. For a thick and stiff three tailed well made tawse the effect is far more severe than the strap.
The sound of a tawse is a little different to a strap. It is slightly more high pitched making a more shrill ‘thwick’ rather than the stronger crack-like sound of a strap.
Technique
For slave, the hand is raised as mistress commands. Most mistresses accept however slave raises it. I usually raise one hand at a time, palm up, fingers together with the thumb pressed into the side of the hand. The mistress stands in front, the palm and fingers are flat and pointing toward her.
Sometimes I have been commanded to support one hand with the other. This is the original Scottish school style where the hand is supported.
The supposed benefit of the two handed presentation is that the second hand makes it more difficult to pull the hand away or to move it as the tawse is descending. Remember, slave is in front of mistress and watching her put the strap up in the air then bring it down on the waiting palm and fingers. Slave knows how painful it will be so the temptation to move the hand, to avoid the pain, can be overwhelming. For some. I know. I feel that.
For mistress, giving a hand strapping can be done in a few ways that affect both the delivery and also, just as importantly, the whole visual of the experience.
Most often a hand strapping is given pretty much as expected. The strap is held in the hand which is raised over the mistresses shoulder. Then after a small delay it is brought down on the slaves waiting and often quivering hand.
An alternative way is for the mistress to grip the far end of the strap with her other hand, in front of her. It looks like she is sttretching the strap almost. This can help her aim and also if done right, increase the speed of the strap.
I’ve had a few mistresses use this technique. One thing I always think about this method is that it looks ‘like ballet’ – the mistress is standing with the strap helf between two hands and looks poised.
A third way is for the mistresses other hand to go behind her back and catch the end of the strap when it is put over her shoulder and down behind her. By pulling down on the strap as she prepares to bring it down, it comes down a lot harder.
This remings me of school. We had a teacher who used this technique and he always made the strap really sting.
Hand Strapping - A Real Session
BDSM sessions with a mistress usually progress from lighter through to more severe implements during the session. That is unless it is a ‘cold’ type session where the most severe is used first. I’ve had a few with the prison strap and cane, they are challenging (more on this later). I’ve not had this with hand strapping though.
Here is a typical session.
At the start of a session I’ve stripped off, had a shower then am kneeling on a towel on the concrete floor. I wear a collar and cuffs. I have my own implements arranged on another towel, arranged in order of severity. On the left is a ‘school strap’ about a foot long, then on the right hand end is the most severe which is a Lochgelly replica with three painfully thick tails. In between are half a dozen other tawse and straps. Nearby are a few belts which are also used.
The collar, the cuffs, being in the dungeon and with the implements laid out beside me puts me into a submissive mood, approaching sub-space.
All my fetishes are being fed and my mind seems to still, to recede.
I become slave.
Mistress arrives. She moves around me, checking me, then she selects something from my collection.
She stands in front of me. She is of course gorgeous and dressed in leather; leather skirt, leather corset, and two of my widest leather belts around her waist.
“Hands up slave,” she says quietly.
Holding a strap between her hands all my fetishes are lighting off. Unless it is the tawse. Then there is a feeling of concern knowing that it will hurt far more than the mere strapping she has or will give me.
How It Feels
Painful! Exciting. Embarrassing. Severe. Hyper fetish and kinky.
I feel embarrassed to have this in a session. I kneel in a submissive pose. I must present my palms and bear the inspection of the mistress and look into her eyes. I show her how weak I am when the pain she brings sears into me.
I am an office worker, I use the keyboard a lot and do all the normal things around the office and home. My hands not used to manual labor and hence not hard or calloused or rough.
While not delicate, my hands are sensitive and probably normal of most office workers.
When the strap comes own, ‘crack’, it stings and burns and hurts deeply.
When the tawse comes down, it feels like that and much more so.
Why - Oh Why Is This A Thing?
As with most things, there is more than one reason and it is also difficult to determine which of the reasons are more important.
In a session, I’m not sure I want a hand strapping, I am absolutely sure I NEED a hand strapping. That’s the way it feels.
For me the appeal is a ‘whole thing’ where the strict leather mistress makes me raise the hand then she gives me the hand strapping. There is the embarrassment of facing her and making myself take the strokes, to present the other hand, to try to endure. She is watching me, I watch mistress raise the strap, it is challenging. It is the way she is dressed in fetish, the setting in the dungeon, the submission to mistress, the implement and of course the pain.
Of all these things, the pain is least important – strange as it may seem. That is sort of a secondary by-product.
Writing this, I am introspecting, trying to define what it actually is that draws me back to getting a hand strapping. Where is it at?
Putting it down on a web page makes me relive the experience, to try to understand myself.
One thing that occurs that I’ve not seen anyone else mention is that hand strapping in a session has absolutely no subterfuge. There can be no denial of what’s happening. As it is happening it is all about a BDSM session with all the fetish and needs happening all at once. In other positions in the dungeon, with other things happening, I’m not facing the mistress. I’m not looking at the session face on, I can sort of avoid the whole thing a little by being in sub space with the imagination running riot.
Facing the mistress and watching her give a hand strapping is full on fetish and BDSM.
Wrapping it all up into one thing… I think the appeal is in facing the strict mistress as she hold the strap in her hands. She commands me, I comply, then I watch her with the strap. It is my submission. I try as hard as I can to endure the strokes of the strap, and so she straps me harder. It seems to get deeply into me. I feel the embarrassment of being in front of her and facing her.
I feel the fetish so strongly and I look at the mistress and know it is something I must do.
Trying It Out At Home - Self Strapping
Get a leather belt, maybe an inch to an inch and a half wide. Then using just the end of it, bring it down on your open hand, down along the palm and onto the fingers. Make it crack down.
How many times can you do this and how hard? Can you do it hard three times? Make it six? I find that with all my experience only three or four is my limit.
Then if you own a tawse, that is a whole different thing. If you can give yourself two or three hard strokes of the tawse across your other hand, well done.
I’ve done this a few times. It is not very successful as I can’t apply the kind of force that a mistress in a session will do. I always chicken out far too early.
This was a revelation in my first pro-dom session many years ago. The mistress strapped me far harder than I had done for myself, and she gave me a lot more strokes. So many more, it was in the range of about 30 strokes to each palm, end on. Now in my sessions it is more than this and the tawse is used also leaving my hands red and shaking.
Did any of this rambling discussion bring any enlightenment? Please let me know.
Right now in Covid lockdown the thought of my next session is dominating me. What will I ask for?
I do know a hand strapping will feature. I feel another post coming on.