Figging: Anal Discipline

Here’s an article about ginger root figging used to punish and discipline a slave girl. Slave “yielding” has written Ginger Root: The Burn Without the Fire full of information like this:

For this slave squirming is inevitable unless it has been bound, and within minutes, this slave is usually begging for mercy and promising good future behavior. Fortunately, Master Stern does not give in to these initial pleas. When this slave finds out it will be punished or disciplined with the root, it expects thirty to forty-five minutes of discomfort.

The sensation of being “burned” by the ginger root doesn’t go away immediately upon its removal. While the effects are dependent upon how fresh the root is, the heat and burning continues at a lower level for several hours after the root is removed. It is, however, a level that cannot be ignored or put out of mind, even for a few seconds. “Sitting down gingerly” has taken on a whole new meaning for this slave. The further humiliation of knowing the ginger is protruding and visible to Master Stern compounds the humiliating intensity of the experience.

One of the benefits of using ginger root as punishment has been that it doesn’t cut into Master Stern’s time. He can go about His business without having to keep continual watch over His slave, or He can expect the same amount of service from without diminishing the punishment’s effects. Dinner can still be served, dishes can still be washed, and errands can still be run.

Here’s a woman who tried out figging on herself, and liked it quite a lot:

Long story short, I have not had such a remarkable first sexual experience in quite a long time. I don’t remember ever having a similar one in fact. It produced a shocking level of arousal and is quite a unique sensation. Ginger not just for stir-frys anymore.

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Much as I would characterize sexual desire as a burning sensation, so this activity seems to burn your flesh. It’s a beautiful translation of thought into being. Painful longing into actual pain. (Well, OK, it’s not extremely painful; I would simply say it’s a painful sensation. Not like, goddamn-that-guy’s-arm-must-be-sore-from-hitting-me-so-hard pain, no it’s considerably milder than that.) It’s quite a remarkable experience. Everyone really ought to run out and try it right now. In fact I’ll be trying it again myself very shortly.

From a now-defunct and hence unlinkable web page about sexual use of suppositories comes this anecdote:

An old ex-Kings Troop chap told me that his father told him that before the first world war [ginger figging] was used when regimental squaddies were given unofficial floggings (cane or the birch) on the breech. In one case, rather than lose rank the ringleader opted for a private birching, two others were caned. A ginger suppository was inserted before the birching and the squaddie kept his breech well up and splayed.

This figging and spanking anecdote comes from Mistress Paz’s Blog (which is defunct, hence no link; the whole blog post is here thanks to Google’s Cache):

I took the broken piece and allowed Kitty to sniff it. The scent reminded me of sushi since I love having ginger with this beloved food. Also makes a wonderful tea.

Taking the rest of the root, I went into the bathroom and prepared it for insertion. I rinsed with hot water then cold to lubricate it since one cannot use lubricant with it. I also cut a ridge into the sides, making it secure like a butt plug, and rounded off the end a bit. Great, my groin is
aching with memory and Kitty is out now. I’ll try to continue although I really could some attention right now… Mmmmmkay…. Just breathe.

Alright, I inserted the ginger to realize that I had forgotten to bind my precious darling…. I tried to remedy this, but it was too awkward since she needed to stay down for the ginger to stay in place. So I began using the crop with a narrower tip to ease her mind from the burning, stinging is good for distraction.

Feeling mercy, I soon relented, kissing her pretty bottom and removed the ginger. I blew on her asshole, hoping that it would have the same effect as breathing into a fire–to make it more intense. I also licked her lovely anus since I had made her clean there very well.

Here is another figging how-to article, along with some suggestions for combining figging with spanking, and for using powdered ginger on various tender areas:

I prefer the plug because the figging can continue for the duration of the punishment. The plug can be inserted and removed several times during a session. It can be used to punish misbehavior during punishments. For instance if too much kicking is taking place, the spankee may be warned that the ginger plug will be inserted for a five minute period before the spanking continues.

I like it that the figging can offer both parties a break of sorts. The spanker gets to rest the spanking hand/arm while the spankee, while suffering the burn, will have a break from the spanks.

The Backwoods Bohemian approves of ginger and other common pungent household foods:

Ginger root, peeled and shaped, is a most interesting butt plug. I used to think figging was what was done to collect the fruit. Freshly peeled ginger root also works on other sensitive areas as well.

The counterpart is wasabi. Hope that your partner likes hot and spicy as they lick it off after letting you writh for awhile. Squirm baby squirm!!

Aromatherapy can have new meaning when pure peppermint oil is mixed with lube. The same with cinnamon oil. Though the one and only time we used the cinnamon oil I thought my clit was going to be seared off. It wasn’t but I have heard of cinnamon oil raising blisters.

So many common household things that can be used as pervertables. A friend of ours likes being humiliated. Her partner complies by giving her webbed duct tape gloves on her hands. Her hands are then nailed to a tree (using the webbed part to nail through) and a lemon, cut in half, is used as a gag. It makes her drool uncontrolably. She likes to be seen this humiliated.

Here are a couple of items about the sexual power of ginger, found via Spanking Blog. The first is from a long-gone blog called Into The Zone, and was entitled “The Joys of Ginger”:

The plug shaped piece is to slip just far enough inside the vagina to supply contact between the ginger juices and her own..which will flow more readily once the ginger is applied. After about 5-10 minutes you can remove the sliver from the clit and proceed with your pussy flogging or clamping etc.

You can also have them roll onto their stomach to apply some lovely flogging and/or caning and believe me, they WILL want it more and harder!

The Boss from The Collar Purple had this to say on the same subject:

It’s much better held to the clitoris (after applying straps and ropes at times!) The advantage of anally is that the darn thing will stay in with little to no effort. Yeah, I’m adding to the ‘lazy Dom’ stereotype as well.

Depending on how long you keep the ginger applied (and how fresh it was), the burn can linger for a few minutes to an hour after removal. Reportedly in extreme cases, you can feel it for a day or two afterwards but the sensation is more of a warmth than a pain after the initial sting dies down.

As a historical note, unscrupulous horse traders used to shove a knob or two in a horse’s anus to make them more ‘lively’ for unwary buyers. It works on humans the same way, heh. Having sex with someone currently writhing from a knob of ginger is quite entertaining for the more sadistic Doms out there. As you may have guessed, this is how I like to use it. Invidia also reports this pushes her pain/pleasure buttons quite nicely if we use it clitorally for awhile until she begs for it be gone and then we have sex immediately afterwards.

This item found via Spanking Blog talks about how a figging feels:

Master gently rubbed a very small amount of lubricant against my tight ass hole and then i felt the coldness of the ginger being pushed high up inside my ass and secured into place by a strap. At first the ginger felt cool but the sensation soon changed and i felt it warming up, after a few minutes i was writhing about on the bed,unable to get away from the searing burning heat of the ginger throbbing up inside my ass hole. i concentrated on riding the pain and that actually worked until Master used his fingers to push the ginger up higher and then the pain became almost unbearable.

To take my mind off the pain Master decided to flog my ass and back with the knotted flogger and also with the crop…ouch it particularly hurt when Master caught my shoulder with the crop…

When Master eventually took the ginger out it felt like such a relief although my ass hole stayed sore and tender for the rest of the evening.

The best, most informative article on the net about figging has got to be The Art of Anal Ginger Root Play by one “Master Micheal”. (Alternate link: here.) The article gives detailed how-to information:

When play time rolls around, I usually like to have my sub bound, face down on the bed over a pillow. No blindfold here. I make it a point of allowing her to watch and hear me prepare the ginger. The anticipation is spectacular especially if she’s never experienced it before. The gyrations generated from the anticipation alone are well worth the experience. Now you are ready to cut a finger of ginger from the hand.

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After you have the skinned root all smooth and nice, you now have to perform the tricky bit. With the paring knife, about two thirds of the way down the root, carefully carve a concavity around the finger. This will act as a retention device. Similar to a butt plug where the sphincter locks around the tapering portion of the plug, the concavity will do the same thing.

And what does it do? Fun stuff:

The beauty of ginger is that it takes a little while for the effect to take place. Once it begins, it builds steadily. While you are waiting for the fun to begin, go wash off your hands. You don’t want to touch your eyes or your sub’s eyes by accident with ginger on your hands. Now sit down in a comfy chair and enjoy the show. Most submissives will become rather vocal as the ginger works its magic.

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The effects of the ginger will last approximately twenty minutes or so, after which, the effects diminish rapidly. The nice thing about ginger is no matter how intense the effect on the sub, you won’t hurt her/him and it is short-lived. Once the sensation ceases, remove the ginger and go about your other session business. Ginger also has a property that puts it far ahead of any ginger wannabe substance. The juice of the root has the ability to cause incredible horniness. I have had subs begin to sob, begging to have something inserted into their pussies and to have orgasm. The reaction is tenfold if the ginger juice comes in contact with the clit.

Wikipedia has the basic definition:

Figging is a sexual practice involving the insertion of a prepared “finger” of ginger root or even pepper into the anus. The burning sensation is said to induce intense pleasure. The technique is used by some practitioners of BDSM.

The practice is sometimes said to have originated in a preparation technique for show horses, where an irritating “fig” would be inserted into their anus to induce them to hold their tail high. Others claim that Victorian corporal punishment methods sometimes involved figging to further humiliate and chastise the culprit, as well as preventing the clenching of the buttocks during caning, birching or flagellation.

GUBA (The Gigantic Usenet Binaries Archive) is an inexpensive pay service that collects all the pictures and videos that get posted to USENET every day, and archives them for a few days in an easy-to-use format. Figging pictures and videos are very rare, but you may find them in the following GUBA archives of these newsgroups:

Spanking Photos: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.spanking
Spanking Movies: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.spanking
Bottom Photos: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.butts
BDSM Movies: alt.binaries.multimedia.bdsm
Fetish Movies alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish