Hand Strapping And Tawsing
Being made to face our punisher is far more intimate and challenging than other forms of corporal punishment. Hand strapping and tawsing does just this.
The slave must watch the implement in front of him and forces him to accept it under the gaze of the one giving the punishment.
There is nowhere to hide.
Your eyes oscillate between her eyes and her strap. Which is worse?
How would you feel if it was your wife standing there with her heavy leather tawse? She tells you to put those naughty hands up then she proceeds to leather them to a deep red sheen despite your howls and protests.
Or worse, what if it was your mother, or mother in law?
Strict and stern with a heavy leather strap. She looks at you then the command “hands up” comes.
The first one can be bad enough, then the command “hands up” means more is to come.
What follows is a “How To Give For Hand Strapping” description, with options, which applies equally for the tawse. This is from years of experience with this form of punishment and offers ways to enhance the experience for the benefit of all.
24 March2023 – reviewed, updated and more content added at the end.
Forgive me : My viewpoint is from a slave receiving a hand strapping from a mistress, a dominatrix or significant other. If you don’t fit that description then my apologies. Again, I can only write from experience.
Basic Equipment
The Strap The average household will usually have a belt that can be used as an adequate strap. For those more into the subject, there are many websites offering excellent straps designed for this use.
I’ve found much variation in belts and the way they feel. The solid leather kind, maybe an inch and a half wide is ideal. More narrow and thinner belts can be more ‘stingy’ while the thicker belts add more thud.
Avoid studs or similar as they can open the skin and cause damage.
The Tawse This is a little more specialized and you are recommended to purchase from a speciality online seller. Tawse range in severity with traditionally ‘XH’ being the most severe (the XH means extra heavy).
The thickness and stiffness of the tawse also give an indication of ‘thud’ or sting. The density, how solid the leather is promotes sting. I have an XH tawse that is not overly thick but the leather is extremely dense such that it feels more like a cane than something made out of leather.
Basic Technique
Delivering the stroke of the strap is simplicity itself, and the same technique applies to both the strap and tawse.
You may stand in front which makes the slave look at the stern expression and watch the implement be raised then poised over a shoulder. All the while the tableau in front of the slave adds to the experience.
Here is a short example of a hand tawsing. I’ve not met this Mistress, but the clip is similar to my sessions.
Isn’t she stern, elegant and no nonsense. Notice that not a great deal of effort looks to be put in yet she does give a mighty impressive stroke. Six of the best from her would be just that; the best.
Standing side-on to the slave is also common. This way the strap or tawse licks across only one part of the hand which can be the palm, the junction of palm and fingers, or the fingers.
You can target one area or vary.
Each place can be brought into red heat with successive strokes or you may redden one area, swap hands to repeat, then swap to find a new area.
When slave stands side on, slave may not be allowed to watch the strapping unfold. Your call. The slave may be told to look at a point on the wall then as the strap comes down, each searing stroke will be a painful surprise.
If slave takes pleasure or humiliation from a front-on strapping, then from the side it can add a layer of punishment all its own and change the whole dynamic. Denying the slave his fetish can be a special form of punishment.
This is not my favourite position, I prefer the front on technique. I relish the look of Mistress in fetish using her strap.
Mastering The Strap
There is a little more to using a strap (or tawse) than might be apparent at first reading.
One of the golden rules is to make sure the inside of, and above the wrists are not hit. This is where all the veins are and significant damage can be done there.
I usually wear wide wrist cuffs in my sessions. Part of the reason is that I like the feeling of leather bondage, and part is that it protects my wrists from an errant stroke. If I’m visiting a new mistress this is an absolute must – though to date and after 17 years experience, wrist strokes have never been a problem.
Where you stand matters as this determines where the leather lands. If you stand too close then you run the risk of the strap lashing high up on the wrists and that is very bad. If you stand too far back then the strap won’t impact properly across the full length, or width, of the hand.
Remember. When the strap is delivered it is almost a given that the hand holding the strap will extend a little more. It pays then to stand a little further back. See a little furthe ron about this.
The goal is for the strap to cover from the palm up to and along the fingers – for a front on strapping. And for a side strapping, for the strap to cover the width of the palm (or fingers etc) and no more.
When you bring the strap down the natural tendency, particularly if you are putting energy into it, is to lean forward. This will of course make the strap land a little further along than intended.
So the best technique I’ve seen is as follows and this example portrays it very nicely.
- The Mistress is standing in front, the tawse is held at the end then it is flicked up to sit on the waiting palm. It is just short of where she wants it to land (it is hard to see).
- The Mistress gets her range with that. She can see where the leather is sitting and tell where it should land.
- Note how her elbow is just in front of her hips as the tawse sits on the fingers and not far up the palm.
- The slave is naked and kneeling with the hand just below head height. This is a particularly subservient position. When the tawse sits on the palm, slave looks at the tawse and along it he sees the stern Mistress prepare.
- There is a delay for the slave to appreciate the tawse, and the Mistress, and the whole dynamic.
- Then Mistress lifts the tawse up, fairly high and with her arm and elbow locked she brings the tawse down.
- Watch the Mistresses shoulder. It does not move. She is rock steady as she brings her arm and the tawse down. She also doesn’t appear to put much effort into it, yet the crack is formidable. Part of it is that the tawse is quite long and that brings speed and speed brings the sting and thud.
- Look closely at her arm and elbow. They are locked as she brings the tawse down. That makes the twin strap tails land just where she had it laying on the slave’s hand, with only a little bit of creep, so the leather covers the full length of the palm and fingers.
There are some variations to this theme that can work well also.
Here Are More Exaples
Here is Domina Scarlett. She is an absolute expert with the tawse and you’ll see she is giving a hard tawsing.
Note how her arm is held differently to the previous example and there is some differentr upper body movement. Note also, she puts a lot more effort into her tawse, it whirs through the air delivering an absolute ‘best’ tawsing.
Here is Domina Scarlett again. This time she’s giving a medium-hard hand tawsing and again you can see her expertise on display.
Looking up “mistress hand tawsing” with your search engine will reveal many such videos.
Particularly strict and stern are Mistress Linda and Mistress Vanessa. Here they give a particularly long hand tawsing in this example, with varying styles and straps and tawse.
Judging The Effect
Just giving a hand strapping or tawsing is only part of the equation. It should be tailored to the recipient and what the required effects are.
There can be far more to the experience than “just” giving a hand strapping.
It can be extended in duration, or quick. There can be a warm up or it can be ‘full on’ from the first stroke. It can be painful in the extreme or it can be mild.
Sometimes a warm up will help a slave take a longer hand strapping. For this, use a less painful implement first then work up to using more force and then more painful implements.
For example, in my sessions Mistress starts with a simple school strap. This is about 14 inches long and an inch and a half wide and not very stiff at all. A six of the best of this is not greatly challenging but for me the visual is engrossing. This is for me a strong part of the experience. The visual of Mistress giving the strapping consumes me. If you have any kind of fetish thing happening, then a hand strapping is an ideal scenario to work that rather well.
When I’m getting a hand strapping, I can’t take my eyes off Mistress when she takes off then uses the end of her belt which is a little longer and a little wider than the schol strap. She uses that harder which challenges more, the belt moving through the air, poised over a shoulder. Seeing Mistress running it through her hands adds to the alure.
After this maybe another lighter tawse gets a workout with increasing intensity, then finally the XH tawse is brought down with force doubling me over my palm as I try to massage out the infernal heat.
That’s where it’s at for me, a warm up with lots of belts and straps from a Mistress in fetish leading up to full on tawse strokes.
If slave has a wide leather belt fetish, as I do, then the warm up is special, especially in watching Mistress take a belt off then use it, only to put it back on again.
Alternatively, if Mistress is wanting to extend me, wanting to really push my tolerance right from the start of session she can bring that XH tawse down with a hard stroke on my unblemished palm. That has devastated me in the past. I’m doubled over, gasping, trying to rub the sting out of the hand and failing. Then she says the dreaded words, said calmly and with authority, “hands up slave.”
The whole dynamic of the strict stern Mistress disciplining a slave works so well with hand strapping and tawsing.
But how do you judge the effect?
From experience there are four ways to judge how the hand strapping or tawsing is proceeding;
The crack of the leather is an effective barometer. How loud is it? How sharp? Did the leather land flat on the palm and or fingers and did the crack sound severe?
A tawse sounds more high pitched while the end of a wide belt is loud and maybe a little deeper. You can get a lot from listening to the sound.
The gasp from slave of a well delivered strap and tawse stroke says a lot, but it can hide the severity. Is slave over-reacting? Is slave trying to make you go lighter by exaggerating the effect? Perhaps the gasp is the least reliable indicator – and especially when gagged.
For myself, I’m an “endurer” and try to not show the severity of the strapping and tawsing. I want to take it. I need to take it. I try hard to hide how painful it it. Mistress of course sees this and knows I need it harder when I don’t react.
The Face of slave as the hand is strapped is highly instuctive.
Slave can grimmace, show shock, or try mighty hard not to show anything. But you will see.
If the effect is not there from a stroke, then you can say, “Not hard enough, I will repeat that,” and slave will know that the punishment needs to be felt.
The Hands will go red after a few strokes and after quite a few will start to shake. This can’t be faked. Shaking hands really are an indication that the strapping and tawsing has got into slave and the effect is being felt.
Spicing It Up
Depending on the reason for giving a hand strapping, you may wish to spice it up, to add that little bit of extra zing to the whole experience.
For a punishment hand strapping, you may elect to give the strokes quickly and firmly and for it to be over in less than a minute. You can give the strokes at only a few seconds interval so a six of the best takes less than half a minute, or a double sixer a little longer particularly if there is hand waving and some elements of distress (which there should be for a proper punishment hand strapping). This may be best for a slave who just needs to know his place, to be quickly corrected, or to have a maintenance that reinforces position.
Adding Bondage can enhance. For me, being bound with leather belts, straps, before, during and after a hand strapping really is effective. I feel the heat in my hand and can’t do anything but feel them. I also can’t self pleasure, can’t get out of the bondage, and must stay there and experience the effects in silence. If it is a punishment strapping or tawsing, then this really does enhance the experience.
Adding a collar is particularly effective. Anything round the neck I find has a profound effect, somehow being felt really quite deeply. It does give that feeling of being owned.
Which Is More Effective? If your slave is made to strip naked and forced to accept a due hand strapping, that reduces the slave to a subservient position and particularly when kneeling. The slave must look up at Mistress.
Getting the hands strapped reinforces echoes of times past and shifts the perceptions. Being naked can regress slave and make it more effective.
Or perhaps if slave is dressed as per normal or perhaps dressed to suit the punishment and/or wearing items of clothing that reinforces position? If slave is in a suit and tie and the hand strapping is happening in the board room, then suddenly slave is not in charge and slave must quickly accept a due punishment. Or if the slave is your maid dressed in lovely demeaning frilly nickers and stockings then needs her hands reddened because she has misbehaved, that too can lend a delicious spice.
The Visuals Can Really Matter
Hand strapping can be done quickly then over. Or it can take more time and have elements of acting, or performance, orof other times worked into the strapping.
For me it is not just the hand strapping, it is a sull experience.
For whatever the reason the whole ritual matters. This reinforces the whole dynamic and cements position.
Hand strapping is very powerful that way, it allows the Mistress to doiminate in a unique way and for slave to have to endure and accept.
Flick the strap up onto the waiting palm to get your range. Let it lay there for a moment for slave to feel, to appreciate, to anticipate and maybe to dread.
Take your time unless giving a hard and fast punishment. Ritual is all – at least for me in my sessions.
Allow slave to look at the implement, make slave focus with a command ‘Look at me‘ or ‘look at the strap‘ to help focus the mind. You make slave aware of who is in charge.
You make slave aware of what is happening (and not as if that isn’t known) because saying it makes a difference. Saying it drives it home.
You must own time. You command and control time, you grant time to the slave getting the strapping, you control where and when the slave is strapped.
Then moving back or forward and taking a position that ensures the strap lands as required, the strap is lifted over a shoulder.
With the leather poised, it is amazingly focusing for slave. The leather. The strict and stern disciplinarian. The open hand raised and on offer to the leather. Slave’s brain will be churning and wrapping it all together and know what is coming.
After a moment of concentration during which the leather is seen to be poised and ready, bring the strap down to crack just right onto the waiting palm.
Working The Fetish. Yes, it can be fetish related and maybe it should be for anything other than a punishment strapping.
Just seeing Mistress with the strap or tawse can really be a fetish experience. If there is a wide belt fetish (like mine) then seeing Mistress wearing it, using it, taking it off and putting it on again means something. Take this into account if you want the experience for your slave to be special.
Geese And Ganders
If you are in any uncertainty about the effect of a hand strapping or tawsing, then the only option is for you to trial it.
Yes. Have you had your hands strapped or tawsed? Do you know how it really feels?
Doing it is easy – but of course doing it with sufficient force is far more difficult.
My advice? Try it in front of a mirror. You will get a feeling for the pain and the humiliation of the whole thing – and may understand it all a little more.
Then imagine someone else is doing it to you. You must face them. With your hand out. Waiting for it.
You must watch the strap or tawse or belt being used on you.
Then will you be able to accept it with grace and dignity or will you break down, cry, scream, react in some way?
How embarrassing with that be?
Understanding Hand Strapping And Tawsing
I feel conflicted about it. It assaults my common sense and makes me wonder why it is a thing for me.
But I also know I need it. It grounds me like nothing else, it gets in deep into my psyche.
For me hand strapping and tawsing brings strong conflict between my logical self and my emotional self.
At some levels I have no idea why I’m drawn to it. I feel I shouldn’t be, yet I am. The thought of how it happens in a session seems so odd, yet when it is happening, it is so very almost natural and wanted.
Sorry. There are so many contradictions in there for me. And I babble!
I envy some people, and I have a few correspondents, who say they just want to relive their school experience. Some say they need it to feel the authority.
Yet I find it a peculiarly odd passtime, getting my hands strapped and tawsed in a BDSM session just seems, well, odd.
There I am naked and kneeling in front of a dominatrix and she is punishing me rather painfully. Yet I’m drawn to it time and again. We’re taught to avoid pain, right?
I don’t consider myself a masochist and I never get an erection in a session. Yet I’m called back to it time and again, strongly, like a magnetic attraction. The Mistress I see told me I should rethink that ‘I’m not a masochist’ thing as she says I clearly am.
Maybe to her I am. Maybe to me I just need to experience the whole thing. The theatre of it. The fetish. The indulgence in someone doing that to me and in front of me. I’ve always thought the pain is just a transport – something to push me into a different mind set. It drives out all other thoughts and it pushes me to be someone else. That is strong for me.
For others, my wife for example, she cannot understand the pain thing. To her it is foreign, alien, something she focuses on totally. To me, again, it is just a transport. It is a necessary transport as sessions that are not ‘heavy’ enough really aren’t satisfying to me. I don’t seem to get the same release.
A big part of it is that Mistress is dressed in fetish, stands in front of me and uses her belts, straps and tawse on me. The visual of that gets right into my fetish.
A part of me wants (or should that be needs) that embarrassment also. I hold my hand out and with the best of will and intentions she straps and tawses me hard till I can’t take any more. And I feel that embarrassment in front of her.
Going back in time getting the strap in school, in my pre-teen years I got my hands strapped at school. I don’t see this as drawing me in, making me want it again or giving me some kind of thrill at the time. If anything I find it difficult to talk about because of the embarrassment.
In years 4 and 5 at school I got my hands strapped two times in each year. Compared to some schools and experiences, this was not a lot.
Each time was one stroke of what I now look back on as a fairly simple piece of belt leather. It wasn’t split or thick or overly severe, maybe an inch and a half wide and a bit over a foot long.
Each time I was told to come to the front of the class, had to hold my left hand out then the teacher put the strap over his shoulder and brought it down. I remember the ‘crack’ of it landing on my palm and fingers was loud, but I also remember the utter embarrassment of getting “the cuts” as we called it was far worse.
I never liked it at all. In fact I hated it and tried hard to avoid it. Likewise the effect didn’t linger either, I felt no great hatred for the teacher or the event itself and the pain was gone fairly quickly. It was a short term painful and embarrassing experience.
The whole thing of getting the cuts at school was based around performance, doing the wrong thing, being disruptive and those kinds of things. We didn’t have to try hard to avoid it.
I remember staying over at a friends house some years later. He’d gone to a different school where the strap was in very common use . I remember him telling his mother he got the cuts at school and I felt so on-the-spot-nervous and embarrassed about it even though it had nothing to do with me. His mother was not in the least concerned – and I can’t remember what she said about it. The only impressions it left was in him telling his mum and her not reacting much.
Maybe that was the thing, then. I had some kind of a connection to it in some odd way, even at around age 10 or 11 that somehow deeply almost excited me in some way.