Who Says You are "Too Big to Rig"???
Sunday June 2, 2013
This morning started fairly early for me. Running AIS on a day to day basis takes less than an hour or so of answering emails, paperwork, filing, and reading through the local "news". But when COPE sales start, Sheba and I have to really step it up - especially the first couple weeks.
As a distraction, I was perving K&P. (really - I only check it out for the articles...) This time, I ran across this writing about people being too big for Rope. Over the past year or more, I have read at least a dozen articles about larger peeps making similar comments. Some of the people aren't even larger than average.
I have no idea why some riggers have this viewpoint. In the military we were trained to rig/suspend almost anything with the right rig and an appropriate application of rope. There was even a time when a pair of us tied a dozen people with harness and rope to a UH-60 Blackhawk for a lift exercise. We're talking about a somewhere around a ton of dynamic weight.
The reality is anyone or anything can be hoisted into space - low or high - with an suitable application of rope, rig and gear. It may not appear the same as the artistic single line TK tie from the great silk wearing Shibari masters of the secret schools. But every tie has value and its own beauty.
In reality, I have attended years and years kink and rope conferences. I've talked with dozens of riggers. The majority of them expound hundreds of hours of practicing ties, rigging bodies, studying bodies in dynamic motion. They learn to tie because they love what they do. They talk of the connection, or the fluid motions, of the beauty in the application of rope. Most of them, if asked, would probably admit to having a hank of hemp (or their favorite type) under their pillow - cause they relax and sleep better with that scent.
So why is it that so many riggers deny the rubinesque their pleasure and help fulfill their fantasies? Why do I hear so many rope bottoms expressing dismay over being told (either verbally or by example) that they can't be tied? Or worse yet, being looked up and down, with almost palpable disdain, then hearing the declaration that they are "too big to be suspended".
I want to stand up and say to those riggers, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????" If you don't want to rig a person, regardless of the reason, tell them that. It's not that luscious, lovely, rounded people can't be rigged or suspended; it's that YOU don't want to tie them. Just say that. Just be honest.
My father, in a moment of kindness, said to me, "Son, the sharpest knife cuts the quickest." At the time, I had no idea what he meant, as I was 5... so I made sure my cub scout knife was always razor sharp. One day, after my high school sweetheart dumped me, I got it. But that really isn't important now. What is important? Is the lesson.
Here is my suggestion. If you are afraid to tie bigger people, tell them. Work it out together. I know lots of well rounded rope bottoms, male and female, who would love to make a whole scene out of figuring out how to tie a voluptuous person. Many times, when Sheba and I are playing, we just experiement. We tie just to see how beautiful and wild Sheba is in rope!
Boss Bondage and I were talking about this very subject - not Sheba in rope or his sleeping with the rope - which I am sure he does - but the tying of larger people. We both love exploring, experimenting and expanding our skills with soft bodies. We had difficulty understanding why some many riggers wouldn't want to touch and wrap up someone of substance. We ended the conversation with... well? We should advertise! I can see the headlines - Told you're too big to rig? Come on down to B&BB! lol!
Anyway, look at it from another point of view. Why do you think we call it play? The idea is to have fun. To connect with other humans being. To share through a medium. Sometimes that medium is a flogger, sometimes a whip, and sometimes... it's rope!
We don't really have to change our cameras. We don't have to change our rope. We don't have to change our hardware. We don't even have to change our hand/arm strength. We have to change our minds. We have to see beauty the way it is, not the way other people tell us it should be.
Sometimes... all it takes is just a little more rope.
Just a little rope rant..
Peace,
Barak & Sheba