Recently, I talked with journalist Jake Hall (on twitter as @jakehallwrites) for an upcoming article, and I realized that it’s been almost exactly a year since their article on genital saline infusion came out! Both times, it’s been a delight talking with them about topics that fascinate me.
Did you miss that saline inflation article last year?
You can find it at the online sexual health resource Giddy: Why Are People Injecting Saline Into Their Junk?
As mentioned in the article, I’ve written about filling my labia with saline before, right here on this blog! Inflating my Labia with Saline tells about my first experiment with it. That post also has links to the videos I filmed, so that you can watch the process & watch me playing with my swollen flesh!
Want to read even more of my thoughts about genital saline infusion?
Here are my full answers to Jake’s questions, since (of course!) they couldn’t pack it all into the article.
What made you want to try labial saline injections?
I have a lot of curiosity to try new things and explore what bodies can do, and I enjoy clit pumping (and to a lesser degree, pussy pumping in general) so labial saline infusion seemed like a natural next step to explore. As a nonbinary person, it’s important to me that I own my body and modify it in any ways I find appealing- the idea that my genitals exist for my pleasure, rather than to conform to any gendered norm, is crucial to me.
What was your first exposure to genital saline injections as a kink, and how long did it take for you to take the plunge yourself?
I’m not sure what my first exposure was! I had been aware of scrotal saline infusion for quite a long time, and occasionally saw labia and breasts done as well. It was several years before I got around to trying it, in part because I was gathering more information, in part because I tend to always have a long list of new things I want to try, and in part because I wanted to wait until after a serious saline shortage had passed before getting saline for entirely optional recreational use.
You mentioned there’s not much info out there — do you think medical fetishes in particular are pretty misunderstood // under-discussed?
I think there’s considerably more information available for scrotum inflation than for labial inflation, because it’s a more common activity. There are probably a few different reasons for that- for one, I think a fascination with massive balls is more common, due to being seen as a metaphor for virility, than a fascination with huge outer labia! Also, this is often something people go to a professional dominant to try out rather than something people try with their partner in the bedroom, and people with testicles are more likely to go to professionals for kink experiences.
I think medical fetishes are somewhat under-discussed, but on the other hand, sometimes they’re close enough to actual medical procedures that medical fetishists have considerably more information available. Something like impact play is very common and thus has a lot of community knowledge available, but not much medical research on risks, and so you’ll sometimes hear kink community educators caution about impact over the kidneys but cite research about kidney injuries resulting from car crashes or major falls- not really applicable, in my opinion. On the other hand, something like catheter play is less common as a kink so there’s less community knowledge, but the medical research on risks and best practices is much more directly applicable.
You touch on it vaguely in the blog, but how did it feel? Was it painful / nerve-wracking etc, or did the pleasure outweigh all of that?
The infusion process itself was somewhat painful, and had some unusual sensations of pressure and temperature because my saline was room temperature rather than warmed to body temperature, but mostly it was boring and time-consuming! I think I’d find it more fun as a partnered activity- then it would feel less dull to need to hold still and wait.
Once my labia were as large as I decided to go, it wasn’t painful, just oddly heavy and wobbly. I found it fascinating and amusing more than directly pleasurable, but I definitely had fun playing around with the squish and jiggle.