INTRODUCTION

Canes have a deserved reputation as The Victorian Terror Weapon. To most submissives, they mean severe punishment; to sensation-seeking S/M bottoms, overload. If we have care and patience, however, canes can be used in a loving and sensuous way. The very stiffness of a good cane, that makes a hard stroke so intense, allows the lightest taps to be given with perfect control. And a light canestroke is easy to aim, unlike a flexible whip that sags and flops at low power. In the kind of sensuous play I'm describing here, light strokes are far more prevalent and important than heavy ones.

This style is a matter of trust, patience, and finesse. If you can't gain, maintain, and deserve the bottom's trust, the whole thing is probably going to fail, or fall far short of what it could be. As for patience, don't even start a scene like this unless you have at least an hour available, and two is better. Finesse? Well, on two occasions bottoms have gone to sleep while I was caning them. They woke up black and blue, and giggling. That's finesse.

I'm not bragging, and I'm not saying I'm some kind of Caning God. It's learnable. That's why I'm writing this.

As a community, we are able to pool our resources and knowledge and experience things that we are unable to as individuals. Occasionally, MauiBDSM arranges for world renowned educators in the BDSM community to travel to teach classes on Maui, something some of us would only be able to attend by traveling to the Mainland. There is also the added pleasure of being a part of a group or Ohana that we can relax and be ourselves knowing that most believe in "my kink is okay, your kink is okay"

It's a comfort to be able to talk with someone about the things we do without watching them run for the doors, so to speak, and know that they support us as part of the ohana. In a group, there are safety nets in place. There is an overall safety of being around others in public play, knowing that playing with someone in private, you have to depend on your instincts entirely to know whether the other person is an honest to goodness fellow kinkster or something all together darker. Leaders within the communities take the time to personally meet and get to know each member so that they can feel well knowing that everyone is safe, will play by the rules of the community and public play spaces and treat each other with the respect and understanding we all deserve.