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Sub-space | Sub fever | Sub drop
I have been going through some old information that I researched back in 2009 and saved on my external hard drive. Since we have a lot of new subs out here I figured this may help you all understand the different emotions that you get….I know it did me. I would love to give credit to whoever wrote it but I don’t know who that person was or where I got it. But they helped me understand a lot before I got into D/s-M. Enjoy!
I would like to discuss “Sub fever”, “”Subspace”, and “Sub drop” and aftercare. These issues come to light at varying points in our journey. Sometimes we have to look within to resolve and sometimes we have to look without.
Sub fever
“Are we there yet?” Everyone remembers the long car trips as children when you piled into the back seat with your siblings and your parents drove onward into the sunset. 5 miles into the 500 mile long trip you would begin the chorus of “Are we there yet?” Do you remember that? That desire, that frenzy to get to Disney land or Wally World now, not an hour from now, not a day from now, but NOW. Capture that frenzy and direct it towards your submission and voila you have sub fever.
Most people think that this only occurs in the beginning of your journey as you seek that first Dominant or Master much like a teenage girl seeks her first “love”. In this instance there is the “I have to have a Dominant NOW!” thinking, it’s a delirium of seeking your first taste of what you have secretly longed for since that first clumsy high school kiss.
If you are fortunate you meet someone that brings you down to earth and understands this fever. He may remember when he thought every submissive wanted to be naked at his feet begging to orally please him. If you are fortunate you will have this man (or woman) to guide you out of your fever. It may not be the first one you serve, it could be a mentor or friend but it will be someone who will help you see the realities of this life we live.
If you are unfortunate it will be after several relationships have crashed burned and you have met many of the Dominant archetypes. Maybe you have met “Headmaster” I will be your Master tonight as long as you give me head. “Insta-Master” just respond to his IM, email or simple greeting and he will expect you to fall to your knees as his owned slave.
Either way this frenzy dissipates in time and you settle into an easy pattern of yearning that is until you meet “Master Right”. Whether he is the right one for you or not is irrelevant because now you want it all with him and you want it NOW NOW NOW.
You want to feel his flogger on your skin, wear his collar at your throat, and you want to serve him until you both die (or until he becomes human).
Now if you are fortunate and have found Master Right and your relationship progresses into a comfortable, stable D/s relationship then you may encounter the next bit of frenzy I am going to describe.
The “I want more” syndrome this fever often hits in more stable, long term relationships. The D/s has ebbed and flowed and now it’s ebbed again and you find yourself longing for the days when the reigns seemed tighter, and he seemed quite simply more dominant. Believe me I know this fever. Sir has reminded me time and again that like all things D/s has its highs and lows.
This one may also require outside influence from none other than “Master Right” with luck (although you won’t see it that way then) he’ll bop you on the head and say pretty much the following, “Look little one life is in the way right now. Maybe when we have gotten through this phase in the rest of our life we will up the ante but until then GET OVER IT!”
“Sub fever” can occur amongst the newest of newbies and the most experienced of submissives.
Sub space
“Sub space” can be like a drug and once you have a taste it can become an addiction. When you are fortunate you can experience it with someone who can help you fly as well as help you land.
How can one explain something so weird and wonderful? And how can one explain what it feels like to leave that space without someone there to catch their fall (if needed, yes I know some do not need or want aftercare) if the person they are explaining it to doesn’t understand that space to begin with?
For the moment I am going to use a wikipedia definition. I have to say it is the single best definition I have ever scene.
Subspace (also sub space), in the context of a BDSM scene, is the psychological state of the submissive partner. The term is unrelated to the mathematical term subspace.
Psychological Processes
Subspace is a metaphor for the state the submissive’s minds and bodies are in during a deeply involving play scene. Many types of BDSM play invoke strong physical responses. The mental aspect of BDSM also causes many submissives to mentally separate themselves from their environment as they process the experience. Deep subspace is often characterized as a state of deep recession and incoherence. Deep subspace may also cause a danger in newer submissives that are unfamiliar with the experience, and require the Dominant to keep a careful watch to ensure the submissive isn’t placing his or herself in danger. Many submissives require aftercare.
Physiological Processes
During the scene, the intense experiences of both pain and pleasure trigger a sympathetic nervous system response, which causes a release of epinephrine from the suprarenal glands, as well as a dump of endorphins and enkephalins. These natural chemicals, part of the fight or flight response produce the same effect as a morphine-like drug, increasing the pain tolerance of the submissive as the scene becomes more intense. Producing a sort of trance-like state due to the increase of hormones and chemicals, the submissive starts to feel out-of-body, detached from reality, and as the high comes down, and the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, a deep exhaustion, as well as incoherence. Many submissives once reaching a height of subspace will lose all sensation of pain, as any stimulus causes the period to prolong. [I]
At this point it stands to reason that if there are psychological and physiological changes within the submissive during `subspace’ in context of the scene. When the scene ends it is unreasonable to expect someone to simply return to normal. Would you expect someone who has been drinking to simply become sober because they had their last drink ten minutes ago? Would you then expect that person to get into a car and drive away into the night? Would that be responsible?
No.
Sub drop
This is the reasoning for aftercare and in part the cause of “sub drop”. In my research I found several well thought out paragraphs on this on Wikipedia and would like to share that and then my feelings on the progression of “sub drop” because I do believe it has a natural progression like most emotional/physical states.
“Submissives can crave attention, and often the sub psyche feels that they have lost the massive attention which they had before (during the scene) from their dominant, and this can cause the unease, and charged emotions that may occur in a sub drop situation. Added to this of course, are the hugely elevated amounts of naturally produced hormones (endorphins, adrenaline etc) that are still flowing around the sub’s body. These may take some time to return to normal levels, and there may well be a withdrawal effect, too. The exact psychological impact various from person to person and the interplay between mechanisms is not well understood. All of the information on this subject is anecdotal.”[ii]Aftercare can prevent “sub drop” but not always. Why not? Well lets continue the drinking analogy…have you seen the recent ads about “buzzed driving”? A person who is “buzzed” may say I am ok to drive. I’ll be fine. In truth they are not. They get behind the wheel and can cause a terrible accident.
This can be true in subspace too. You may feel that you did not go that far in (or the dominant may) but in truth the scene triggered something, anything…a childhood memory, a past relationship issue, your deepest fears or darkest desires and an hour later, a day later you feel it.
An example I will use to personalize this mental state is as follows. After a particularly intense weekend with Sir I felt the drop. I was fine when I left his house but suddenly the next day at work, I was out of sorts, I couldn’t function, and I needed HIM. It was plain and simple he could not text back, call back or anything fast enough to please me and the growling NEED I had to hear his voice or feel his touch. I tried to explain it to him in a jumble of words and he understood (what can I say he’s a smart man) and said “Ahhh I see.” with a knowing tone. That night he put me at his feet even though we both had other things to do. I sat there near him, he all but ignored me watching a movie but I had him nearby and I felt my equilibrium return to normal.
In a time where that was not possible he talked me through it over the phone. He put on that “dominant” tone and I felt the submissiveness come back and calm me like a familiar friend.
I feel there are stages of “sub drop” in my opinion they are frenetic, depression, and self flagellation.
There is the frenetic. This I liken to dieting. Don’t laugh. Think about it and you will realize it is apropos. You are on your diet and suddenly you start thinking of chocolate, sweet tasty and wonderful chocolate and it is all you can think of. How chocolate tastes on your tongue and melts in your mouth and the sticky sweetness left on your fingertips if it melted a bit from your body heat. Now imagine a few days of being at your owner’s feet and then suddenly you are at work.
Now it’s all you can think of is HIM. You want him by your side NOW. That’s the frenetic stage. For some it can be staved off here by a phone call and hearing his voice.
The next level is the depression. It is the endorphins dropping and your body settling maybe some ache and pains form that scene kick in. You are out of sorts and a bit confused as to why. I relate this to a returning to work after a long vacation. You were out there having fun in the sun and all of the sudden you are back in your dark dreary office. Not pool boy named Sven serving you Mai-Tais with pink umbrellas its back to the office drudgery and the mail boy named Norm. You feel out of sorts, Blah, and just generally in need of something. you just don’t know what. What you need is him to make you feel balanced. You need his attention.
Last stage is self flagellation; hallmark statement “If I was a good girl I would just be grateful for the fun I had. I am being selfish and clingy and….” You can fill in the rest.
This tends to happen amongst those whose D-types do not show the proper sympathy for this experience. Or if the s-type wants to put on a brave face because we are here to serve to please is so ingrained she feels she is being a burden to her Master by needing his help. Whether it is lack of understanding on the D-types part or a lack of communication on the S-types part I do not know. I do know that if you do reach this point once you are better settled you need to ask yourself why you got there. How you got there. Be honest with yourself so that the problem can be resolved BEFORE you are there again.
Before you push the big red button of self destruction you need to pick up the phone and say the following words. “Master I am experiencing sub drop. Help please!”
And hopefully you will hear a wise and wonderful person on the other end say “I know just what to do.”
Aftercare
This brings me to aftercare the components of which can be used immediately after a scene or in instances like this. I found a fair description of aftercare for those who are interested.
“In the context of the sexual practice of BDSM, aftercare is the process of attending to an s-type (submissive, slave, bottom, etc) after intense activities of a physical, and/or psychological nature relating to BDSM activities. Aftercare goes above and beyond any possible necessity to treat and/or clean wounds (contusions, abrasions, punctures, lacerations, etc) from blood play or other BDSM practices.
After an intense “session”, an s-type may be incapable of, or have real difficulty, moving without assistance, or communicating their needs clearly, thus requiring another to provide for her/his care (blanket, hydration, cleanup, food, rest, etc). These experiences can be (and usually are) exhausting, depleting the s-type’s internal resources (physical, mental, and/or emotional). As a result, frequently the s-type requires emotional support, comfort, reassurances, and/or physical tenderness. Along with this, he/she may experience everything from an exhilaration to traumatizaton (though every effort should be made to avoid the latter result, not “crossing the line” from sensory stress to actual damage and/or lingering unwanted effects to the s-type). It also includes a review or “debriefing” of the activities from experiences of both the D-type (Dominant, Master, Top, etc) and the s-type. How soon this should occur, after such a “session”, will vary, but should not be ignored, or omitted.”[iii]
I remember the first scene I ever did with my Sir. My knees were Jell-O, my legs filled with water, my mind was flying free. He wrapped me up in this blanket and held me. It felt like hours that I lay there curled up between his legs with his arms around me. It seemed like hours until I could form simple words instead of nod my head. It was probably more like minutes. Yet if someone had not held me I would have literally fallen to the ground. If someone had not wrapped me in a blanket I would have experienced some variance of shock.
He has always held me. He has always brought me down slowly and on the odd occasion when I needed more. He has been there.
Now before I continue I want to make this clear not everyone needs as intensive aftercare. Some people are fine with a hug and a pat on the ass but I feel that those people are in the minority. The majority of people do need more and they need to realistically know what that more is.
You need to be able to ask yourself some honest questions and be prepared to say to him that this is what I need to be ok. So what do you need to be ok and how can you make yourself ok?
Some questions I would recommend are.
How do I feel after a scene?
Am I hot or cold?
Do I feel thirsty?
Do I feel like being alone? Do I prefer to be held?These are just some starter questions but honestly assess your reactions and they will be better able to tell you what kind of aftercare you need.
Also be prepared for this to change. People change over time and you may need more or less aftercare as time goes by. Just as with all things take time to reassess your feelings as needed.
“Sub fever”, “”Subspace”, and “Sub drop” and aftercare are a part of this lifestyle. They can be exciting and they can be scary. There are no set answers to what they are or how they can be handled. As with many things in our lifestyle the answers are very subjective. The key to finding those answers is communication and honesty. You need to be honest with your D-type but just as importantly you need to be honest with yourself.
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