It would be remiss if, while urging you to yield to temptations, I did not also point out that avoiding a trip to the Emergency Department helps maintain the erotic atmosphere you have toiled so hard to create. Simple precautions can go a long way towards avoiding those inconvenient, expensive and sometimes awkward visits to urgent care.
• Don’t drink (much) and kink
• Know where the keys are – before the cuffs click shut
• Keep a grip on anything inserted
If you do end up needing to go to the ER, don’t delay from embarrassment, you are far from alone in accessing resources for sex and kink related mishaps. The London Fire Brigade started the Twitter hashtag #fiftyshadesofred, which details sexual mishaps and provides some suggestions for avoiding same. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission records injuries resulting from Massage Devices or Vibrators (no other type of injury, such as burns from wax or flame or musculoskeletal injuries from restraints are captured in the database).
The Washington Post collated the data from the CPSC and found in 2012, approximately 2500 people visited US Emergency Departments with sex toy related injuries, and 2013 saw only a small diminution in that number. From 2005-2013, 83% of these visits were for foreign bodies, the vast majority involving the penis, rectum and/or vagina.
In the Washington Post data set, a little less than half the patients are female, with an average age of 30 (the oldest male recorded seeking treatment was 85). Almost three-quarters of the injuries are treated on an outpatient basis, with the other quarter requiring hospitalization or transfer to a higher acuity facility.
From the 2013 data: PT USED A PENIS PUMP AND IT GOT STUCK ON PENIS. FOREIGN BODY, PENIS. 36 YOM
If you have a story about a BDSM mishap that happened to you or a “friend”, send your tale to kestra@kestragravier.com or through my contact form, and I’ll put together a post illustrating some of the experiences that typically don’t make it into the books. Anonymously, of course!