I was watching Taboo on the National Geographic channel yesterday, and I was really taken by a particular segment on ritual passage.

There was a segment on a tribe in Benin who practiced a whipping contest of sorts. They are painted and dressed to appear beautiful, in colorful paints and clothing. In order for the boys to become men in the tribe, they took turns whipping one another, being sure to keep their hands above their heads and to make no show of suffering as they took each blow. There were strikes to the chest and abdomen. Their grins were maniacal.

Though you may eventually be nude, or stripped down to basics [socks, t-shirt], do you put much effort into your dress before you're disciplined? Do you participate in role play and is dress a big part of it?

Dear Miss Tori,

I try to be neat and clean, but that's it.

If I am dressed in fetish clothing, I feel extremely self-conscious, become even shyer than I am ordinarily, and can focus on nothing beyond getting out of the situation and the clothing.

I know I'm in the minority, and perhaps one day I will get over it.

Respectfully,

Étienne

I think it depends on the person and how they feel in clothing.

I know that when I were something that makes Me feel strong, it shows. Even a basic pencil skirt and shirt with heels, or leather pants with a corset. I feel empowered and it comes from every pore in My being. Donning the clothing also has it's order for Me. Underwear, skirt, shirt, stockings, then heels. It's those little steps in the preparation that I enjoy.

When it comes down to discipline, I have a ritual to removing the clothing. Shoes off, belt unbuckle, pants pulled down. Then underwear. Then shirt lifted overhead or unbuttoned. Steps until they are at their most vulnerable and exposed.

When in a roleplay content, dress is highly an effort to put in. In that case, it is the clothes that makes the scene, as it has to be as real as possible. I had one the other day in which W/we meet in a laundry room. That means I am not going in there with latex or corseted, or high heeled. I went in with jammie pants, tank top and flip flops. Why? Because that is what I wear when I do the laundry, and no one else dons full leather in real life to wash their clothes. LOL

Switch Lydia