Ask Baadmaster

I had written about medical play previously on kink weekly. But this question caught my eye as it is time to re-examine medical play in the light of the covid-19 pandemic. 

Reader: My Domme and I are interested in exploring medical play. We’ve read all about the safety aspects, but we’re curious about the types of different play out there and what your favorite is?

One of the great things about medical play is that you can make it as life-like as you desire.  For example, you can construct an “examination room” pretty easily.  Since medical play is basically role play (“Say ahhh…!”), it is really neat to have a good faux doctor’s office as your playroom.  

Making an examination table is simple enough.  Some white sheets on any old table will do.  If you wish to get elaborate, you can improvise some extensions and leg stirrups.  Once you stock a table with lots of medical stuff  – aspirin, bandages, alcohol, swabs, ahhh sticks, cotton balls, a thermometer (rectal preferably!), a prop prescription pad, etc. – you have the makings of a true “doctor’s office.”  And do not neglect lots of hand sanitizers.  Never before has sterility been so important in BDSM play.

Next step:  the white smock.  (Maybe you can get one at a Halloween close out!)  Put a nametag on it (Dr. Feelgood, perhaps?) and you are good to go.  Or get a nurses’ outfit if that is your scenario.

The fun in medical play is that the Dom/sub dynamic is built in.  The doctor is, by definition, the Top.  When a real life doctor says, “Get undressed,” or “Bend over and spread you cheeks,” you do as you are told.  This, of course, continues in BDSM medical role play – without the ethical constraints of the real-time doctor/patient relationship.  Here the “doctor” can examine you to his/her heart’s content without any restrictions — other than hard limits negotiated beforehand.  I believe this is one reason that medical play is so popular – even outside the BDSM world.

As to what is my fave, needle play is a personal favorite of mine. 

Needle play in a medical scene is a natural — although needle play is not solely done in medical scenes.  Often called “play piercings,” these are temporary, not permanent, piercings. 

In any medical scene with needles, your approach to sterility should mirror that of an actual doctor.  Sterility is essential, from the needles you buy to the play areas in your “office.”  When you buy your piercing needles, some medical supply houses offer ethylene oxide gas sterilization.  Ethylene oxide gas sterilization is an effective way — equivalent to autoclaving — to sterilize most medical play items.  All needles, scalpels, Wattenburg pinwheels, metal speculums, etc., should be sterilized using this method.  Once sterilized in this way, the items are sealed in plastic and are germ free until you use them  (Always use needles ONCE and throw them away as medical waste.)

Before you start your medical play-piercing session, wash your hands thoroughly with a hospital quality anti-bacterial soap.  (Seventy percent isopropyl alcohol is the CDC standard for anti-virus.)  Latex examination gloves should be placed on both hands immediately after washing.  The submissive’s skin should also be toweled with seventy percent isopropyl  alcohol wash to kill any residual skin bacteria and viruses.  You should have all these products on hand, neatly arranged on your medical table, so that the doctor role play and the sterility precautions you are taking merge seamlessly.  Here is a great area where real life and role play completely intersect.  As in any doctor/patient relationship, the “patient” should make sure that the “doctor” is as doctor-like as possible – or leave the office!

Although I might have gone overboard on sterility issues, keeping play germ-free is essential whenever medical scenes are being done – especially in this covid-19 world.  After all, if you go to a dirty doctor’s office, would you want him/her to examine you?  (Depends on what you mean by dirty!)  

Nevertheless, as sterility is so important nowadays, please don’t mind if I get a little annoyingly redundant. 

About the Author

After a ten year run as head writer for the legendary bondage.com, and an equally long run as the host of the hit internet show “Baadmaster’s Dungeon,” we are pleased to welcome the one and only Baadmaster to KinkWeekly. His thoughts about all things BDSM will now appear regularly on these pages. From the mental aspects of D/s to the nuts and bolts of S&M play, Baadmaster will cover every facet of this ever expanding lifestyle.