THE FUCKING SAFETY VALVE
All these rules support one goaclass="underline" for the Top to get the bottom to the point where she can say up in her head, I know I’m safe and this isn’t real, but what if it is? I call this the safety valve because it allows the bottom to control the amount of fear he wants to experience. Not excited enough? Let yer head drift over to the What if it is real? side. Starting to freak out? Slide back down to I’m safe and this isn’t real.
This safety valve mechanism is crucial for a successful mindfuck. If you leave out either part of it, it all falls to shit. If the bottom is sitting there only thinking the first part, I’m safe and this isn’t real, then there’s no fear, no fulfillment of fantasy, no test of faith. It’s just another scene. Fun, maybe, hot, maybe, but just another scene where we’re all safe and playing hard but nice. At the same time, fuck, you’re screwed if all you remember is the second part, but what if it is? If the bottom gets stuck on the idea that it’s all real, you risk real panic. And panic, let me say again, is a really, really bad thing in a scene.
The good news is that it’s not that hard to get the valve working. That’s what the rules are for. Control the Info to leave enough doubt to activate both sides. Remember that Less Is More, and the bottom’s head can do all the work, sliding up and down the scale of fear as needed. Deliver and Maintain, and everyone involved can ride that mindfuck for as long as you all want.
SOME FUCKING METHODS
Part of what the rules remind us is that all mindfuck is really self-mindfuck. If you’ve done any play with hypnosis, this might be familiar to you. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, all mind control is self–mind control. As a mindfucking Top, all you need to do and all you want to do is create the context for this self-persuasion to happen. I’ve got a few methods to help you out with that.
First: Ask questions that prompt contextualized thinking. Ask questions that get the bottom’s head in the right place. For example, in a fear-based mindfuck you might have a verbal script peppered with questions like “Who will miss you most when you die? Will they remember you? Did you say goodbye? Did you say you’re sorry?” In a fantasy-based mindfuck you might be asking, “How will it feel to be turned into a cigar? Do you ever think about what it would feel like to be lit? To feel the heat consuming you?” And in a faith-based mindfuck, the questions are serious shit: “Will you trust me with your life? Will you do anything for me?” Ask the question, and the bottom’s brain takes over. It answers it. It fills in the gaps. It makes the magic happen.
I call my second recommended method “LILO,” which stands for “lie in; lie out.” (Any coders out there reading this? Recognize it? Remember GIGO?) This one’s pretty simple: if you manipulate the information going into the brain, it will make decisions consistent with that information. Obviously this method has a lot to do with both the Control the Info and Less Is More rules. Manipulating sight and sound is part of this technique, but it also involves useful lies like using a replica gun, switching their clothes for larger clothes in a shrinking scene, or just holding something sharp on the balls. Here’s my favorite example of LILO. I did this mindfuck class once where I pulled a victim from the audience and had her holding a small baggie with a little stick in it. I told the whole class about my recent experience with poison ivy (true), read aloud a whole bunch of shit about how nasty and pervasive the active ingredient is (true), talked about how it fucking drove me crazed to feel that itching (true). Then I put on rubber gloves and took out the stick, holding it very, very close to my victim’s skin. She was freaking out, especially when I finally touched her tits with it. Only then did I tell her it was some twig I had found outside the hotel—not poison ivy at all. Lie in; lie out.
Finally (and easiest of all), use silence. Silence just about equals mindfuck. It can be eerie, discomforting, and disturbing. For one thing, it deprives the brain of aural information. For another, we all know someone’s guilty when they plead the Fifth. Remember, the real psycho killer doesn’t tell it to rub the lotion on its skin. The real one doesn’t say anything at all. Just looks at you. Freaky fearful fun, that.
THE FUCKING DYNAMIC
Now, the easiest way to put together all these rules and methods is to think of mindfuck as a kind of theater or performance sex. This means you need to think about plot, setting, props, characters, movement, and climax.
Plot’s a biggie because every mindfuck has a plot. The plot guides the events, structures the dynamic, and suggests the arc of the scene. The plot needs to be discussed but not scripted—there should always be room for improvisation. What’s great about plot is that we live in a culture of stories. That means that for any given plot in any given mindfuck the bottom already knows how it ends. And, because they do, that’s where their head goes. The moment you invade their home, they’re thinking about the rape. The moment you pull out the gun, they’ve already been shot. Thus any plot can be used to “make them mindfuck themselves.” But more basically, the plot lays out the scene.
Setting is important, too, but dammit, setting is tricky, because it’s often hard to get it authentic. For example, I don’t know how things are where you live, but by me all the best abandoned warehouses have already been converted into very trendy lofts. When it comes to setting, sometimes you just have to do the best you can—and sometimes that turns out to be even better. For example, I once played with this Jewish guy who wanted to be the kike to my Nazi. I thought about investing in the big swastika flag and all that; I even looked at a few online. But man, I knew if I bought that online my name would end up on some interesting lists—not just with the government but with some scary-assed companies. So, instead, I printed out a bunch of pages from White Power websites and highlighted some key passages. When the kike arrived, this material was lying on the coffee table. And you know what? It worked even better. Let’s face it, Nazis today don’t live in some freaking Reichstag. They live in apartments and condos and suburban houses. It ended up being a more realistic setting and the scene was fucking hot. Less Is More, you see?
Depending on the mindfuck, props can be really important too. Sometimes these are easy. Want someone to think you’re making them shrink? Give them clothes to wear at the start of the scene and have the exact outfit two sizes larger waiting for them at the end of the scene (all tags ripped out, of course). In a case like that, props make the scene. In all cases, consider what would be appropriate, and then also consider what can be approximated. Like good theater, believing can make something real. For example, one year at IML this guy in the lobby was totally freaking because a bud of mine was in uniform and had a plastic gun. The guy knew it was plastic but it still freaked him out. Control the Info, my friends. Replica guns look and feel very real. (They’re great for pistol-whipping, too.)