Glossary
Straitjacket
The only piece of bondage gear invented to restrain people who never asked for it.
What is a straitjacket?
A straitjacket is a jacket with sleeves that run longer than the arms. It closes at the back, and then the sleeves are tied around the torso. The arms end up crossed in front of the body and can no longer reach the closure. Strait means narrow, not straight.
| What strait means | narrow, drawn tight; nothing to do with straight, “upright” |
| Older English names | camisole, strait waistcoat, and in nineteenth-century Germany Spanish straitjacket |
| Category | bondage gear that came out of forced care, like thumbcuffs |
| Where the word mostly lives | in the escape act and in political metaphor |
Where the word straitjacket comes from
From strait, “narrow.” That is also where the spelling comes undone.
The English-language encyclopedia explains that strait here points to the tightly drawn character of the garment. It has nothing to do with straight, “upright,” even though almost everyone writes straightjacket. In the early days the same thing went by other names: camisole or strait waistcoat, and in nineteenth-century Germany Spanish straitjacket. Even the best-known origin claim is unsettled. That an upholsterer named Guilleret made one around 1770 for the Bicêtre in Paris is a reading from, among others, Michel Foucault that historian Benoît Majerus puts a question mark beside.
Why a straitjacket captures the imagination
Through the escape act, and that is exactly what goes wrong.
Harry Houdini saw one on a patient in an asylum in Canada and worked it into his act, often hanging upside down. In 1916 in Baltimore some fifty thousand people watched him work his way out of one in three minutes. That act still gets copied: Lucas Wilson from Toronto has held four straitjacket records in the Guinness Book since June 2016, including a hanging escape of 8.4 seconds.
So a straitjacket looks like something you can wriggle out of with a bit of effort. It is not. The closure sits exactly where your hands can no longer reach once the jacket is on. That is why a couple of things matter if you ever want to feel one: you are never left in it alone, and never flat on your stomach. If you want to try that jacket sometime, I build it up slowly with you during a BDSM date. One historical note belongs here. The encyclopedia sums up Majerus as saying it was the very softness of the fabric that led to straitjackets being used more often on women than on men.
Sources
- Straitjacket. Wikipedia. Gives the explanation that strait points to the tightly drawn character of the garment, the older names camisole, strait waistcoat and Spanish straitjacket, Benoît Majerus’s doubt about the attribution to the upholsterer Guilleret around 1770, his observation that the softness of the fabrics led to straitjackets being used more often on women than on men, and the escape history: Houdini seeing one in an asylum in Canada, the fifty thousand onlookers in Baltimore in 1916 and the three minutes he needed, plus the four records of Lucas Wilson as of June 10, 2016.
Related terms
- Bondage. The practice a straitjacket is a tool for.
- Armbinder. The alternative that holds the arms behind the back instead of in front.
- Mummification. Wrapping the whole body, of which this jacket is the arms-only version.
- Bodybag. The bag dreamed up for the scene, rather than coming out of the asylum.
Frequently asked questions
What people still ask about a straitjacket.
What is a straitjacket?
A straitjacket is a jacket whose sleeves run longer than the arms and get fastened behind the back. Once it is on, you cannot pull your arms apart and you cannot reach the closure. Strait here means narrow, not straight.
Is it straitjacket or straightjacket?
Straitjacket. Strait is an old English word for narrow or tightly drawn, and it describes how the garment sits; it has nothing to do with straight, “upright.” You see the spelling straightjacket everywhere, but it is wrong.
Can you get out of a straitjacket yourself?
No, and the escape act has left the opposite impression. Harry Houdini took three minutes over it in Baltimore in 1916 in front of some fifty thousand onlookers, but he trained for it. A straitjacket closes at the back, exactly where your hands can no longer reach once that jacket is on.
Who can you turn to with questions about a straitjacket?
Victor, a gigolo in Amsterdam with twenty-five years of experience in BDSM and a background as a psychotherapist. Bondage is on his yes list, and he would rather talk about what being restrained does to your head beforehand than afterward. Ask with no strings attached through the contact form or start with a free chat.
More info
Still have questions about a straitjacket?
I'm Victor. For almost everyone, the picture of this jacket comes from a movie, and what it does to you in real life is something else. If you want to know what that is, just ask. No obligation.