Story by: Alexander Cheves
Photography by: Artwork: Colton Long
January 1, 2022
Roughly once a month, Jack in Seattle (not his real name) puts someone in a sleepsack. After lacing up the front, he adds more restraints, like chains and straps — “bondage overkill,” he describes it. These reinforcements are not necessary — his subs can’t get out of the sleepsack on their own — but they establish complete helplessness. At that point, the subs are literally dependent on Jack for survival.
“I love hearing a submissive sigh when the zipper reaches their neck, knowing they are trapped,” he tells me. Jack is into a subset of heavy bondage called “storage bondage” in which a submissive becomes, effectively, an object — something to put away for a few hours. The experience of being completely immobilized in a sleepsack, sensorily deprived, and objectified can do different things for different people, but what these people seem to have in common is that when they go under, they lose a sense of self and form. The result of entering “sleepsack space” can be transformative — short vacations from selfhood.
“You lose track of where your body is,” a leatherman from Chicago told me. “It’s more than being really horny. It’s very calming and, at the same time, very intense.”
Sleepsacks are essentially body-shaped bags made of leather, although other materials, like rubber and neoprene, are also used. They may open in the front or the back. The closures may be lace-up or zippered. Some have flap openings to allow access to a submissive’s ass, cock, balls, or nipples. Some even have straps for suspension. Using them often involves additional bondage like chains, rope, straps, bungee cords, and cables to tighten the sack around the body like Jack explained. Nearly all submissives I spoke with are hooded during their sleepsack sessions. Many are also gagged.
Everyone I spoke with has a custom leather sleepsack — one cut specifically to their size measurements. “Off the rack” sleepsacks are available in standard sizes, but they usually have a looser fit around the body than custom ones, which can cost up to $2,000. Because of their cost and specific measurements, sleepsacks are not a standard piece of dungeon equipment — you likely won’t find one alongside slings and fuck benches. They are generally used repeatedly by the same person, meaning you can’t invite over any sub to climb in one. Most people with experience in kink seem to have an idea of what they are, but surprisingly few kinky men I spoke with have ever actually been in one.
Gimp Max in Atlanta — who asks that I refer to him as “it” as part of its commitment to a 24-7 gimp “non-persona” — says sleepsacks are central to its gimp identity. “The gimp headspace is all about the feeling of losing control, the tightness of the bondage, and being enclosed in leather or rubber,” it says. “The tighter it gets, the better.”
“The gimp headspace is all about the feeling of losing control, the tightness of the bondage, and being enclosed in leather or rubber. The tighter it gets, the better.”
I ask it to explain that a little bit more. “Hearing a dom talk about how he is reducing it to nothing, that it is totally fucked and in his control, teasing that it will never get out, followed by total isolation, immobilization, and sensory deprivation really get it going,” it says. “Its mind starts drifting away and it kind of floats.”
Every sleepsack devotee describes the sensation this way — “floating.” Floating has a non-kink equivalent: some people pay large sums of money to float in saltwater sensory deprivation tanks, which are claimed to be incredibly relaxing for the body and mind.
Max notes the weird procession of time while in lockdown. Without any external stimuli, time is nearly impossible to track. “When it floats away, its mind wanders or goes blank, the breathing gets slower, and the world outside just fades,” Max says. “It is just an object. The fact that it’s confined isn’t scary, but [being confined] limits all activities to its mind, and time just flies.”
Several sleepsack users I spoke with describe sleepsacks with the passion and fervor of religious experiences. One explained that after a night spent in a sleepsack, he felt “cleansed.” Another person described them as “a gateway to a peaceful and relaxing headspace.”
“When it floats away, its mind wanders or goes blank, the breathing gets slower, and the world outside just fades.”
When Gimp Max is in the sack, it is always hooded, gagged, plugged, and wearing a cock cage (a gas mask is sometimes involved, too). The sack is tightened with straps and lacing, and more rigidity is achieved by strapping the sack down to a bed or board, so the gimp cannot wiggle at all. A more “extreme version,” Max says, “is being put in a box or suspended either vertically or horizontally.”
After that, Max says, it’s an endurance game — its current record in a sleepsack is 13 hours. “Because of the strain on the body,” Max says, “safety is really key.” Blood flow can be a “challenge” and after a while, the muscles start to ache. Even so, long sessions are preferred over short ones. “It’s hard to get to that floating state when it’s a short session,” Max says.
Sleepsacks offer Max complete physical restriction, something it can’t get anywhere else in life. Max has other fetishes, including wearing gear in public, and enjoys standard assfucking and corporal punishment. But being immobilized fulfills the goal of its gimp identity — total objectification. Everything else is secondary.
I ask Max about the sensation of being released. “It has the bondage glow,” Max says. “The skin is warm, its body will hurt, and it feels very peaceful and grateful to its Sir, and there is a kind of special connection. We did this crazy shit together, and it was awesome for both of us.”
