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Just because you can’t show them on Instagram doesn’t mean you should be ignoring your nipples in other aspects of life.
Licking nipples, sucking nipples, pinching nipples, looking at nipples—everyone wants a slice of the nip action. And why not? Nipples are one of only a few prime, magical erogenous zones chock-full of delicious nerve endings that, when stimulated, can send you into a heated frenzy.
“Nipples on all bodies can be very sensitive, and just like all bodies are different, so are reactions to nipple stimulation,” Claire Cavanah, the cofounder of Babeland tells Glamour. “Some people can orgasm from it, and some people don’t feel much or even like it.”
We’ve got sleeves and cock rings for penises and vibrators and dildos for vaginas and clitorises, so doesn’t it make sense that there would be something for nipples as well? Enter the nipple clamp, probably the most underrated sex toy in the world.
If you’ve yet to consider the nipple clamp, just the name might conjure images of a dominatrix with a young man suspended on ropes, torturously using clamps to make him yelp in pain and pleasure—which can be hot! But it’s not the sole use of the nipple clamp. In fact, using them can be and experience totally devoid of pain, where they only increase sensation. As objects, nipple clamps can even be beautiful, handcrafted works of art.
It's also a whole new world of sexual adventure that's surprisingly easy to get into, once you know the basics. For instance, there are a variety of different styles—some are adjustable, meaning you move a small clip up the clamp to enhance tightness, while some use a screw to adjust sensation. Even others are straightforward clamps, like a clothespin.
And while putting them on is hot, things only get more interesting from there. “It’s when you take them off that the sensation peaks,” says Cavanah. “By restricting blood flow and then releasing it, you get a sharp rush of pain and endorphins.”
Sandra LaMorgese, Ph.D., an author, dominatrix, and CEO of Attainment Studios, tells Glamour that while the exact origin of the nipple clamp is unclear, they look pretty damn similar to sewing clamps used in ancient Japan. “The clamps were mounted to the tabletop, and they held the fabric in place so that the seamstresses could focus on the delicate work of sewing kimonos or quilts without their work sliding all over the place,” she says. Japanese sewing clamps have been used for sexual play for a long time and were the root design for Japanese Butterfly nipple clamps.
Historically, nipple clamps have been a tool to source pleasurable control. The first literary depiction of the nipple clamp was in 1790, in the controversial novel Justine by Donatien Alphonse Françoise, the Comte de Sade (who you might know better as the Marquis de Sade), which detailed stylized bondage and sadomasochism. Though his descriptions included a particularly intense form of sexual cruelty, the original use of nipple clamps were indeed intended to inflict sexual pain.
But don’t worry: If you’re not into the erotic pain, you don’t have to use nipple clamps that way. “Nipple clamps are designed to squeeze the nipple and create an ongoing sensation of pressure,” says Cavanah. “The pressure varies from light intensity to seriously intense. Adjustable clamps let you play with that pressure and adjust it for comfort and not so comfortable. They first create a pinching feeling and that fades to a dull ache.”
If you need more convincing that nipple clamps are worth exploring, there’s also a biological reason you might be into them. Many researchers believe that humans are attracted to breasts because the shape and size can indicate a woman’s fertility.
So why isn’t the nipple clamp more popular? LaMorgese tells us that just the term “nipple clamp” makes the entire concept a little more taboo than your average sex toy. “It’s incredibly direct and unabashed—nothing like the vague sexual euphemisms we can get away with in casual conversation,” she says. “It’s associated with pain, and many people are still uncomfortable (on the surface, at least) with the idea of there being any connections between pleasure and pain. It goes against our society’s traditional ideas of what sexuality should feel like and involve, so people are hesitant to talk about it.”
But as attitudes around sexual exploration are loosening up and more people are choosing to open the door to new erotic adventures, nipple clamps should get their consideration. Because no matter your sexual orientation, identity, preferences, or even your political affiliation, there is one thing on this green earth that almost all of us can agree on: Nipples are awesome.
Nips FTW.
