China’s Fledgling Rope Bondage Community Struggles to Break Free of Censorship

“Head, shoulders, legs. Huahua leans into her subjects while she binds them, making sure to never let the rope go taut. Her shears—a safety precaution—rest on the floor nearby. She never rushes to the final pose. The slow precision builds anticipation; tight ropes maintain the intensity. When suspending someone from a hook mounted in the ceiling, she uses her full body as a counterweight to lift them up. Huahua, who requested that only her first name be used in this piece, holds Wednesday night rope classes in the backroom of a sex shop on the fifth floor of an old French Concession building in Shanghai.”

This Slate piece by Daniel Rechtshaffen explores the role of censorship and how its stunting China’s fledgling rope community. Find the full piece here.