A Brief History of My Hand-Over-Mouth Fascination

An interesting question I've only seldom seen discussed in the online HOM community is, How did hand-over-mouth become such a fascination for you?

Some individuals have said that the fascination with HOM was simply there inside of them, from some vague point in life onward, with no outward occurrences that could have sparked it. Others can point to a specific hand-over-mouth incident they experienced or witnessed, which triggered their liking for HOM.

I can't point to any single incident. I can't remember a time when HOM didn't fascinate me. But I'm sure my HOM fascination must have originated as a kid from my older sister Kathi holding her hand over my mouth. She held my mouth countless times, usually when our parents were not around. Much of it runs together in my memory in a blur, though certain notable incidents do stand out.

Looking back I'd be inclined to say that for Kathi this was mostly just a practical matter, an easy and effective way to shut me up and keep me from talking; like several females I've known, my sister was a frequent and habitual mouth holder. She did it a lot. I remember her holding other kids' mouths. I remember her sometimes holding her large smooth hand over my mouth for no reason at all, just to amuse herself with my startled reaction. As the kid brother who was always underfoot, I was an obvious target and "test dummy" for my sister's proclivities.

Though at the time everything about "mouthholding" (as I used to call it in my own mind) was far from clear to me, and I suppose it was just as foggy to her. Why did I like getting my mouth held? What was this all about? Was I the only one in the world who had this peculiar liking? Did anyone else have a sister who was "prone to mouthhold"? Back in those days, before the internet, there was no place in all the world where you could discuss or find out about such matters. It was like living under a blackout. All I knew was, my big sister would sometimes "mouthhold" me, and it secretly thrilled me.

In 4th grade we had a teacher who often held kids' mouths if they were noisy or sassy or talking too much. She held her hand over my mouth a few times, and it just electrified me! And I remember a friend of mine who really misbehaved, and at least twice she called him up to her desk, where she kept her hand pressed firmly over his mouth for 15 or 20 minutes.

Another friend of mine had several older sisters, and it was in that same time frame that a number of us neighbor kids were playing war in his back yard, and the other side captured me and I got one of his sisters, who was standing guard over me, to clamp her hands over my mouth in a two-handed handgag which lasted for 45 minutes as I mmmmphed and struggled. Truly one of the formative HOM experiences of my youth!

A few years later that friend and I were camping out in a tent in his yard overnight, and in the early dawn I crept up onto the side porch to surprise another one of his sisters, who was lying there in a sleeping bag. But she turned the tables on me when she grabbed me, and held me with her hand clamped over my mouth for about 20 minutes. No one else ever knew.

There were a few memorable HOMs that I witnessed, though in hindsight surprisingly few. An 8th grade girl who held a groaning gnarling 7th grade boy handgagged out in the schoolyard twice one noon hour. A woman who kept her hand over a noisy girl's mouth in a restaurant. A few other cases of teachers (always female) silencing students in school.

And there was one late but formative incident when I was a freshman in college, and drunk as a skunk and singing loudly on a late night bus, and a coed seated next to me had to keep her hand fastened over my mouth, thumb down, all the way across the city back to the dorms.

Then later in college I met Deb, and as things developed between us I was astonished to find that here was a woman who would gladly hold her hand over my mouth if that's what floated my boat. What can I say? Here we are together, lo these many years later, and coming up on a milestone wedding anniversary. And she still gladly holds my mouth.

I've written about some of these incidents in detail on this blog. About others I find myself strangely reticent, and I don't quite know why. I've sometimes wondered if others feel a similar reticence, and perhaps that's why this topic is so seldom discussed even online. Our liking for HOM is a deeply personal matter.