Erotic furniture, mostly invented in ancient times, has become an undeniable part of our world's art heritage. It works in three distinct planes: the utilitarian (facilitating pleasure), the sexological (arousing desire), and the artistic (offering visual pleasure as an object in its own right). In this series of articles, A Brief History of Erotic Furniture, I explore the story and evolution of different types of erotic and sex furniture, examining how various artists have incorporated them into their work. This particular article is dedicated to sex swings.
Fig.1 "The Swings " (mid 1810s) by Thomas Rowlandson (commons.wikimedia.org)
Fig.1a
Types
A sex swing is a specialised piece of equipment designed to suspend one partner whilst the other remains free to move. Most sex swings feature back support, a seat for the buttocks, and leg stirrups that can be adjusted during use. Sex swings go by various names: swing is often replaced with sling, whilst sex may be substituted with love, fisting, or anal (the latter two reflecting their primary purpose). You might encounter this item under titles such as sex swing/sling, love swing/sling, fisting swing/sling, anal swing/sling, and so forth.
The main distinction between a sling and a swing lies in how each supports the body. Swings generally consist of a seat belt, shoulder belt, and foot loops, whereas slings offer multiple support points (typically for the back and head), making the position more comfortable for the person lying down — though this limits the range of ways the device can vary your sexual activity. Slings may come as part of a separate platform with free-standing frames (attached to a purpose-built structure), be suspended from the ceiling via a connecting crossbar and hook, mounted to a door (the so-called door swing), or even worn by your partner (body sex swings).
Here are some examples of what they look like...
Fig. 2. Reclining Missionary by Alexandra Folino (Menshealth.com)
Fig. 3. Door sex swing. Sexy Slave Shop, Amazon
Fig. 4. Free-standing sex sling. Boutique Erotic Shop
Fig. 5. Leather sex sling. (sextoyland.nl)
Fig. 6. Luxurious sex sling. Lonesome Dragon
Fig. 7 . If you have enough imagination, you can fashion do-it-yourself swings and slings. For inspiration, look to the frontispiece from the 1787 book La matinée libertine, ou, Les momens bien employés (The Libertine, Morning, or, Moments Well Spent)
Fig.7a
Roots
Like many other items, this one was invented in India — it came from ropes that were used to make sex positions from the Kama Sutra more suitable for less athletic people. It makes sense: just look at the pictures depicting some Kama Sutra positions and you'll find it really is more comfortable to attempt them with some sort of ropes and bindings.
Become a Premium member now and check out the extended version of the article including a review on a "swing" work by the notorious BDSM photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, more on the arousing effects of sex swings, some of what the author considers the most compelling "sex swing" installations, and MUCH more...!!
C;lick HERE for the raw and liberating portrayal of the gay S&M scene by Robert Mapplethorpe
Let u know your thoughts about this "Sex Swings" article in the comment box below...!!
