Electrical toys

Who knows what the safety issues are with electrical play? What's adequate guidelines. I was at a party recently and was caught off guard and saw some things that I didn't expect. Ended up not sleeping easily wondering about the safety.

Anyone able to fill me in?

Hmm, yeah, I can see that being a bit disconcerting because a cattle prod looks exceedingly hardcore. However, balls and feet are on the "OK to zap" list for that toy - those spots are, like, really freaking mean....but not dangerous.

"Edge Play" (and what that is varies from person to person) does feel like something you should have proper training to do...but that begs the question, what constitutes proper training? I'm not going to answer that but to say that I feel like anyone playing in front of an audience has a moral responsibility to make sure that "unsafe" practices aren't demonstrated. This feels to me like a bit of a lapse in that regard, however, that's just how I feel about public play - I don't want to do something that could be viewed by an onlooker, who then might go home and replicate the act unsafely. If I were to have been the owner of the cattle prod (and this is all very easy to say from my critical standpoint here on a forum), I would have made mention, over and over again and decently loudly, "as long as its below the waist, its safe" - simply for the sake of the audience. Again, that's just me.

I participate regularly in a "sampler" event at a local space, and the woman that does electricity will use a cattle prod on anyone that's interested - but she always gives the proper preamble and makes sure its understood before she does the zapping. It doesn't have to be clinical, it just has to be understood - knowledge makes play more satisfying for a good many people, and I think knowledge is sexy.

I too, might well have felt a little uncomfortable about a cattle prod being haphazardly passed around and used without proper preamble on its use.

And another thing is that folks that do edge play need to remember the venue they're in and conduct themselves accordingly. For example, I do needle play, but if a scene is going to be potentially intense and bloody, I'll make every effort to do it off to the side, so that its not "in the face" of everyone, which gives people a way of not watching the scene. Things like blood and electricity can really strike deep seeded fears and issues for some people.

DBD, you've got lots of kink experience, so you probably have your own set of views on edgy play and public play and all that jazz. The same is true for lots of people reading this, I'm sure. This is just my viewpoint, and how I like to conduct myself, and how I like to see people I play with conduct themselves. Different strokes for different folks, however. And I do appreciate that you said this was a private event as well, which muddies things a little bit.

And wow, I totally love that you said "That led me to wondering about how many people have training about CPR". Ab-so-fucking-lutely. One of the best things a person can do for themselves to make themselves an asset, and also, give themselves important knowledge, is take CPR. I wish EVERYONE would.

I'm not a super expert, but a lot of it is common sense. Don't play if you don't understand what's going on, first off, and don't take this post as a concise course on what to do. And use electrical sources specifically designed for use on living creatures - this means, to me, homemade is completely NOT ok. There are three main types of electrosex type devices that you might run into in common use: Violet wands, TENS style units, and shocking units like a cattle prod or electric dog shock collar.

Violet wands are safe to use anywhere on the body, because (as I understand it) they're about surface shocks (the glass is electrified and is a poor conductor, so the electrity will take the opportunity to leap to your skin, which is a better conductor, but then that's it, because the source is no longer "feeding" the electricity) - except, you know, maybe not the eyelids, and not internally unless the attachment is very specifically designed for that. I could be off there, however, I haven't spent much time figuing out how violet wands work cause I don't have one. But they are for sure safe to use anywhere...and often look very dramatic. And feel heavenly...

Cattle prods are capable of delivering a shock potent enough to muck with your heart, so they're only safe to use below the waist (and, oh, they're SO DELICIOUS). The zap with a cattle prod or something similar happens when both sides of the unit come into contact with the skin - the circuit thus being a flow from one electrode, through the skin, to the other electrode.

TENS style units - like the nexus iStim, Erostek PES boxes, or regular therapeutic TENS units, are designed to zap very superficially - much shallower than a cattle prod would - and are safe to use (in my opinion) almost anywhere. You know those late night TV ads from "Dr. Ho"? That's a TENS unit. Dr. Ho sticks them all over chests...and even on heads! The thing to remember with a TENS unit is that no matter what the accessory - be they tens pads, or clamps, or devious devices, keep in mind the way you're completing the circuit - out one electrode, through the body, and into the other. For obvious reasons, you never want this circuit to include the heart, thus the "rule" with estim is "never across the chest cavity". Now this can get pretty complicated if you have a TENS style unit with two ports. Yes, this means go ahead and set up the pads (/accessories) in two different areas...but you have to make sure that there's no cross port currents that could go across the chest cavity. What I mean by that is you cant's set up one pair of tens pads on the front of your chest, and another on your back. I think the chances of something actually happening if you did this would be pretty slim, as these devices are designed to give very shallow shocks - but hey, safety first. Also, keep in mind electricity will always take the path of least resistance. And backing off to take an even safer stance, if you don't understand and insist on trying to play anyways, keep it below the waist.

It's seriously a world of fun I love playing with estim.

A lot of play parties will have the blanket rule of "No electrical play above the waist" some will include "except violet wands". But the real "rule" is "don't direct electricity across your heart".

DBD, what did you see, exactly? At the parties I've been to, people that are playing with estim toys are more than happy to explain how they're using them and how it makes sense, so I would recommend asking in a curious way - I know I love nerding it up and explaining what my mad scientist gizmos do. Just wait till their scene is over, of course.