Figging is the practice of inserting a piece of skinned ginger root into the anus or the vagina of a person.
This method of physical punishment was first invented for disciplinary use on female slaves in Ancient Greece, later the practice was taken up within the Roman Empire, and it was unofficially used as a means of disciplinary punishment and humiliation for female prisoners within the British Empire during the Victorian age. The person subjected to this indignity was usually restrained in an immobile position to prevent them taking out the root themselves, as the sensation became increasingly intolerable. Nowadays it commonly refers to a BDSM practice.
The ginger, skinned and often carved into the shape of a butt plug, causes an intense burning sensation in the anus or vagina. The effect builds up to the maximum within two to five minutes and lasts for about half an hour before gradually easing while the ginger’s essential oils are depleting. The used ginger can be skinned further or a new one can be used for continuation with an undiminished effect on the subject.
If the person being figged tightens the muscles of the anus, the sensation becomes more intense.
The Venus Butterfly is a term used for various sexual techniques. For example, a sex act of this name appears in The Sensuous Woman (1969), a sex manual by “J” (AKA Joan Theresa Garrity AKA Terry Garrity). A different sexual technique but with the same name is the subject of The One Hour Orgasm (1988) written by Leah and Bob Schwartz.
The One Hour Orgasm: How to Learn the Amazing “Venus Butterfly” Technique, aims to teach readers how to perform this sex act. In the Schwartz variation either the woman or man is lying down, while their partner sits facing them with their legs entwined and a minimal amount of pressure (the “touch” of a butterfly’s wing) stimulating the clitoris, with the penis at the two-o’clock or ten-o’clock position.
It is suggested the clitoral shaft is kept steady with one thumb laid gently along and beside it, with the other thumb lying lengthwise just within the vagina but not moving deep within it. All of this is done using a lubricant. The light pressure continues using the same speed throughout until a peak is reached close to orgasm but not quite (although it can be continued if multiple orgasms are the goal), then the speed is slowed down even further or stopped, but very soon continued again and the person is brought back near orgasm or given a second or third orgasm. This orgasm control can be learnt over time with a particular partner. The technique can be sustained, “surfing” near the orgasm but stopping occasionally, for a very long time, hence the term “One Hour Orgasm.”
As described by writer and sex educator Sue Johanson in 2005, the Venus Butterfly is a variant on cunnilingus. It involves using one’s tongue on a woman’s clitoris, using one’s fingers on her vagina and using the other hand in the perianal area, “even penetrating the rectum [i.e. anus] if that is pleasurable for her.” This technique is referred to in the novel The Illuminatus Trilogy, written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson as “the One-Man Band” rather than the Venus Butterly.