Figging is the BDSM practice of inserting a piece of skinned ginger root into the human anus to produce an acute burning sensation. Historically related methods were used as punishment; modern kink adopted the technique as consensual sensation play. The English term “figging” comes from the nineteenth-century word “feaguing.” For players who like heat without electricity or pepper oil, ginger is a classic plant-based intensifier—especially when paired with caning or other impact that punishes clenching.
History and related punishment
A similar method of physical punishment appears in Ancient Greece as rhaphanidosis, used as discipline on slaves. The detainee was restrained to varying degrees so mobility was limited while the sensation grew from uncomfortable to extreme. Modern figging borrows the botanical burn and the helplessness of restraint, but in adult BDSM it is negotiated play, not judicial cruelty. Related historical and veterinary terms sometimes cross-referenced in kink glossaries include gingering in horses and other force-based practices that should never be confused with consensual human play.
Method and sensation timeline
The ginger is skinned and often carved into a butt-plug shape. It causes an intense burning sensation that takes time to begin, then builds steadily and lasts roughly twenty minutes before diminishing rapidly. After use, the same piece can be further skinned and reinserted to extend the experience, or fresh ginger can be used; each application refreshes the duration of sensation. If the person being figged tightens the anal muscles, the burn becomes more intense. For that reason figging is sometimes combined with caning: the subject must choose between bracing for the strike (which clenches the buttocks and worsens the ginger burn) or relaxing the cheeks and taking the full force of the blow. That forced trade-off is a large part of the psychological charge.
Safety and scene notes
Use only fresh culinary ginger prepared cleanly; know your partner’s tissue sensitivity, allergies, and aftercare needs. Have a plan to remove the ginger quickly if the burn exceeds agreed limits. Figging is edge-adjacent sensation play—not a beginner default—and it belongs under the same negotiation, safeword, and aftercare rules as other anal and impact scenes. See also broader BDSM glossary entries, rhaphanidosis as historical context, and craft resources such as Lady Green’s Kinkycrafts for DIY toy culture that sits in the same handmade-kink tradition.
