I used to use the word “ambivalent” incorrectly. I thought it meant to not care one way or the other; to be apathetic about a decision or choice. Of course it doesn’t mean that at all. It means much the opposite in fact.
Latin in origin, from ambi meaning “both” and valentia meaning “strength”, ambivalence means having strong feelings, simultaneous and contradictory attitudes, toward an object or certain path.
I am ambivalent about slavery, I’ve decided. It is not a love-hate thing. A love-hate relationship would mean that I love being a slave but hate myself for doing it. That is not the case at all.
But this line right here fits me to a T: “a heightened ambivalence which is expressed in behavior by alternating obedience and rebellion, followed by self-reproach”.
See? I’m ambivalent.
While that bears further thought, there is something else that I am ambivalent about and that’s my real reason for posting today. The vocabulary lesson wasn’t in vain. ;)
I am ambivalent about the whip. About being whipped. About asking to be whipped or told I’m going to be whipped.
It’s different than, say, spanking. Getting a spanking is almost normal. It used to be a standard part of childhood back in the day (still is I suppose), and I even remember it being used in schools as a youngster (Not that I ever was spanked by the principal! I was much too good). I seem to recall, when my own children were just entering elementary school, signing a paper forbidding the use of corporal punishment on them should they misbehave in class. So my guess is that using paddles in school has only recently been done away with.
And spanking wasn’t unheard of between a husband and wife either. A “naughty” wife was dealt with, by some husbands, in much the same way a naughty child was. So spanking feels, to me, like a much more acceptable practice. The history of spanking is presentable.
But the history of whipping is not so presentable. It’s not a clouded memory for most people. It’s not something that’s ever been shown in anything other than an extremely negative and unattractive way, bringing up feelings of revulsion and anger. Pictures of men and women, tied to posts and whipped to bloody ribbons. People strapped to machines or tools, whipped into working harder and faster. In movies, doesn’t the “slavedriver” *always* have a whip in hand, and isn’t he always quick to use it upon a slow worker?
Whipping is all wrapped up in shame and disgrace. That bleeds over into my enjoyment of it.
When I am enjoying it, that is.
It’s very strange, the things that pop into my head in the midst of a scene.
Master does not whip me to bloody ribbons. Yet. I know that he can, I know that he is capable of it. I’ve seen him flick a whip at a sturdy cardboard box and leave a 3 inch gash so I know that when it’s me on the receiving end and not a box, he’s holding back something awful.
I do not know if he will always hold back though. Nor do I know at what point he’ll “let loose” once I’ve been secured to the ceiling. There is a lot of fear coursing through me during a whipping… until the whip has been hung UP, and I have been hung DOWN.
Anywho, so I know I’m not taking anything over the top when he’s whipping me. I get some welts, sometimes they last days, sometimes only hours. Sometimes there is a little breaking of the skin, sometimes not. Sometimes it feels good, sometimes I’d like to set the whip on fire in the backyard and do a happy dance while it burns.
Sometimes he does it rather lightly (but still hurting!), but repetitively, over and over and over, quick little snaps, moving from spot to spot to spot, without pause and it drives me batshit crazy. It’s not even the pain so much as the constant flick, the never-ending bite.
I’d make the comparison between being stung once by a wasp, or being bitten by 300 fire ants, one at a time.
I am ambivalent on whether I’d choose the wasp or the ants. Both and neither, thank you.
My fear is the day when it becomes being stung by a wasp 300 times, one at a time.
I’ve never been stung by a wasp. Not even by a bee. I’ve built it up into epically painful proportions in my mind.
This particular occasion was a “300 ants, one at a time” type of whipping. Honestly, by the end of it, I’m whimpering like I’ve been skinned merely because I can’t catch my fucking breath. It’s insanity I tell you.
Pictures are behind the cut. And a clip is up at the Clip Store.
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