Douglas Kent (2)

There was a bunch of talk in the intro about the kind of body one must have to be a good rope bottom, which was honestly offensive and outdated. The implication being that if one's body doesn't fit into a specific category, that category being non-disabled, non-fat, and non-cis female, then you can be a rope bottom, but you'll be a burden to your top. Give me a fucking break. The only necessary portion was a mention of flexibility (and relevant only to the specific poses depicted in the book).

Ignoring that, the book itself was kind of unreadable. The symbols used were often too similar and sometimes color-coded, which isn't colorblind accessible. The use of symbols made for a confusing read where one has to flip back and forth from the page with the finished tie to the symbol legend page to the page with the specific tie, movement or friction indicated by the symbol, all while trying to tie a rope to you or your bottom's body. Perhaps if the author were so committed to full-color and minimizing the page count (and thus the dreaded symbols), they could have included a poster with the legend and the depicted meanings so that one is not expected to either have 8 hands or memorize a section of ties and frictions without any context.

Lastly, the model for every finished tie is white against a white studio background with a bright light on them using a flesh-y toned jute. I think you can see where I'm going with this. While there's some evidence that dyed jute has less tensile strength, it's not unsafe to use in the "Land" specific text. Just saying, it's confusing and kind of silly.

Save your money and check out the classes at shibaristudy.com. I avoided it for a long time because the price is pretty steep, but it's so comprehensive, inclusive, thoughtful, consent-oriented, and primarily taught by femmes. For real, there's like a 15 hour series with Midori (Sex educator and Queen of shibari) on consent, and Anna Bones' Basics series is also just... so incredibly thoughtful and well-taught. Shibari Study has literally everything rope and rope-scene related that I could ask for.… (mehr)