Locktober: Keep Your Pleasure Under Key

Each year, the BDSM and male chastity communities come together to celebrate Locktober. In theory, the idea is simple, in practice, it’s actually pretty difficult to spend an entire month with your private parts shackled. Although not in the ways you may think.

Locktober is a portmanteau of the words ‘lock’ and ‘October’. The challenge is to remain chaste from the 1st to the 31st of October.

Chastity cages are often central to the practice, as they stop and limit erection and masturbation. You can choose to keep the key, or entrust it to a partner, who then becomes the ‘keyholder’. It’s completely up to you how you spend your Locktober.

You can decide to spend a whole month with a cage on your penis, schedule moments without it, or simply challenge yourself to wear it for a few days only. It may be something you explore alone, or you may decide to integrate it into a Dom/sub dynamic with a partner.

The aim isn’t necessarily to struggle through the 31 days, no matter the cost, it’s simply an occasion for people to explore chastity outside of a one night experience.

People tend to believe that the only option with Locktober is padlocking your penis on the 1st and only freeing it again on the 31st. However, those who take part are often much more flexible with their experience.

On Reddit, one participant talks about their Locktober, saying they wore their chastity cage continuously, even at night. They did, however, say they removed their cage every day to clean it in the shower, and they even allowed themselves a cage-free afternoon halfway through. In their eyes, these cage-free moments didn’t stop them from completing the challenge.

This may be a more realistic way for you to tackle the Locktober challenge. You can take your cage off to wash it, check on your skin, or simply remove it in case of discomfort, none of this automatically makes you a ‘failure’.

Your body and health is more important than beating the clock.

Thinking about how if you do Locktober, you’ll be spending the whole month fighting to touch yourself? You might want to prepare yourself for other, potentially unexpected difficulties.

The first issue is comfort. Sleeping with a cage, finding a comfortable position, wearing it under your clothes all day, cleaning it regularly.

The participant we mentioned earlier also explained that one of the most demanding aspects of the challenge is urination. Depending on the position of the cage, urination may become… unpredictable, for lack of better words.

These small details can make a big difference in your choice to wear the cage for a couple of hours and the decision to keep the cage on for multiple days at a time.

It’s important that you try out your chastity cage beforehand if you’re looking to participate in Locktober. This way you’ll avoid any nasty surprises when the 1st of October comes around.

If you aren’t well-versed in chastity play, start by wearing your cage around the house for a few hours at a time . Walk around with it, sit down, dress yourself as usual and see how you feel.

Another beginner on Reddit talks about how they spent some time looking for the right sized cage, with other Redditors advising him on how to choose a model that fits best .

In general, chastity cages require a fair bit of research to find the right one.

Ball loop diameter, cage length, weight and the material of a chastity cage are all aspects you should take into account when making your choice. Rather than opting immediately for the most restrictive option, take some time to browse the different models and find the one that suits your needs.

For Locktober, the best choice will always be the one you can wear without spending the whole day worrying about it pinching or not fitting properly.

You may find the idea of wearing a chastity cage for a whole month sexy, but it’s important to think about the practical side of things too: hygiene.

If you’re going to be wearing your chastity cage regularly, then it requires thorough, consistent cleaning. The same goes for your skin. Depending on your chosen model, you may be able to do a partial clean without removing your cage, but the best option for optimal hygiene is to remove it completely. Make sure to rinse and dry your cage before putting it back on.

Keep an eye on how you’re feeling down there. You may be aware of the cage, but it shouldn’t cause persistent pain. If you notice any swelling, numbness, change in skin colour or pain, take your cage off immediately. Locktober can wait.

You can certainly take part on your own, but handing the key over to your partner inevitably will add a whole new dimension to the game.

So how does it work? The cage wearer gives up control over their pleasure. Their partner decides when to open the cage (provided that limits are mutually discussed beforehand). It can be extremely pleasing for people to add this dimension to the challenge, on top of simply wearing a chastity cage.

It’s up to you and your partner to organise Locktober together. Maybe you’ll decide to take the cage off at night, schedule moments for cleaning, allow some types of intimate fun, or decide that no orgasms will be permitted before a specific date.

Locktober can also be a good opportunity to explore BDSM more generally with your partner: bondage, domination and submission, soft BDSM etc. Don’t rush, though, you don’t need to try everything at once. If you enjoy trying out new things in the bedroom, then our New In BDSM section can be a great place to start looking for inspiration.

Make sure you and your partner talk about things beforehand. What is allowed? When can the cage be taken off? What happens if someone wants to stop?

Being the keyholder doesn’t mean ignoring real discomfort simply because those are ‘the rules’. Control is part of the game, but only if both partners want to play.

Then take off the cage. That’s it.

Locktober might make you want to count down the days and transform the month of October into a show of endurance. However, after a week you might realise that you prefer wearing your cage for a few days at a time, nothing more. Maybe you only like it when your partner has the key. Maybe you don’t like it at all.

Conversely, the Reddit user who had completed their 31 days said they were already considering doing it again at a later date, but in two-week bursts instead.

Perhaps that’s what makes Locktober so interesting: having an excuse to try out abstinence for long enough to work out what you really enjoy.

And if your padlock opens on the 17th October instead of the 31st, no one’s going to take your Locktober certificate away from you.