Like a Spider’s Web

My friend Sylvia is weird. Not because she’s a lesbian, that’s not weird anymore, but because she’s obsessed with spiders. She’s an artist. She does sculptures, performances, and Shibari. On the stage, she calls herself “Arachne”, like the Greek mythological character. Most importantly, she knows how to do these incredible webs that really seem as if a spider made them. Actually, they look like a spider’s web.

Sylvia has always liked me, but I’m straight. Simple as that. If she prefers women, that’s fine by me, but that’s just not my game. She understood right away. She’s even good friends with my boyfriend. However, understanding doesn’t mean quitting, at least not in her vocabulary. She calls me her muse, and says I am her inspiration. Frequently, she asks me to perform with her, and pays me generously. At first, my boyfriend didn’t like it, but when he saw that Sylvia is a professional who always respects our previously negotiated limits, he calmed down. Besides, we spend the money together.

I think Sylvia enjoys putting me in such a vulnerable position and then not taking advantage of it. That’s part of Shibari: hugging through restraint, dominating without hurting, having without possessing. She says that she’s actually the one who gets the worst torture: having me so close and vulnerable without having permission to have her way with me. But, at the same time, she says that’s her biggest pleasure.

The last scene she did with me was spectacular. She must have used dozens of meters of red rope. She created a web spider that was several meters long, and then she hanged me in the center of it, as if I were the prey. We showed the scene at a gallery, and it was a total success. Everybody said ot looked like a spider’s web.

I don’t know. Maybe one of these days I’m gonna let the spider bite me.

This is my Shibari story.