Subspace.
First night at a club.
"Subspace".
This word we use to describe the psychological (mental) and phsysical
state the submissive can - but does not (always) have to - reach as a
result of BDSM interaction. On the Internet especially you will a lot of stories and articles about "subspace". Most of these unfortunately got it deadwrong. This leads to a lot of confusion. For example "subspace" and orgasm are
often mixed up.
Science is still a long way away from fully understanding "subspace".
That's no big surprise, since very little - actually hardly any -
coherent scientific research has been done in this area. However, we
do know more than enough to be able to do away with many of the
misconceptions and misunderstandings.
Man or woman?
There is a big difference between the physiological (especially
bio-chemical) reactions in the male and female body. As a result, male
"subspace" is incomparable to female "subspace". Most importantly,
female "subspace" usually lasts a lot longer. The explanation for this
is in the fact that the male ejaculation (which is not necessarily
always the same as an orgasm) puts an end to quite a lot of
biochemical processes and - as a result - to subspace. On top of this,
female sexuality in general is very different from male sexuality. And
there is of course a major difference in the way, men and women deal
with emotions.
Orgasm or "subspace"
Quite a few submissive women confuse orgasm, or even strong (sexual)
arroussal, with "subspace" - simply because they have no personal
experience with orgasms. Global scientific research tells us that -
unfortunately - probably as much as one out of every three adult women
has never experienced an orgasm. There is no reason to assume these
figures any different within the BDSM community. In other words,
probably one out of each three submissive women does not know what an
orgasm is, hence cannot distinquish the differences between orgasm and
subspace and is likely to mistake one for the other.
Besides, there are different forms of orgasm (different orgasms, as
some prefer to say).
One thing we do know: having an orgasm while in "subspace" is
biologically next to impossible!
This is because the hormonal chain of events - leading to subspace -
is quite different from the one - leading to an orgasm. In the early
stages of the route to both "subspace" and orgasm these chains of
events are quite similar. But at some point along the way the body has
to make a choice: either go for orgasm, or go for subspace. One
excludes the other. In other words, whenever a submissive tells you he or she "was cumming like there is no tomorrow" that is exactly what has been happening. But, no more than that. There is nothing wrong with an orgasm. On the contrary in fact. But it just isn't "subspace".
The tall stories
The "Stages of Subspace" - as described on many Internet sites - do
not excist!
What has happened is that somebody, somewhere took the description of
the stages of the female orgasm, changed and twisted the wording a bit
and thought it looked good. Fact of the matter is, subspace does not
work like that at all.
Actually, while "subspace' is a state of being that develops gradually
during its early stages, it is not a neatly ordened, gradual, "phased"
development at all. The best comparison is to look at it as water,
building up behind a dam. At some point the dam will break under the
waterpressure and the next thing you know "all hell breaks loose".
That is exactly, what happens during the development of subspace.
Besides, the "road to subspace" is a different one all the time and
probably every time. Impulses and responses can change per day or even
per hour. This is because your body is receptive to all sorts of
impulses that have an influence on hormone production. This can be
stress, anxiety, uncertainty, fever or the effects of alcohol,
tobacco, nutrition, medication or drugs for example or, in the female
body, the influences the monthly cycle, possible pregnancy and
menopause.
So what exactly is "subspace"?
"Subspace" is a form of trance. Trance in its essence is a state of
being, different from your "normal" state of being. During trance your
mind excludes most of its input and concentrates on just one or only
very few impulses, completely disregarding all others.
There are many ways in which a trance can be induced. Prolongued
dancing for example, or hunger, prolonged physical activity.
Hypothermia, recreational drugs, high fever, lack of nutrition,
dehydration AND BDSM-activity all can induce trance. Just like
repeated physical activity (such as jumping from one leg on another
for a long time - a modern technique used by psychologists).
Trance is the result of hormonal activity. Hormones are substances in
your body, responsible for communication between the brain and the
cortex and the rest of the body ("blink your eye" is the result of a
mini hormone cocktail. So is "pull muscle" or ..... "fall in love").
Everything your body does (or does not) is the result of these usually
complex hormone cocktails. Hormones are being read by "receptors" and
the availabilty and functionality of these receptors is genetically
determined. That is why a hormonal reaction is not identical in
different people.
For "subspace" a group of hormones, called "peptides" is important.
Peptides are amino acids. Many look like morphine and have attributes,
that can be compared to morphine. And yes - although natural - they
ARE (to some extent) addictive! For subspace ENDORPHINS - a group of
such peptides - are an important ingredient.
Where does it start?
Both "subspace" and sexual arroussal start with ADRENALINE.
Actually, adrenaline is an incorrect name, since it assumes it is one
hormone. Actually, it is a combination of two hormones: adrenaline (in
biochemical terms epineprin) and noradrenaline (norepinephrin). These
twins are being produced simultanuously, but they serve different
purposes. Adrenaline - among many other things - makes certain that
extra nutrients (sugars especially) are transported to the muscles,
while noradrenaline (again among many other things) is responsible for
inducing vascular contraction, so the vains help the heart to pump
blood through the body faster.
You could say the adrenaline twins are your body's first response
team. As soon as anything happens that is different from what was - at
that moment in time - the normal situation, the body starts to produce
adrenaline. This happens in a split second and it brings the body to a
"higher state of alert". Ready to fight, run, jump out of the way of a
passing truck or ... to enter into an argument for example. Your
senses are wide open, information transport throught the body
increases and speeds up, muscles contract, the heartrate hightens and
muscles are being filled with whatever "fast food" is available. And
these are only a few of the processes, induced by the adrenaline
twins. Besides adrenaline is one of yor natural painkillers.
When your body decides it is time to produce adrenaline it does so,
based on the principle: shoot first - ask questions later.
In other words, adrenaline production is well under way before the
brain has had a chance to analyse the situation. The reason for this
is that the situation may call for a reflex action. And that is what
you want. You don't want your your brain to go like; "Wow, that's a
truck coming at me, what shall we do about that?" No, hopefully you
probably got yourself out of the way before you even realized the
thing was a truck. That is a reflex and the result of adrenaline.
The "kick"
Back to "subspace".
Adrenaline production started well before you conciously figured out
you were getting arroussed. As soon as the brain notices the higher
adrenaline concentrations have nothing to do with anything that
requires an immediate reaction it has two options. It can either step
down from the "red alert" phase and tell your body to go into
"business as usual" mode. Or - if the impuls that triggered the
increased adrenaline production persists without presenting any danger
or other alarming situation - it may decide to continue production.
Why? Because the brain like adrenaline.
The adrenaline twins can give your a "kick" (or a "high" as some like
to call it). It's the same "kick" you get from passing an exam, a
bungyjump or a dive in the pool on a steamy hot day for example. In
short, the "YES!" feeling.
Your body can producd increased adrenaline levels for about half an
hour. Oh, by the way, women can enjoy adrenaline somewhat longer than
men, usually.
FOR MANY PEOPLE INTO BDSM ....... THIS IS IT!
Nothing wrong with that. An adrenaline high as such can be great fun,
but ...... it's got nothing to do with "subspace". It is an adrenaline
kick. Fun, exciting, addictive is some way.
In other words, from anything like a 15 to 30 minutes "quicky" you
won't enter "subspace", but you probably will get an adrenaline high.
Oh, what most dominants describe as their "domspace" is very likely to
be an adrenaline high as well.
This provides us with one clear, recognisable and physical insight in
the different ways, people experience BDSM and it explains part of the
different forms of BDSM. Those who are after the adrenaline high do
just that and that's fine. But it is physically and mentally very
different from what we are going to talk about below. And the two
cannot (and should not) be compared. It's like baseball and football.
Both sports revolve around a ball and are played by teams in a
stadium. But that is where the comparison ends. Which doesn't mean
that baseball players are better or lesser sports people than
footballplayers. They're just different and their abilities - if at
all - should be compared to others in their own league.
Endorphins
The road to "subspace" is like a ladder. You go from one step to the
next.
Adrenaline is the first step. The next one brings us to a different -
much larger - group of hormones: ENDORPHINS.
One important note: there are other endorphin highs (such as the
"runners' high"). They are, although similar, very different from what
we call "subspace".
Endorphins are peptides too. They are a morphine-like group of
substances (so far science has identified 39 different ones), that are
relatively new to scientists. They were identified in the mid 1970s
and are called endorphins since 1975. In very unscientific words they
are known as "mood hormones", since they are responsible for our
moods, whichever one. Regardless if you cry, laugh, get angry, happy,
or sad or just bored .... all that is triggered by endorphis. They are
produced in countless different "cocktails" and, just like adrenaline,
work as a natural painkiller as well. They are also responsible for
car- and airsickness and vomiting in general.
To underdstand the "road to subspace" the following is important. Your
body HAS to produce adrenaline before it starts to produce endorphins
and the endorphins - that contribute to "subspace" a- re only first
produced after some 20 to 30 minutes. In fact they are the "next
shift". Within the endorphins group there are some hormones we call
"enkephalins". These do to cortex what endorphins do to the brain to
create "subspace" and both need to be present.
All hormones have a chemically incomplete "forerunner", but for
reasons of clarity and simplicity we will skip these.
To fully explain "subspace" science still lacks a lot of data. Too
many to pinpoint and explain the process precisely. But we do know
quite a bit. One important thing to understand "subspace" is the
recent discovery of different ways, in which the brain releases
endorphins. Besides the normal "through the proper channels" way (via
glands and the nervous system) there also appear to be small,
apparantly uncontrolled fountain like releases on the outside of the
brain. These have been photographed and filmed. These "endorphin
fountains" occur on specific occasions. Most parents will have seen
their young kid simply staring at a ball or some object without moving
or responding, but just looking at it - apparantly fascinated by its
color or shape. That is when endorphin fountains occur. Why they do,
science does not know yet. But we do know these fountains are
connected to the kind of emotional and physical responses, we call
"subspace" in terms of BDSM. These endorphin fountains also seem to
induce the "deer in the headlight" behavior. That is not fear, but
fascination. A probably more familiar similar reaction are the
LSD-trips from the hippie days.
Are we going to take a left turn, or a right?
--------------------------------------------
Here we reach a crucial junction. Once the endorphins production gets
well underway, there is a choice to make: are we "going into subspace"
or will it be an orgasm today? Remember, one excludes the other.
No one knows exactly how or why this choice is being made but -
remember, hormone receptors are genetically determined - at least some
of that has to be in the genetic code somewhere.
So, why is there such a crucial choice? Well, in order to follow the
hormonal route to an orgasm the body now will have to start to produce
a group of hormones called GnRH. These will eventually trigger the
production of yet another hormone (genadotropine), which induces the
production and release of steroids (the "sex" hormones). As soon as
the GnRH production starts the endorphins production slows down and
finally stops. In other words: no "fountains" - no "subspace".
Up to this point your body has produced quite a lot of these "mood
hormones" and that is responsible for the feelings of bonding,
attachment, affection, security and love. This makes sense, since
these emotions - in females especially - are a necessity for the
orgasm. This is what some people describe as "floating". No, that is
not one of "stages of subspace". Actually that is pretty general,
normal human behavior and quite necessary.
So, here is again a crucial difference in BDSM-experience - physically
and mentally recognisable: if there now will be an orgasm, that is
what you go for. And, orgasms are NICE! And very good to have. But
...... THEY ARE NOT "SUBSPACE". The bonding and affection emotions
however, can be a first step towards it.
Hallucination, trance and different levels of awareness
Now is where we can see the fundamental differences between "subspace"
and other BDSM-experiences (driven by other motives). If and when the
body decides not to go for the orgasm, but instead to go for
"subspace" we are getting to the "deer in the headlights". And also
the point where the dam breaks.
If endorphins production continues - remember, we still do not know
exactly why - trance and light forms of hallucination occur. THAT is
"subspace"!
Someone "in subspace" is easy to recognise from the outside. They are
no longer able to drive a car, or even a bike. They seem silent,
absentminded, slow responding, uninterested. In other words "not
really here". That again is not the same as the warm, glowy, dreamy
feeling after an orgasm. Somebody "in subspace" is "not on this
planet", so to speak.
"Subspace" is dangerous in some ways. People "in subspace" have very
different levels of perception and awareness. They will see a traffic
light as interesting colors that changes all the time. They do NOT see
it as a warning signal. To them, a house is a fasciniting stack of
bricks with intriguing patterns - NOT something people actually live
in. If you would slit the throat of someone "in subspace" they'd
probably tell you they'd consider that an interesting and fascinating
experience. They do NOT recognise the life threatening situation.
Someone "in subspace" is INTOXICATED! Intoxicated as in: under
influence of drugs.
If you have ever been given morphine for medical reason you will know
that morphine creates a colorful, happy, peaceful world without fear
or pain or discomfort. Endorphins in high concentrations create
EXACTLY THAT EFFECT.
SOMEONE IN "SUBSPACE" CAN BE A dANGER TO HIM OR HERSELF!
"Subspace" can last for anything from several hours to several days.
For the duration of "subspace" reflexes slow down severely (this is
the result of the slightly intoxicating effects of enkephalins on the
cortex) and much of normal, everyday logic no longer works. Someone in
subspace cannot make responsible, consensual decisions.
EVERYTHING THAT TRUE FOR PEOPLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL,
RECREATIONAL DRUGS OR MEDICATION IS TRUE FOR PEOPLE "IN SUBSPACE".
As said, subspace is easy to spot from the outside. Pupils widen,
responses slow down, appear illogical or simply do not occur. Food and
sustenance is no longer important, people hear you, but do not
understand you, they cannot find the right words and some submissives
even stop breathing temporarily. Someone "in subspace" - as far as
physical behavior and signals are concerned - is very similar to
someone, under the influence of recreational drugs. The trance itself
is important to them, feeds them and leads them. Nothing else matters
and that - for example - includes sexual arroussal. Colours, sounds,
scents are individual, seemingly incoherent experiences. if you have
never been here, you haven't been "in subpace" (yet). And that's fine.
it is just that "subspace" is very different from everything else.
Conclusions:
There are no "stages of subspace". There are however very different
ways in which people experience and respons to BDSM-activity. Much of
that is biochemically determined.
Orgasm and "subspace" are two different, biochemically largely
incompatible experiences.
Different biochemical reactions create different experiences (not
levels of experience!). One is not better than the other. They are
just different. it is important to understand these differences,
because the wants and needs are different.
"Subspace" is a form of trance and should be dealt with accordingly.
"Subspace" is not without risk. Thanks to Atlanta Dom for that article
First night at a club
I was a mixture of excitement and nervousness about what to expect from my first club. "Hades" seemed to be a good choice as I had read alot about it on the site and it seemed popular with a variety of people.
We arrived early (which fortunately enabled us the last parking space in the car park) and paid our £20 to get in. My friend adjusted her outfit in the changing area and as I handed my coat in at the cloakroom I suddenly felt rather underdressed in my skimpy outfit. As we mounted the stairs in the Colloseum, the butterflies in my tummy mounted too... but alas as we walked into the bar room and saw an array of colourful, kinky, bright, dark, outrageous and subtly dressed/undressed people smiling/talking/laughing I felt instant relief and excitement.
We wandered around to general friendliness, most people at least gave a smile, and some were friendlier than others if approached to talk to. I think as long as you are not too pushy you will have a good time, though it probably is a good idea to go along with someone or at least talk to people online first to meet up with there. I spoke to several people from online and it was great to see them in the flesh rather than visualising behind a computer screen.
If people asked to play and were turned down they left you alone, and all in all it was a liberating easygoing atmosphere (far better than I've experienced in any vanilla club).
There were a variety of chill out/play areas and equipment. It was fascinating to watch all sorts of play in action from flogging to rope bondage and needle play. It was good to see some people who were clearly experienced and knew what they were doing, it was like watching works of art.
Most people made a real effort with their clothing, and there was a real variety from pretty or sexy to sleazy or wild, uniforms, corsets, pvc, lace and some rather large todgers hanging loose...
Only downside were that the drinks were what I consider a little pricey (£3.80 for an alcopop) but maybe that is standard for clubs. Either way I had a great time and will definitely be up for the next one. If you've never been to a club and your thinking of going to Hades in the future, I would say definitely go for it!
Thanks to Chelsea for that article