Calling a spade a spade is all well and good, until you need a specific spade for a specific purpose; then you’ll need to learn what kind of spade is the best for your objective. The same is true of pretty much everything, including floggers. There are different types, styles, designs and sizes, and each variation is intended for a different purpose. Choosing one can be more difficult than a celebrity chef’s trip to the cheese isle at Tesco.
I just need to stress first there is no hard and fast categorisation system for floggers. There are no agreed regulations or set naming conventions, so please feel free to argue with this information in the comments section at the bottom. Hopefully we can reach consensus.
What Is A Flogger?
Let’s start with what usually defines a flogger. A flogger can be characterised as a hand-held tool consisting of a handle and multiple tails, used to delivery varying levels of sensations to a submissive in a spanking or BDSM scene. It’s the multiple tails that are important; that’s what really defines a flogger and makes it distinct from, say, a crop or a bullwhip.
I personally go a little more in depth and define a flogger by the way it’s used. A flogging is methodical, continuous and with momentum. A whipping on the other hand, generally consists of individual lashes while a spanking or a paddling consists of a number of short, sharp individual strokes.
I consider most kinds of Cat O Nine Tails, some knouts (if the tails are long), and even some birches as floggers, but don’t consider any implement with a single shaft to be a flogger, unless the single shaft splits into multiple tails and those tails are longer than the shaft.
Explanation of Flogger Terms
Here are the names of the constituent parts of any given flogger.
Handle
Quite simply, the part of the flogger that is held in the hand, and to which the tails connect. There are huge variations from flogger handle to handle: they can be bespoke, heavy, light, beautiful, fearsome, metal, leather, some swivel, some consist simple of fabric finger loops. The sky’s the limit.
Fall
The fall is the collective name given to all the tails together. For example, “this flogger has a 12 inch fall.”
Tail/Tails
This is how the individual strands of the fall are referred to. For example, “each of the tails in the fall is individually hand crafted.”
Stroke
How we usually refer to a single impact from a flogger. ‘Lash’ is also used, though it’s more common for lash to refer to a single impact from a whip.
Flogger
This can refer to the tool itself used to deliver the flogging, or to the person administering the flogging.
Florentine Flogging
Also known informally as ‘dual-wielding’, a Florentine Flogging involves two (usually identical) floggers, one in each hand, for faster flogging and twice the amount of strokes.
Fall Materials
We’ve already mentioned that the handles of floggers can be made of any number different materials. Well, the same is even truer of the tails. There are a huge number of different materials and combinations of materials, and each one has something unique to offer. Each one has its own characteristics and sensations.
Fur
Sometimes you’ll encounter a fur flogger. Unless you go to a real specialist, the fall will be made from faux fur. (A specialist will generally use rabbit fur.) Fur floggers are best for more sensual use, for being dragged indulgently over the recipient’s skin. It’s difficult to generate momentum but if you do, the contact will be more thuddy than stingy.
Horsehair
Made from real horsehair, this kind of flogger can help deliver a kind of scratchy feeling. If you’re accurate, then striking with the very tips of the hairs can deliver a gentle sting, which makes it great for more experienced users. A note though: if you’re looking for a stingy and scratchy horsehair flogger, opt for a narrower fall with less individual hairs: unusually, more hair and more weight actually prevent the generation of momentum in this instance.
Leather
This is probably the most common material for quality floggers, or at least it’s the material most commonly associated with flogging. There are a number of different types of leather for use in floggers; chamois is the lightest and softest and produces almost no sensation at all and latigo is by far the most intense and painful. Suede is one of the commonest leathers used for flogger manufacture, and we’ve dealt with that separately below.
Metal
Metal is a fascinating flogger material. Some floggers have a little metal in the tips of the tails to help generate momentum and increase the sting, and some have entirely metal falls. When they’re entirely metal, they’re usually metal beads strung together or it’s a chain. Metal produces a very heavy thuddy feel and should be used with extreme caution.
PVC
Thanks to sharp edges and an intermediate weight, PVC produces a very intense sting. It’s easy to leave long-lasting marks with a PVC flogger and in the right hands, it can be very sadistic. (Acrylic and other plastics are similar in performance, and often a little cheaper.)
Rope
Rope is traditional and somehow seems a little kinkier than other materials, though it’s usually not the thuddiest, the sting-iest or the itchiest. Frayed ends make for a gentler, more sensual feel while knotted ends can help be a little more severe.
Rubber/Latex
This is becoming increasingly popular because it delivers an extremely sharp sting with almost no effort. Longer falls can be very intense, combining thud and sting and a little itchiness all at the same time due to the coarse nature of the tails.
Suede
We’ve given suede its own section away from leather because suede is such a versatile and interesting flogger material. It’s very flexible, can be weighted differently, often has a smooth side to help it glide through the air and a rough side to deliver the impact, smells great, sounds great and hurts like hell. The sensation is usually thuddy, but if the tails are whipped so the tips make the impact or they wrap around on impact, they can really sting too.