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So first of all, I should explain what figging is. I suspect most everyone reading this already knows, but I’ll be short column inches if I don’t. “Figging” is the practice of inserting ginger into the anus or vagina.
Wikipedia, that repository of all human trivia, gives a reference from the The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose where it is spelt “feauging” or “to feague.”
So the first thing is that it has nothing to do with figs, those widely worshipped fruits of the ficus tree that we of the first world know only as that kind of strange and disturbing sweet brownish stuff in Nabisco Fig Newtons. Despite the obvious symbolic relationship between the filling of a fig newton and the contents of the anus, figging has nothing to do with the fruit of the ficus. I except of course the Australians who use a fig paste made by Kraft Foods as an after shave.
Figging comes from the German word “fegen” which means “to polish.” I am lying about the after shave, but you thought for a moment it might be true, didn’t you. I’m not sure how closely fegen relates to ficken, but the folk etymologist in me wants badly for there to be a relationship.
Figgging is the practice of sticking a bit of peeled ginger up the ass which produces a fairly strong burning sensation, but unlike say Tabasco sauce or a heated object, does not do any lasting harm.
This practice was not originally, as surprising as this may be, applied to humans. It was originally applied to horses. I originally heard this from S. who knew about it from before the proliferation of BDSM and well before Wikipedia. S. told me that it was applied to horses to make them run faster in races, but apparently this is not precisely the case. It was applied to horses because it makes them move around a lot and hold their heads and tails high. This is a trait that is associated with young and energetic horses. Since in the time before mortgage scams and used cars the only really good fraud in the human race was selling decrepit horses for too much money, every little trick counted and this is a good one. The practice is used in competition where it makes horses show better, but every civilized club or league outlaws it, and there are even tests for it.
Apparently veterinarians say that the actual trick is to put it in the vagina of a mare. It will stay there longer, and the behaviors are actually better. They also say it’s cruel and a bad practice. But, you know, if you’re going to anyway, you might as well get the most bang for your buck, right?
Figging is supposed to have been a popular BDSM practice in the Victorian era…circa “The Pearl.” If you don’t know what I mean by “The Pearl,” I’ll comment that a lot of places will sell it to you for five dollars as an ebook, but you can read it free here: http://www.folklore.ms/html/books_and_MSS/1870s/1879-1880_the_pearl_journal/issue_01_-_july_1879/index.htm
Soo….
I use toy cleaner or the dishwasher fairly regularly, but don’t always have them with me. If a toy is (and most are) relegated to use on one girl, if we’re at a hotel or on the road and I don’t have a good cleaner, I’ll wash it off with warm soapy water. I realize that’s not medically hygienic, but I’m doing roughly the same thing with my hand and it’s going in the same place. We’re not looking at any huge contamination issues here. It’s not the best way to clean a toy but beats leaving it dirty on the bedside table.
So a given girl uses a given toy. And being the nice fellow I am, while she’s recovering I clean up the scene. And this includes rinsing the toy, washing it with just a little lather of soap, rinsing it off carefully and setting it on a clean hotel washcloth to dry.
So the same toy gets put to use the following morning. After the toy has been used, I end up applying some manual stimulation. I notice that said girl’s vagina is very tight and slightly puffy. This mystifies me. Don’t get me wrong here. I like to think of myself as a great stud as much as everyone else. But you have to have a little realism. I think to myself. “Nothing I did with personal equipment or toys last night should have resulted in chafing to the point of swelling.” I resolve to ask about this.
A little while later the event, which was not a big centerpiece fuck-fest to begin with, sort of peters out. There is discomfort. Discomfort leads to fear. There is *burning* in there. Have we done something bad? Now of course I am concerned. Lurid thoughts leap to mind. Battery leakage on one of the toys! What the hell would make for swelling and burning.
I have done a lot of things to torture girls. But when one of them is hurting, and it is obviously something real, and there is no clear cause and it cannot be put down to aches and pains…then I begin to worry, and I want to know precisely what is wrong and why.
I know my hands are clean…and…
It hits me…
I walk into the bathroom. And pick up the soap of this above average nice hotel. I tend not to be a big spender on personal travel so I’m used to places where the soap is, basically, Ivory. This is something very nice. Ginger and Orange…
Ginger and Orange…
There is relief that there is not something untoward wrong. There is also rinsing, sans soap.
And I check another list on my lifetime kink list. I have never actually done figging before. Just not one of those things that held massive appeal and most people I’ve played with put “burning” very low on their list of sexy desirable sensations.
So endeth my first…nonconsensual…figging scene.
