Between the Dashes ~ Subspace?

Wikipedia defines the physiological aspects of subspace:

During the scene, the intense experiences of both pain and pleasure trigger a sympathetic nervous system response, which causes a release of epinephrine from the suprarenal glands, as well as a dump of endorphins and enkephalins.^{[citation needed]} These natural chemicals, part of the fight or flight response, produce the same effect as a morphine-like drug, increasing the pain tolerance of the submissive as the scene becomes more intense.^{[citation needed]} Since the increase of hormones and chemicals produces a sort of trance-like state, the submissive starts to feel out-of-body, detached from reality, and as the high comes down, and the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, a deep exhaustion, as well as incoherence. Many submissives, upon reaching a height of subspace, will lose all sensation of pain, as any stimulus causes the period to prolong.^{[citation needed]}

For the most part, i agree with that definition.  But i’ve heard people talk about subspace, and depending on who’s talking, i think they may mean different things.

One type of subspace sounds like the submissive is actually dissociating.  i associate this with the “out-of-body” experience.  This is what can happen when people are abused or traumatized.    Literally, the definition of dissociation is

The disconnection or separation of something from something else or the state of being disconnected. 

It may be a chemical definition:

a. The process by which the action of a solvent or a change in physical condition, as in pressure or temperature, causes a molecule to split into simpler groups of atoms, single atoms, or ions.
b. The separation of an electrolyte into ions of opposite charge.

Or a psychological one:

3. Psychiatry A psychological defense mechanism in which specific, anxiety-provoking thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations are separated from the rest of the psyche.

Psychologically speaking, it helps the person get through a trauma or abuse by shutting down on the feeling aspect of the experience.  In some cases, there is a sense of leaving the body and watching from a distance.

This can be helpful ~  it helps the person survive the experience and still be able to function.

In some cases, the dissociated parts of self are not reintegrated, and the person develops separate  personalities to help him or her survive.  Usually, however, some parts of the experience are simply compartmentalized and may be forgotten, the feelings pushed away and buried.

This is helpful at the time for the abuse survivor, and may be the first step to developing PTSD, which is also a way we try to cope with extremely difficult or painful trauma.  i know a lot about how dissociating works in relation to abuse.

i want to understand more about how it works in relation to BDSM, but when i talk about it in that context, i’m speculating, trying to apply how i know it works with abuse to how it might work in a D/s or M/s relationship.  If what i’m saying doesn’t make sense or connect with your experience, listen to your own wisdom.  Tell me about it, either in a comment or email me, if you’re willing to.  i have a lot to learn

But what i think might happen in a kinky relationship, when the s-type dissociates during “play,” is that there is an opportunity for a transformative experience afterwards.

When one is abused and dissociates, there is rarely a safe time to talk about what happened or  to reclaim those feelings.   In a kinky relationship, there will be a safe time to reclaim those feelings, to talk about what it was like, to be heard and respected and validated.

i think that most Doms and Masters prefer that their s-types not dissociate during a scene. But i don’t actually know if that’s true or not.  That’s just the impression i’ve gotten from the people i’ve known.  Put that on the list of things that i want to know more about.  

And i’m not saying it’s “bad” or making any judgements about it, really.  i don’t think i know enough about it.  

When i was married to my theoretically dominant second husband,  there were times that he did things and i dissociated because they triggered some old abuse stuff for me.  Unfortunately, when i wanted/needed to process that afterwards, He wasn’t open to that, didn’t want to hear it, and was pretty invalidating and rejecting.  That was the first step towards the end of our relationship, but that’s a story for a different day.

In any case, that’s one type of “subspace” that people talk about ~ at least that’s how it seems to me.

The other type of subspace ~ the type i’ve enjoyed more often in my kinky experiences, seems to me essentially the opposite of dissociation.  i become acutely aware of what’s happening to me, everything else fades away.  i am usually still aware of my Sir, at least to some extent, but it is the ultimate in mindfulness.

Plans, worries, excitement about other things, grocery lists, and personal problems disappear.  

Granted, whatever pain i might be experiencing is numbed.  That’s one of the benefits, and can be risky if you don’t have a wise Sir in charge.  But whatever i’m feeling, nothing exists except what is happening in that moment.

Yes, i come out of it exhausted, and ready to curl up and go to sleep.  It’s intense.  i may be a bit incoherent.  But i am more connected with myself, not less.   And feel incredibly intimately connected to my Sir, who has given me this lovely experience.

Three days later, i may be cranky and irritable and out-of-sorts.  You can go back and find that pattern in my blog, although i don’t recommend taking the trouble to do that.  Just take my word for it.  Three days, then drop.

But we won’t talk about that today…

After the Social

After the ice-cream social, which was lots of fun, i thought Sir would take the grandkids home, come back, and we’d spend a quiet evening side-by-side on our computers.  

Usually, He reads the news, or watches a movie, i look at facebook or blog or answer email.  We chat.  It’s lovely.

That’s not what happened last night.  Instead, i get a text:

“You should put on the white shirt.  White panties.  Tie your hair back.”

And then, seconds later:

“Blister your butt.”

Re-energized, i rush off to shave and get ready.

The panties are white, and not sexy, they’re little girl panties, silky material, a tiny bit of lace around the waist, but not bikinis or even cut hi.  

He takes me to the basement.  He has already prepared the coffee table.  There’s a pillow on it, and then the workbench is pushed up to it, a quilt draped over it all ~ it is clear that i will be kneeling on the table, bent over the bench.  

But not right away.

First, He puts the cuffs on.  Collar first.  The wide leather collar, so heavy i am always a little aware of it.  Wrists.  Ankles.  

“Lie down,” He says.  “Go on.  Face up.  Head on the pillow.  Feet right here.”

He binds me to the coffee table.  Arms at my sides, knees bent, feet apart.  i am completely comfortable.  And completely secure.

And then things begin to happen.  i don’t think i can say them in the right order.  i don’t know anymore.

i am still in that space a bit, you know, where it’s all a blur and when He touches me, it’s like electricity shooting through me and i melt and want to touch Him for a long time, and kiss Him and…

anyhow

you know, that head space.

So here are the things i remember ~~

the shoe horn, He used the shoe horn, between my legs, yes, right there, and it hurt but not too much, and on the inside of my thighs too, holding one thigh down so i’m open and exposed, slapping it ~

And the wooden spoon, on my breasts, the back of it landing on my nipples and

He takes my panties, the white panties, and holds them up, “Nice,” He says, and He folds them in half.  i wonder why, i’m watching, all bound to the coffee table,  but He folds them again, and again.   In fact, He rolls them up.   

“Open your mouth,” He says.

What?  i’m ~ i think i still don’t believe it ~ i open my mouth, and He does it, he sticks them in my mouth.  

“Can you talk?”  He asks.

“Mmm” i say.

He smiles.  “The answer is No.  Good.”

They’re not uncomfortable, and i don’t drool, and i think, i don’t have a safe word, or a safe signal ~

but i’m not worried about it at all, i just notice it.

There’s the cane-nipple-clamp thingy, He puts that on, and it’s not too bad because He leaves it unclipped in the middle, He just clips it at the ends, but it’s still intense.

And then He goes upstairs to get something, and i’m alone and He turns off the lights on His way up, and i’m tied and helpless, gagged, nipples clamped, and i think i should be scared but i’m not…

and He comes back with The Phallus.

i’m glad i can still moan and make a little bit of noise.  i whimper and twist and squirm, opening and accepting ~

at some point there’s ice water, dripped onto me ~ i don’t remember when ~ and maybe other things that are lost to me now ~

And then later, much later, i think, He unties me, takes out the panties.  

i have no urge to talk.  i’m glad my mouth is not full but i don’t need to talk.  

i am so deep into submission, i have no will of my own.

He clips my ankle cuffs together, shackled, i could not leave if i wanted to, not that i want to, but ~ He helps me stand and ~

“Kneel,” He says, “Up there, yes, right there ~ on the pillow ~”

and i do, i manage to get up on the coffee table, kneeling and i already know to bend over the work bench, which is higher, so i’m perfectly comfortable, only i think that won’t last long ~

and it doesn’t.

“Count,” He says.  “Count quietly, but don’t lose track.”  

And He starts.

It’s the cane.  Of course.

It whistles, and lands, and He does it over and over in the same area.  i’m sure it will mark me.

And i’m counting, thinking hard about the number, i don’t want to forget, and

then He asks, and i know, it’s 18, Sir, and He goes on and

~ it’s 29, Sir, and by then it hurts a lot, a whole lot, and at 35, i’m jerking before it lands, twitching, cause i know it’s coming, and i want to avoid it.

“Relax,” He says, and of course, i can’t, but He strokes and caresses until i do and then ~

~ when i am nicely relaxed again ~

Whoosh!  

And it lands again.

YIKES!

42.  We are at 42 when He stops, and i can feel the welts on my ass before He touches them. 

42.

And them i am pleasing Him, with my mouth, and there is nothing else on earth i’d rather be doing.  He gives me a pillow, and i can make myself comfortable, and take my time and 

it is heaven.  

After ~

i am too spaced to think, and He tucks me in bed.  

He tells me the white shirt is mine now, and my responsibility, and i may need to iron it, but He wants it crisp and ready to wear at all times.   i laugh and say i’ll take it to the dry cleaners, but He frowns, and shakes His head. He says when He unbuttons it, He wants to think about me taking care of it, not some girl at the dry cleaners.

Chastened, i know He’s right.

When He comes to bed, i don’t know when, but He touches me, and i am alert and completely aroused, it is like electricity.  i whimper and try to rub against Him, like a cat in heat,

but He only plays with me for a little bit, and then He takes my wrists in His hand and i already know He’s done.  He holds me tight, pressed to Him, and i fall back asleep.

This morning, i am still half gone, still half there in that space where only He is real, and the space between my legs, which belongs to Him, and my heart, which is His too.

i was afraid He did not want to dominate me, and instead He has taken me completely, deeper into subspace than i’ve ever been, lost in longing to serve Him, and i wonder ~

will i bounce out of this, or will He keep me here in this space forever?  Will there be a crashing subdrop?  A slide back into the other side of reality?  

i don’t know, all i can do is trust Him, and trust myself, that we will find the right way for us.

Diabolical

i sent Him my poem, just a few hours before He came over last night.  

i got His instructions ~ He was coming here, i should have my mat ready, and wear “panties and buttons,” which clearly means a shirt with buttons and nothing else but panties, instructions that are easy to follow.

He said He wanted to fondle me right away.  It seemed His mind was working on the same lines as mine, so i sent Him the poem.

He may have already planned every thing He did last night, or He may have tweaked it after He got the poem.  In either case, here’s a little piece of what happened.

i’m on my mat in front of Him  ~ He’s on the couch.

The collar is first.  When He attaches the padlock, which lays cold on my chest, i feel that first lovely slip into submission.  Thoughts, worries, the rest of the universe begin to disappear.

“Give me your hands,” He says.  He wraps them in rope, a metal ring in the middle, between my hands. He’ll attach me to the door with this ring later, pull my hands  high above my head, while He spanks me.  

Now He plays with me for a little bit, teasing my nipples, stroking my hair, touching wherever He wants.

Then He gathers my hair, pulls it together into a little ponytail, high on my head.  He fastens it with a coated rubber band.  

My hair is bound tightly.

A short piece of rope is next, wrapped securely, knotted into my hair.  A metal ring is fastened into that as well.  i don’t know if i’m to be attached to something or ~

~ if He just plans to use it to direct me.  A slight tug on the rope moves my head back quite sharply, raises my chin immediately.

i whimper, slipping deeper.

He has me put my hands behind my head.  Tied together, i don’t have to remember to keep them up, they’re quite secure.  Not uncomfortable.

And i’m fully exposed.

Nipple clamps are next.  

They have a metal chain between them, and He’s attached a piece of rope to the middle of the chain.  He has me hold the rope in my mouth while He fastens the clamps.

 i think He’ll have me open my mouth and drop the rope, and the chain will pull, and omg, it’s not tennis shoes, but i’m a wimp about nipple clamps, and i think that will hurt enough.

But o, no.

He has much more diabolical plans.

Yes.  Diabolical.

Once He gets the clamps securely fastened, He pushes my head down so my chin is lower, toward my chest.  Then He adjusts the rope in my mouth so it’s taut.

It doesn’t hurt, i can feel it a little bit, and of course i can feel the clamps, but i’m ok. i’m fine.

Head down, hands fastened behind my head, clamps on my nipples, rope in my mouth, and i’m fine.

He goes on to other things.  

A rope harness for my hips, the rope running between my legs, rubbing against my clit.

He checks often to see how wet i am, and i don’t disappoint Him.  He is pleased.

But at some point, my neck starts to get stiff.  i raise my head to stretch it, with the rope between my teeth, attached to the chain, attached to the nipple clamps ~~ and it pulls.  

It pulls my breasts up by the nipples.

OUCH.

He smiles.

i put my head back down pretty quickly, marveling at how diabolical a plan He’s worked here.  Stretch my neck ~ immediate nipple pain.  Avoid the nipple pain ~ aching neck.

But if i thought i could avoid the nipple torture by keeping my head down, no matter how stiff my neck got ~ which really, i couldn’t have anyhow ~ but even if i could have, it wouldn’t have worked because ~

There is the hair bondage, and the rope attached to my hair ~

~ and He tugs it slightly ~

~raising my chin, lifting my eyes to His smiling face.

“Feel that?” He says casually.

“Mmmpft,” is all i can really say with the rope in my mouth.

“Yeah, I imagine that hurts a little bit,” He says.

“Uh ittle it?” i mumble.

“O, more than a little?”  He asks. 

i grunt “‘es ir, ~ uh ot,” meaning “a lot.”

“Does it now?” He says, tugging a couple of more times before He releases my hair.

“mmmhmmm” is about all i can say.  But i’m laughing at the same time, He’s so calm about it, so gentle.

And then He just casually goes on to other things!  

i lose track of when He lets me drop the rope…  was it when He had me pressed to the door, ass out, spanking me?  i know the clamps were still on, can’t remember if the rope was still in my mouth…

i don’t know.

It doesn’t matter.

He did things to me for a long time, interspersing it all with orgasms, pain and pleasure so mixed…

and thinking about it now,

nipples sore,

my whole body tingling still,

all i want is to do it all over again.

i am a greedy slut.  

And He is a diabolical Dom.

The First Class

The first class i went to was Jay Wiseman’s and it was terrific.  He’s funny and laid back and the class flowed nicely.

There were safety lessons ~ mostly the ones i’ve mentioned:

“Bad pain” is the best predictor of a problematic outcome with bondage under 120 minutes ~ “Bad pain” = STOP.   Of course, we all knew what he meant by “Bad Pain,” as opposed to good pain.  Numbness is worrisome too.*

ER trips are mostly due to a fall of some sort.

The scrotum is not a load-bearing hardpoint*.

And ~ i don’t think i told you this one, but it’s maybe the most important one.   BDSM fatalities occur primarily when someone is in severely restrictive bondage and they’re left alone.    

So, ‘Nilla, in your recent story about the adventuresome dogs, i’m glad her Master had only pretended to leave her alone.  

Because ~ saying it again ~  tying her up securely and leaving her is the riskiest thing to do in terms of potential fatalities.  He told a couple of stories about events that led to death, which i don’t remember in enough detail to share, but you know, he has his own website and everything here.

His class was not all talk.  Entitled “Rough Rope, Bondage, Erotic Torture, and Predicament, All in One!” he demonstrated bondage with sisal rope on a very willing victim.

Let me say again, he used sisal rope.  It’s that kind of rough rope that looks like it’s fraying already.  Like this:

Just looking at it, you know it’s going to be kind of itchy and uncomfortable.  And apparently, it is uncomfortable as you get wrapped, but once it’s securely tied, it’s ok ~ unless you move.  Then it’s um, uncomfortable, all over again.

Hence the predicament part of the bondage.  You’re fine, unless you move.  

He described it in psychological terms as an approach/avoid conflict ~ so you “approach” moving, only that’s uncomfortable so you want to avoid it.  But you need to move, so you approach again…

Sin, your Master would love it.  Jay mentioned a couple of things that would force a submissive to move.

Laughter.

Or ~ even better ~ an orgasm.

It was fun watching him restrain his volunteer,  a willowy redhead who stripped to her panties happily and clearly enjoyed the experience.

It was interesting watching her face.  Knowing what it feels like to be restrained, to feel the rope going around me, to feel myself being wrapped…  well, watching her face brought those sensations back.

He put her arms in a harness behind her back, brought the rope between her labia, and then ~ i don’t know if i can describe this right ~ he pulled one piece of it taut between her legs.  Then he wrapped and twisted some more so he ended up with the rope divided so he had two pieces.

He brought the two pieces up between her legs too, but on opposite sides of her labia.  So ~ are you picturing this ~ the one rope is right in the center, then the two strands of rope run on the outside of the one rope, pressing firmly against her…. yeah.

She was a happy sub.

He made her sit, and that was fun to watch.  i know what it feels like from the inside, and it’s like a tiny taste of it to watch her experience it.

There was a woman in the audience who’s new to kink ~ i know this because she announced it several times.  About my age, she’s pretty sure she’s a Domme, and is looking for knowledge and experience.

So she pipes up at some point and wants to know, “What’s she getting out of this?  I mean, what’s in it for her?”

And i had to laugh, because it was so obvious to me that our rope model was in seventh heaven at that point, happily flying in her own head.  But Jay asked her to respond ~

~ and of course watching her try to come back and find words for what she was feeling was fun too.  

Jay commented that sometimes it seems like he’s just the ground crew, and of course we know what he means.  He was doing all the work.  

She was flying…

Makes me smile just remembering it.

* These parts were originally wrong, see In Need of Correction for an explanation. 

 

 

Subspace for Me

When He puts the collar on me, it does something to me.  

The feeling of the material against my neck.  Whether it’s rope, a little stiff and rough, or leather, flexible and already broken in, it does something to me.

i am already a little on edge, because He is here, because we have finished dinner, because i have some idea what is coming next.  When He says, “Get your mat,” it ups the ante, i know it is time ~ let the games begin.

i know what to expect.  He has let me know some things that will happen each time, and my body is responding to the anticipation of what is coming.

i learn quickly, and the patterns feel engrained already.  My body trembles with anticipation, and a touch of anxiety.

As i get the mat, everything else falls away.  The act of preparing it ~ laying it out on the ground, putting a towel over it ~ these physical movements increase my arousal.

i know some things that will happen; i don’t know other things.  i know the order  of the implements he will use on me.  i don’t know how long, or how hard, or how well i’ll take it.  

i know we’ll practice positions.  

i don’t know what other things He will ask of me, or whether i’ll please Him with my responses.

All of these things are floating in my mind somewhere, increasing my arousal.  It is arousal in the sexual sense, and also just arousal in the “adrenaline flowing” sense.  

i am ready to act, attuned to Him, wanting to respond.

As I lay out the mat, my awareness of my own physical being increases.  The movements involved in doing it.  The way my hands and arms work.  My leg muscles as i kneel, the movement of my breasts as i arrange the towel.  

i am already wet.  

i sit on the towel, and wait.  Not for long, but in that minute or two ~

~~ anticipation builds.  

My awareness of my body increases.

My mind grows still.  i am open and receptive.

 i am not thinking in words anymore; there are sensations and images in my mind, but mostly i am focused right here and now.

When He sits in front of me, my attention becomes completely His.  

“Kneel,” He says.  “Do you remember that position?”

i do, and i move smoothly and quickly, wanting to do it just right.

He picks up the collar, “Leather tonight,” He says, and i know how it will feel around my neck.  “Come here.”

i scoot forward on my knees and He smiles a little.

i know, because He has told me before, that once He puts the collar on me, He expects me to obey Him without question.  i am not thinking about that, but that knowing is there.

As He puts it around my neck, i feel something inside me shift.  It is a breaking open ~ i don’t know how else to describe it.

He claims me with the collar, and i respond by opening to Him.  My heart opens, my mind is totally focused on Him, totally receptive.

My spirit opens.

As He buckles the collar, pulls it tight, there is awareness of my breath.  Of vulnerability.   The tension up just a notch ~ instinctive, not afraid, but hyper alert.

When He settles the collar into place, everything in me is His, the shift is more profound.  i am transformed.  Focused, open, receptive, totally in the here and now…

He has claimed me, i am His.

Subspace? (Part 1 & 1/2)

Donna, who writes for Under Contract to My Wife sometimes, sent me this information a while back.  i’ve been hanging on to it ’cause i knew it would come in handy someday, and today’s the day.

What she sent me comes from the following blog:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/08/06/how-am-i-going-to-fit-an-mri-in-the-bedroom/

The research reference is here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20770-sex-on-the-brain-what-turns-women-on-mapped-out.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Here’s what Donna sent me:

How am I going to fit an MRI in the bedroom?

from Pharyngula by PZ Myers

Maybe you’ve seen this before: it’s a diagram of the sensory and motor cortex of the brain, with a little man or homunculus drawn over it to illustrate the somatic areas associated with each region. You see where the little man’s knee is on the left image of the sensory cortex? Stick an electrode in there and zap it, and a patient/victim will feel a sensation in his knee. Put the patient in an MRI and tickle his knee, and that region of the brain will light up. Cool, huh?

{Sorry, the diagram won’t copy onto the blog, you’ll have to go to the original post…}

Another cute feature: look in the medial longitudinal fissure. You see the homunculus’s toes, and right down there, located beyond the toes, is where the genital sensory area is located. Poke at that with an electrode and…we’re talking happy time at the Mad Scientists’ convention. But notice, though, that in the diagram of the homunculus, the poor creature’s genitals are drawn, and they’re male. It’s a bit sexist, don’t you think?

This bias has now been corrected.

a team led by Lars Michels at University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to confirm that the position of the clitoris on the homunculus was in approximately the same position as the penis in men. Barry Komisaruk at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, and his colleagues have now used the same method to map the position of the clitoris, vagina and cervix on the sensory cortex as women stimulated themselves.

I read these things, and I think to myself that I really went into the wrong research field. Oh, well.

They also discovered something else.  

Komisaruk also checked what happened when women’s nipples were stimulated, and was surprised to find that in addition to the chest area of the cortex lighting up, the genital area was also activated. “When I tell my male neuroscientist colleagues about this, they say: ‘Wow, that’s an exception to the classical homunculus,’” he says. “But when I tell the women they say: ‘Well, yeah?’” It may help explain why a lot of women claim that nipple stimulation is erotic, he adds.

***********************************

Big scientific breakthrough, right?  Well, except for all of us who’ve been saying “there’s a direct line from my nipples to my pussy,” all these years.

Does the research make our experience more valid?  Not really, but it’s clearly more persuasive for those who haven’t experienced it.

i think our experiences and descriptions of subspace are equally valid, and i’m loving the comments on the first part of this.  If you haven’t read them yet, go back one post and check it out.  

More on this later…

Subspace?

Sweet Girl  left this interesting comment on my post yesterday:

“I do have one question though; when you write “The collar goes on ~ a leather one tonight, He fastens it around me and i feel myself move deeper into subspace.” Do you mean a deeper submissive mindset? Surely you can’t go into subspace from the application of a collar (lovely as it is!),without the physical impact that’s not possible is it? (Genuine question -not criticism! It’s just that I’ve seen ppl write that before, and personally i have a hard time imagining it, after all it is a chemical reaction…Again, just wondering what you actually meant.)

And that gave me pause.  What did i mean?  And what does she mean “it’s a chemical reaction?” 

So i pondered it yesterday.

This morning, i googled it ~ BDSM subspace chemical reaction.  If you decide to google it, make sure you put BDSM or you’ll get articles on the mathematical term “subspace,” which is not so helpful.

i won’t pretend that i read every article that came up ~ there are lots of them.  i skimmed a few, glanced over a few more.  Some of them have detailed descriptions of how the process works, involving adrenaline and endorphins and enkephalins.

But the articles seemed to all be from a bdsm perspective ~ someone’s blog or an article someone wrote without any references.  One of the articles says:

Note: The author is the chairman of the POWERotics Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing reliable information to and about the BDSM community. This article is a team effort by the POWERotics team and includes input from medical professionals and psychologists. In fact, this is a “summary” of several much more in depth articles.

 But i couldn’t find the other articles, or the resources used.  No cites, no links.

You know, my mama raised me to question.  That particular article says, quite definitively, that you can’t have an orgasm while you’re in subspace.

First of all, i don’t know that anybody can say that kind of thing definitively.  But if you’re gonna say it, i want to see the actual research.  

i’m not even saying the research doesn’t exist.   Maybe there’s a sexual lab somewhere with scientists measuring degrees of subspace, then getting out the Hitachi to try to induce orgasm.  

{‘Nilla – doesn’t that sound like fun story material?  Maybe some of our subsisters and brothers would want to volunteer to participate too!}

Ok, seriously ~ and Sweet Girl, i’m not trying to make light of the question ~ but seriously, i want to see the research.

Other articles were just people’s blogs talking about what they thought ~ some of which, i bet they got from the “scientific” article ~ or other people’s blogs.   

So i’m gonna go way out on a limb here and say that the most reliable information we have about “subspace” is speculation and opinion.  And i can speculate and opine as well as anyone.

It makes sense to say subspace is a chemical reaction ~ everything we do involves chemical reactions in the brain.  It makes sense to say it involves adrenaline.

Adrenaline arouses.  It’s floods the body when we’re stressed or feel like we’re in danger, speeds up breathing, heart rate and so on as part of the fight-or-flight response.  it also works when we’re excited – think roller coasters.

When adrenaline’s pumping, you’re speeded up, everything’s focused on the trigger that aroused you.  You’re not thinking things through logically cause your body is prepared to react quickly .  All systems are alerted and aroused {not in a sexual sense, per se.}

Endorphins and enkephalins are the body’s natural pain killers.  

So, if you put the two together – heightened arousal and awareness and “feel good” chemicals ~

~ whew. 

How cool is that?

It accounts for what we tend to agree on ~ that when you’re in subspace you’re not able to think clearly and logically.   Adrenaline rushes shut down the executive functioning of the brain, the center of logical thinking and judgement.  

The pain-killer part explains why we seek it out, why we enjoy it instead of perceiving it as a panic attack.

Logically, that makes sense to me, that those chemicals would be involved in subspace.  So i’ll accept that.  

If you google these terms, you’ll find support for what i’m saying here, but more importantly, you can consult a textbook and find the same general information.  {I know, that’s not well cited, but when i googled it, i wasn’t impressed with the references i found.}

So, ok, subspace is a biochemical reaction.  Beyond that, i think we get to define what we believe about it and what our experience of it is like.

And i was going to do exactly that this morning, but i’m out of time.   i’ll come back to it either later today or tomorrow.  In the meantime ~

~~  what’s subspace like for you?  What do you mean when you use that term?  

Leave a comment describing it, or link to your blog if you need more space and want to write about it.  You can put the link in a comment over the next few days and i’ll link to your links in my posts if you like.  Or send it to me via email ~ aisha.hisservant@gmail.com ~ and i’ll post it.