Playing with Fear: Empowered Navigation of Thrills and Risks
Explore the exciting world of Fearplay from both sides of the slash!
Zoom link will be sent an hour before class start time (Pacific Time).
This is a community support ticket to help those in need receive a discounted scholarship ticket. ❤️
Are you drawn to the thrills of fearplay, but unsure how to fully embrace the experience without causing harm? This two-hour workshop puts both bottoms and tops in the proverbial unmarked white van's driver's seat, offering an in-depth exploration of the unique needs, desires, and responses surrounding this kind of intense, edge play. We will delve into the diverse range of fear that can be created, from visceral phobic desperation to survival-based panic, awful dread, adrenaline-rush terror, and more!
In this class, we will explore how various fear responses can complicate communication and consent, consider worse case scenarios and how to recover, discuss how to best handle possible responses and reactions from all sides, assess risk for tops and bottoms, and examine how to address real trauma responses that may arise, sometimes intentionally!
Drawing from case studies, research, and the expertise gained from vahavta's ten years of bottoming to intense fearplay and involvement/connections in the worlds of extreme haunts and immersive horror, this class aims to teach bottoms to better empower their tops with all the necessary information to create heart-pounding experiences, while helping tops learn to read subtle (and not-so-subtle) cues and craft or adjust scenes to provide the level of fear desired by all.
By thoroughly examining potential risks and providing comprehensive mitigation tactics, bottoms and tops alike will leave better prepared to create a thrilling yet controlled fearplay environment based on mutual experiencing, risk awareness, and care.
vahavta began her kink journey about a decade ago and has been grateful to get to teach, play, and learn in communities in North Carolina, Chicago, St. Louis, and Israel along the way. Today, she serves in a 24/7 CNC-based Total Power Exchange with heavy elements of emotional play and service and is often found sporting large bruises, writing, or enjoying a good beer.
vahavta is disabled, international, and femme, and believes in approaching kink with a firm understanding of intersectional context. As an educator, she aims to give honest and risk-aware information that applies to the realities of human behavior, focusing largely on the "how" and asking people to consider their personal capabilities, interests, and readiness. Passionate about community collaboration, vahavta is proud to run the Risk Evaluation Database (RED) and contribute regularly to kink blogs and her own Fetlife writing index. In all aspects of her life, she strives to be a work in progress.