Straitjacket Selfbondage

As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by being tied up and helpless. In particular, medical restraints are the ones that are the most suggestive. They obviously mean business. Not style, fashion, visual impact, comfort or not, just helplessness for the person being restrained. And obviously, no medical restrain is as daunting as the straightjacket.

A straightjacket is particularly well suited to my desires, as it is reasonably comfortable to wear, even for long periods of time. Spending one, two, even three days on end in one is something I have done more than once. Providing there is someone to help me with toilet duty, food and drink, it is not overly uncomfortable. And this although any good jacket not only is unescapeable, but lets the wearer know of the futility of his/her struggles.

Now struggles are futile only if the straightjacket incorporates the right features. First, one or two crotchropes are required to make sure the wearer cannot slip it over his/her head. Second, either side loops or a front loop through which the sleeves are threaded prevent the wearer from liting his/her arms over the head, which lets them release themselves. Then, to make the bondage both tighter nad more comfortable, the arms are restrained in the back by pinion straps. This allows the arms to be held very tightly, but in a relaxed position, instead of having to stress the shoulders by pulling the arms too far together as must be done without the pinion straps. The straightjackets I own have all these features, as it is true helplessness that I crave.

However, in my quest for this helplessness, the weak link has not been the straightjacket, but my partner. Begging for release, either verbally or non-verbally if gagged, has aways provided for some form of freedom, thus robbing me of the ultimate thrill of knowing that I am well and truly helpless.

The obvious answer to that is to play without a partner: self bondage! Without anyone to plead with, no amount of negotiation will work. The problem, of course, is that, ultimately, it is not my purpose to die strapped up in a straightjacket. That determines the line between fantasy and reality which must not be crossed.

Many self-bondage practitioners use handcuffs, which are not only inescapeable, but also very easy to use on oneself. A self-timed device whether an ice cube or an electronic lock will release a key after a re-set time, and the session ends.

This has two drawbacks, as far as I am concerned. One is that handcuffs can be quite painful over time if the wrists are cuffed behind my back. I am not the most flexible guy! This limits the session to short (one or two-hour) durations. The second one is that the very existence of the self-timer guarantees that the session will go exactly as planned. The bindee will not have to fight his/her bonds to gain his/her freedom. Just drifting off and waiting for things to happen is enough. Now, I am not saying that this is bad. It is just not my cup of tea.

So, for years, I have been dreaming of self-bondage in my straightjacket. And, because dreams are cheap, in my SJ-legsack combo. The only problem is, how to tie oneself up in a straightjacket in an effective way? And then how to get out?

I decided I wasn't going to theorize any longer, and started off with the straightjacket. That was easy enough. You need to buckle the back not  too tight, so that you can slip it on already strapped up. Which is what I did. At that stage, I grabbed the two crotch straps as best I could with my leather-encased hands/mitts, and buckled them in the back. But I couldn't thread the straps in the holders to make them more secure.

The next step was to slip my arms through the loops connected by the pinion strap, this one positioned in my back. Then I buckled the ends of my sleeves together in front, and, crossing my arms, swung the strap connecting them over my head, and then, gradually down my chest. This was not made easy by the many buckles on the back of the jacket. The way to do it was to get close to a door handle, and slip the strap connecting the sleeves under the handle and then to straighten up. Finally, the strap was down the small of my back, in its normal position. I was strapped up, but obviously not very tightly, and the process could easily be reversed.

To make my bondage more secure, I grabbed the leather strap that goes around the arms to prevent them for separating, and tried to buckle it closed. In order to get it done, I knelt on the floor with the bed at belly level. Thus the buckle of the strap lay on the bed, and with my teeth, I threaded the strap through the buckle, then tightened it again with my teeth. Again I could not thread it through the keeper, but it was tight. I lay on my bed for a while, relaxing in the leather embrace of the jacket. There was no way I could get out of it if I was not able to undo it. But I knew that, unless something went wrong, I would be able to achieve that when I wanted. I needed to go further down that route. Which, I decided, would be for next time. It only took me about five minutes to get the jacket off. First I had to release the strap that bound my arms together in front of me. I did that by using the ever-useful door handle, which helped me grab the end of the strap with my teeth; I pulled, and unbuckled the strap. From the on, it was pretty easy: work my arms back up over my head, undo the strap connecting my arms, the two crotch straps, slip the jacket off over my head, and I was done.

Now I needed to find a way to make my SJ bondage more secure. The obvious way to add to it was to start off by tieing my feet inside my legsack matching my straightjacket. That would be easy enough, and the two could be connected by the straps otherwise used as crotchstraps. One way to make my bondage even more secure could be either to find a way to make it non reversible. The common way to do this is to use non-return straps, such as the ones used for tie-downs. I have tried those, and found them to be messy. They get tangled and twisted, and, more often than not, I got nowhere except frustrated.

But now I thought of another way, which would kill two birds with one stone. One vital step to get free was to undo the strap that kept my arms together in front of me. As long as that one was in place, the road to freedom would be blocked. And  in order to undo it I used the door handle, which had also been handy in getting my bondage in place. So the way to stop this was to make my bondage immobilizing as well as restraining. I had a way in mind, and decided to try and see if it worked.

I started by putting on the leg sack. That way my legs and feet are tightly contained in a leather sheath that laces in the back and straps around my waist. I then grabbed my straightjacket, but, before I put in on, I added a new device. I buckled together two straps, making a long one, which I tied to the the strap closing my jacket at shoulder level, and this strap, instead of being open ended, ended with a loop including its buckle. That way, there would be a loop hanging vertically in my back, lower than my buttocks. And, for good measure, I decided that using two such devices would make matters easier.

Now I slipped  on the pre-strapped straightjacket, buckled it to the legsack, put my arms into the pinion straps, connected the arm straps, and put them over my head. I had to be careful from then on, because, my legs being encased in the confining legsack, my balance had become precarious, and my arms would not be able to break a fall. So I hopped carefully over to the door, and used the handle to position the arm-connecting strap down my back, and then hopped back next to my bed. I had again to proceed with caution, because when I am on my bed, which lies low, strapped up in my straitjacket and legsack, getting to stand up is no minor matter. And I wanted to end up on the bed rather than on the ground, as I expected to luxuriate in my bondage for some time.

I then kneeled on the carpet so that my chest was on the bed, which made it possible for me to grab the chest strap with my teeth, and, like before, to thread it into the buckle, and pull it tight. It then closed, and my straightjacket was now secure. It was time for the last step.

I pushed myself up on the bed, and then, with some struggling, on my knees, and sat on my haunches. Now, remember the two loop-straps which I had prepared, and which were hanging down my back? The idea was to wiggle the foot part of my legsack into at least one of the loops when my legs were doubled up. Then, straightening my legs would tighten the loop, and, with a bit of luck, the buckle hasp would catch in one of the strap holes, and my feet would be tied to the straitjacket in a self-straitjacket-hogtie.

That is what I did, I lifted one side of the legsack, trying to do it without upsetting my delicate balance. I then swung my chest forwards and backwards a bit to try and feel where the attached loops were. And, indeed, I felt the light friction of the loop, or loops. At that stage, I couldn't look back over my shoulder to see what I was doing. But I felt something catching on the bottom of the legsack, and I lifted the other side, trying to slide it into the loop. That proved surprisingly easy, and worked on the first attempt; I then pushed on my toes in order to raise the insteps of my feet, and slip the loop further up, until I felt it go past my heels, and onto my ankles.

I then rose off my legs, with the desired effect of pulling on the strap that now connected my shoulders and my ankles. I felt the loop tighten around the bottom of my legsack. I then tried to spread my feet apart, as much as the leather would allow, in order to see if the buckle of the loop had closed. It had not the first time, but on the third one, it did. I pulled one more time, really hard, to test my bondage, and my upward movement was interrupted when the strap tightened. Such was the jolt that I lost my balance and fell on my side on the bed. I had done it: I had straightjacketed, legsacked and hogtied myself, and frankly, I did not see how I was going to get out.  The only way I knew was to get the chest strap undone, which wasn't going to happen without my getting to the door handle. That, in turn, was out of reach because I was hogtied on my bed, without any possibility to get up.

I was stuck, and loving every minute.... now how to get out?

06.11.09