A few weeks ago, Partner 1 and I went to a kink event at a local playspace where the organizer was demonstrating chain fisting. It was interesting to watch, yes, and I did learn a lot about the specific methodology for choosing, lubricating, inserting, adjusting, and removing chain, but it wasn’t an ideal demonstration. After all, you had a large amount (five feet) of chain links going into a small space (a vagina), and the person doing the insertion had to be fairly close to the vagina in question, so there wasn’t a lot to actually see. And, when it was over, all you could see was a tiny hint of metal between the lips.

If you’re going to do a demonstration, you want something that everyone can see easily. During the demo, I could see people were getting bored as they tried to watch, because there wasn’t much to see. Chain fisting takes a while to do — you don’t want to hurt the other person — and unless you wear a GoPro on your head and display the feed on a screen only the folks in the front row and off to the sides can actually see anything.

The demos I do are usually impact-based, and it’s fairly easy to see what I’m doing because I’m not blocking the target area with my body. I mean, okay, when I’m doing flogging sometimes I’m right behind the person, but otherwise I’m usually off to the side. When I watched an anal insertion demo back in 2014 the two people doing the demo were turned sideways; it was important to see the receiver’s face. I have to imagine people would also have enjoyed seeing the receivers’ faces during the chain fisting demo.

If you’re going to do a demo, make sure it’s something everyone can easily see and enjoy — impact, wax, sensory play, and even anal insertions. Anything that requires concentration on a small area isn’t going to go over as well, unless you’re in one of those classrooms with tiered seats and everyone looking down at the demo, or you have what’s happening up on a screen. Otherwise people are going to be dissatisfied.