The Weird Thrill of Play Piercing
How I converted a fear into a new skill
Play piercing is the act of temporarily inserting needles into someone’s epidermis. The “piercee” might enjoy this because they like the sensation, although some love hating it. Maybe they’re a “pain slut”—they get off on physical discomfort. Or the act of enduring pain, especially when administered by a hot dominant partner, leads them into a deeper state of surrender.
While play piercing is relatively popular in BDSM circles, it’s still considered “edge play” because of the risks involved. Blood is present. Infection is a possibility. Mistakes can be dangerous.
I learned to love these risks. But I wasn’t always a needle enthusiast. Here’s the story of how I, as a professional Dominatrix, learned to play pierce—and how this meant confronting my deepest fear of needles.
Learning to play pierce
I got into play piercing because of a client. An executive from San Diego, he proposed to drive up to Los Angeles for a session. I was game. He came across as respectful, a non-flake. The only problem was, he wanted to be pierced, and at that point, I didn’t know how.
But I was curious. I asked if he’d be willing to be my guinea pig. To my surprise and excitement, he said yes.
We scheduled a date to meet. However, now I had to figure out how to actually do this thing.
A friend in the scene connected me with an out-of-state supplier, since hypodermic needles were hard to come by in California at the time unless you were a medical professional. Then I turned to the internet.
It was the late ’90s, so information was limited. I managed to cobble together the basics: I’d need latex gloves, isopropyl alcohol to sterilize everything, surgical forceps (sponge clamps) to grip the skin, and a proper sharps container for disposal. You don’t just throw needles in the trash.
Still, I was terrified. See, I hadn’t told this guy I was afraid of needles—petrified, actually.
I couldn’t even watch my own blood being drawn. I once put off a routine blood test for three years because I was scared. When I finally went through with it, my cholesterol levels had spiked, and I had to go on a statin.
I had literally put my health at risk just to avoid a needle prick!
So, for me, learning to play pierce wasn’t necessarily a sexual thrill—it was a personal dare. Could I really slide a needle through someone else’s flesh if I couldn’t even handle watching someone slide one into mine?
The day of the session arrived
The client met me at the dungeon where I was working at the time—The Chateau, to be exact. He arrived in a suit, clean-cut and polite. He looked exactly like the kind of guy who worked in the upper echelons of the business world.
I led him to a room and instructed him to undress and lie on the bondage table. I didn’t tie him up, though—there was no need. This session wasn’t about restraint. It was about precision.
I wiped down the area and sterilized his skin. Now was my moment. He’d asked for his nipples to be pierced, so I gripped his nipple skin with the forceps, holding it taut.
My hand shook. My stomach churned. Could I actually go through with this?
The man had driven two hours to see me. I couldn’t back out now.
I took a deep breath and pushed the needle through. To my surprise, it went in like butter. No resistance. I removed the forceps, positioned them on the other nipple, and did it again.
This must be what bungee jumping is like. You stand on the precipice, miles north of the ground, intensely terrified of falling. Then you jump and the endorphin rush overtakes the fear.
This is what happened to me when I just went for it. I suddenly felt exhilarated.
I pierced his nipples with one needle after another. I was making him into my human pincushion.
I couldn’t believe it: I had actually conquered my fear.
Of course, this client never knew how anxious I’d been. He only knew it was my first time play piercing someone—and he loved that. It turned him on to be the one I was learning this skill on.
And I got off on proving to myself that I could really do this.
After that first session, I dove headfirst into play piercing
I added play piercing to my list of specialties and began offering it to other clients, those who were into different forms of torture. I pierced more nipples and a good deal of cocks and balls.
One client asked me to pierce his actual testicles—like, penetrate the gonad itself with a needle. Yikes! Another wanted needles in his buttocks—not the anus, just the flesh of his butt. When I asked what it felt like to be pierced in his butt, he said, “Strange.”
It was strange for me, too.
Nipple, cock, and ball piercing—now that I understood. But butt cheeks? That felt…odd. I couldn’t even tell how much pain he was in.
With him, the needle did meet resistance upon penetration. I felt it tear through tissue. It was a little gross. Very visceral.
Still, I found I loved play piercing overall. The ritual of it. The focus. The gloves, the sterilization, the forceps gripping the skin, the slow push of the sharp metal through flesh—it all demanded my complete attention. It snapped me out of the monotony of everyday life. It was somehow ceremonial.
Though I still can’t watch my own blood being drawn, I now have no problem piercing someone else.