Figging
From Free net encyclopedia
Figging is a sexual practice involving the insertion of a prepared "finger" of ginger root or even chile pepper into the anus. The burning sensation is said to induce intense pleasure. The technique is used by some practitioners of BDSM.
Ginger may enhance sexual pleasure by increasing blood flow to the genitals. The genital muscles, supplied with more energy, can produce especially powerful orgasms.
The practice is sometimes said to have originated in a preparation technique for show horses, where an irritating "fig" would be inserted into their anus to induce them to hold their tail high. Others claim that Victorian corporal punishment methods sometimes involved figging to further humiliate and chastise the culprit, as well as to prevent the clenching of the buttocks during caning, birching or flagellation.
The word fig may here be a simplified spelling of the word feague, which referred to gingering a listless horse before showing it to a buyer. A 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary defines feague as an obsolete word meaning to beat, whip, or drive. However there is also an expression 'Giving the fig' (French faire la figue, Spanish dar la higa) for an indecent gesture of ancient provenance, made by putting the thumb between two fingers or into the mouth (compare 'the finger'), and 'fig' was used in Shakespeare's time as English slang for 'cunt'.
The related term is to gin up has become popular to describe a report that has been made more favorable by padding it with false or misleading information: a business that has falsified its financial records has "ginned them up." A weekly column of the Boston Globe, The Word, recently traced the term back to the old, dishonest and cruel horse-trading practice. The gin is ginger, not liquor.