This piece was postmarked August 1, 1996, almost exactly 20 years ago to the day. I came across it in one of my boxes of unpublished submissions, the envelope still sealed, which has almost never happened. Reading it for the first time, it seemed to me not necessarily dated, but very much of an earlier pre-electronic era in its documenting of the birth of a very specific turn-on. It also made me think about the very specific ways I acquired my own turn-ons and fetishes. I'll look forward to your comments.
By the way, do any of you remember the black-and-white movie he's talking about?
MY FANTASY AND HOW I BECAME HOOKED ON IT
I happen to know exactly how I became hooked on my special bondage fantasy. It all began with an old black-and-white TV show that I used to watch when I was a kid. I don’t remember the title, but the story was set during the Civil War and the heroes were a small band of daring reb raiders operating deep behind the lines of the Union army. Those guys had an “everything is fair game” attitude that made their adventures really exciting and a great fun to watch…
*
The small Yankee partol is riding down a country road cutting through the forest. Their commanding officer is a first-lieutenant with a pencil-thin moustache. He has five or six men with him, one of them a big sergeant. They all look very handsome in their blue uniforms complete with yellow scarves and white suspenders, just like US cavalrymen used to wear, if not at any time in history, at least in the movies, in the 1950s. The sun is shining and the guys don’y seem to be in any hurry. They’re ambling on at a leisurely pace, blissfully unaware of the presence of their enemies ready to pounce on them from the big oak trees overhanging the dirt path.
All of a sudden, the rebel yell is heard!
The startled yanks don’t have time to realize what’s happening to them, let alone of react.
Almost immediately, the lieutenant is lassoed from above, hauled up from his saddle in one quick pull, even as his men are being thrown down from their mounts by a dozen daredevils falling on top of them.
Absolute chaos ensues—desperate men slugging it out in the dust, helpless Yanks being overpowered by superior forces, nervous Rebs trying to take hold of jumpy animals.
As for the lieutenant, he’s hanging up there in a panic, his booted feet kicking wildly in the empty air about fifty feet above ground…
Soon, it’s all over, and the next thing we get to see is a bunch of guys in their long underwear being roped up all around a big tree. They’re gagged and their wrists are bound behind their backs. Most of them are clad in their two-piece long-johns, but there’s at least one in his union suit, a big guy bacing us. He must be the sergeant.
Only the lieutenant remains in uniform. The raiders need him to gain admittance into the Yankee fortress, because his voice must be recognized by the sentries. The rest of the Yanks have been stripped and they are being replaced by Confederate soldiers dressed in their uniforms.
Those stripped Yankee troopers look quite vulnerable and pathetic in their drawers and long-sleeved tops. They’re your typical Gis, clean-cut all-American types in their twenties. Only a few years or even months before, back home in upstate New York or Vermont, those guys were farmboys or college students, still living with mom and dad and their younger brothers and sisters. Then, the war came and the boys became men and soldiers, proud to wear the uniform of their country. Now, they’re back to square one: just a bunch of frightened boys in their undies being bound up together. The rebs who are doing the tying-up are experts at binding men very tightly and the poor devils are having a really miserable time with those cords biting deep into their flesh. They’re groaning and mumbling under their cloth gags. Mmmmmmmmm, Mmmmmmmmm, Mmmmmmmmmm…
But the one that really commands attention is the big sarge in his union suit. He is your classic bear, large, muscular, 230 to 240 lbs or so, about 6 foot 3 inches tall, and looking great in his buttoned-up one-piece long undergarment. His is a long-sleeved union suit, in some material that would seem to be red flannel (the movie was in black and white). I count the six buttons from collar to crotch, where there is a clear suggestion of a bulge. What impresses me the most about the guy, however, is the unique expression painted on his gagged and contorted face, a striking blend of powerless rage and deep humiliation. Obviously he wasn’t expecting anything like this when he joined the army. Or maybe he’s just fighting an irrepressible urge to pee…
*
We’re all human and we can easily appreciate what the poor devil and his buddies are going through here.
Firstly, and not to be underestimated, there is the sheer physical discomfort of bondage.
Let’s face it. Even in the hands of professionals, bondage is painful, especially if you’re bound in a standing position and you’re going to remain that way for a while. You don’t have the option that guys lying on the ground or bound up to chairs have of changing positions and maybe eventually finding one that’s comparatively comfortable to you.
Of course, the worst case scenario is a group scene, as here, when you have a bunch of men standing erect and tied up together. There’s always one smart dude who can’t stay put and who’s pulling, pulling, pulling very hard at his bonds (and yours) in some futile attempt to free himself or unloosen the ropes. If you’re fully clothed, that’s not too bad, but if you’ve been stripped and you’re in the nude or down to your skivvies, that’s living hell.
Secondly, if that’s indeed the case, and you find yourself in the great outdoors in the buff or scantily clad, all trussed up and gagged and thus unable to move, be warned that there’s a definite risk of catching a cold or worse. In a sense, our great-great-granddads were much better equipped than we are to face such contingencies. The only type of men’s underwear they knew were the 2-piece long-johns. Later, they had the union suits. (By the way, the sarge’s gear is anachronistic: American males didn’t start wearing combination long bodywear until some 40 years after the Civil War). Admittedly, these looked ridiculous and one wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing them but, in the cold and rain, I would prefer them to sexy scanties or jockstraps any time.
Thirdly, and most importantly, there’s the actual stripping.
Let’s be clear on this. Those Yankee troopers were anything but pure and innocent mamma’s boys, prime and prude. Maybe they had been that before joining the military, but not for long afterwards. From my Navy days, I fondly remember my first communal shower as the ultimate ice-breaker. You should have seen the blushing faces of some of those sweet angels, as they had to expose their family jewels to the general public for the first time… And yet, at that age and in such surroundings, modesty soon wears off, and, but a few days later, those same shy boys could be seen running around the barracks in their birthday suits without even thinking of it.
Having said that, no one particularly enjoys having his clothes forcibly taken off his back, and least of all servicemen and other uniformed men. The reason is that the uniform for those guys is their pride and their identity. To have that symbol of status and authority brutally removed from them in circumstances such as the ones described above is one of the most humiliating experiences that can be inflicted on that type of men.
Accordingly, in war and in peace, strippings have always been used as an instrument of power and domination to break the morale of the proud and strong. Upon arriving in the penitentiary, convicts are stripped naked as a matter of course, and they’ll be strip-searched numerous times afterwards. In war situations, POWs are often treated in similar fashion.
*
Bondage, as we all know, is largely a matter of taste and can take many different forms. Some will take it only in the shape of porn video. Others will be satisfied with artists’ impressions or still pictures. Personally, I do it in various ways, both in the flesh and in fantasy. For one thing, I collect all stories, in the form of movies and TV shows on video, as well as comics, novels, etc. that have a stripping scene, no matter how insignificant, built into the storyline. Needless to say, I especially enjoy stripping scenes in which the victims are proud uniformed me, soldiers, sailors, cops, rent-a-cops, etc. Whenever I can, I also like to act out some of these scenes with imaginative partners, either as a top or a bottom, sometimes with sex, sometimes without. When I’m top, I need a uniformed man that I can overpower and then strip down to his shorts before binding and gagging him. Guys “into uniforms” are OK, but they can’t replace the real thing. I had some of that when I was in the service, most of them gobs and fellow Navy officers, a few Marines and Army boys including one NCO on one unforgettable night. But more on that another time.
I find one for 1957, civil war, titled The Grey Ghost starring Tod Andrews
Posted by: Leo Devin | July 29, 2016 at 07:35 PM
Hill Street Blues episode, in which undercover detective Mick is uncovered ... cuffed to a pipe and gradually stripped, first his treasured boots ... and discovered naked by the rest of his squad. Hot little wiry guy ... wish I could find that one!
Posted by: David Calhoun | August 11, 2016 at 03:26 AM
David,
Episode 89 Season 5 "The Rise and Fall of Paul the Wall" (Maybe, it says he is kidnapped by bums and then abused)
That's all I could find in Season 5. I didn't really want to read the synopsis for all 146 episodes over 7 seasons but here is the link I found it in.
http://www.hillstreetblues.net/ep/guide.html
Posted by: Leo Devin | August 12, 2016 at 10:33 AM
Wonder Woman - Lyle Wagner was always getting kidnapped by Nazis, tied up and manhandled.
Posted by: Simon | September 06, 2016 at 04:37 PM