Two men in pajamas kiss in front of a bed. One of the men is cuffed at the wrists with heavy leather buckles which are themselves attached to his thighs, where more leather buckles are closed over his sleepwear.
No doubt this is an interesting picture, despite being relatively tame. I like it because, in my mind’s eye, rather than imagine that the photograph is depicting something illicit or strange, I imagine it as being something aboveboard and commonplace. Although people’s attraction to taboo is frequently mentioned, I posit that the excitement of “forbidden fruit” is the icing, not the cake. By the same token, an image like this therefore reads to me as being about comfort, not restriction.
Sleeping in certain forms of bondage is actually very comfortable for me, yet I’ve done so on fewer occasions than I’d have liked to. (That’s partly due to the risk; it’s safer to sleep while tied up when you’re sleeping next to an unrestrained partner you trust.) In these instances, the bondage is not about eroticization, but relaxation. When I’m in a comfortable space and in the company of people I trust, being tied up can be extremely soothing. Why limit yourself by judging an activity (such as “bondage”) in only one way (such as “erotic”) when we’re often much more complex than that?
nice pajamas … but why is one guy’s hands bound behind his back?