There will be times when a slave is gagged or tied into a position where they may not be able to talk.

Or the slave might begin to have a problem with their breathing and be unable to call out their safeword for help – what happens then?

If you’re doing any form of bondage or scene that involves these possibilities, you need a backup plan for the safe word in order to prevent anything harmful from happening.

Some ideas for safety calls if the sub cannot talk:

• Have the slave hold onto something heavy – They can drop this object if they need to signal for help. When it’s heavy, it will be easy to hear. Eg a bell
• The slave can hold onto a stuffed animal – This brightly colored toy will be easy to spot by a Master or Mistress when it is dropped during an emergency.
• The slave might have a tapping signal they can use – three taps on the Master, for example
• The slave might have a movement they can do when they need assistance or to get out of a certain position. Eg Shaking their head furiously back and forth

The Grunting Safety Call
When a sub has been completely bound, including limbs, and mouth, so they are not able to hold their safety ball or call out their safe word to stop the scene when it becomes too intense, then the Grunting Safety Call should be arranged.

Have the sub grunt three times (one right after the other) to indicate when the scene needs to stop. Don’t like three grunts, then the both of you can even make up a funny noise to be used. The point is before you begin to play, both the Dominant and submissive should have a clear understanding of what will be used as an indicator to stop a scene when things become too intense.

There are a number of things that you can plan ahead of time to allow a slave to be able to communicate with their Master or Mistress when they are unable to speak.

And while this might seem like it would take the ‘excitement’ and suspense out of a scene, it actually allows the sub to be more focused on what is happening because they’re not fearful of having something go wrong.