>>>would hope that, much like a hypnotic state, Runaway Squirm evaporates if the action goes sufficiently off-piste, or accelerates so suddenly, that it violates the submissive’s underlying self-image or feels actually unsafe.
That's my (limited as much by circumstance as by my obsessive, ahem, ethics that I apply to casual play anyway) experience.
One more thing re squirm. There's I think more than just pain/pleasure-arousal ambivalence play here. I think meaning matters too, and I believe that many (dk what proportion) squirming masochists inject the whole bundle with "isn't it weird/horrible/perverted/fucked-up/brave/amazing/add-your-own" too. It's more than squirm fetish, it's a sauce for all this, or a third factor perhaps. That's why the top can feed the squirm not just by creating anticipation but by verbalizing those ideas. I used to think they were a form of mild humiliation play, but I now think that they emphasize the squirm. "It's not JUST that it's painful yet hot, it's also kinda-insane, if you were normal".
>>>would hope that, much like a hypnotic state, Runaway Squirm evaporates if the action goes sufficiently off-piste, or accelerates so suddenly, that it violates the submissive’s underlying self-image or feels actually unsafe.
That's my (limited as much by circumstance as by my obsessive, ahem, ethics that I apply to casual play anyway) experience.
One more thing re squirm. There's I think more than just pain/pleasure-arousal ambivalence play here. I think meaning matters too, and I believe that many (dk what proportion) squirming masochists inject the whole bundle with "isn't it weird/horrible/perverted/fucked-up/brave/amazing/add-your-own" too. It's more than squirm fetish, it's a sauce for all this, or a third factor perhaps. That's why the top can feed the squirm not just by creating anticipation but by verbalizing those ideas. I used to think they were a form of mild humiliation play, but I now think that they emphasize the squirm. "It's not JUST that it's painful yet hot, it's also kinda-insane, if you were normal".
Yes. Another factor - perhaps several - on top of everything else.
The brain doesn't really parallel process as far as I know, so the overall effect is a sort of Denial of Service Attack.