Fetishes are, by their nature, usually a bit strange. Even when your kink is fairly mainstream, sexualizing any specific object or ritual imbues it with an extra level

of intensity. Once you know someone with a foot fetish, you never look at a pair of stockings the same way. In most cases, you can usually see where someone is coming from, even if it isn’t you bag. You might not dig getting whipped by a nun in latex but you can understand how someone might.

But then there are fetishes that seem to defy all logic – sometimes even to the people who engage in them. These kinks fly in the face of traditional ideas of decency but also against what most people would ever consider ‘sexy’. That’s where ball busting falls.

Ball busting is, as its name implies, the act of injuring a man’s testicles. Some guys like to be kneed in the nuts, others prefer the sharp pain you can only get from a swift punch to the junk. Other forms of ball busting include squeezing, spanking and the use of vices, ties or other restrictive devices to create pain.

The practice originated in Japan where it was called tamakeri. The first wave of videos were seen in the 1990s and were known for shaky camerawork and actors who protected their identity by wearing masks. These early videos lacked plot, production value and even actors willing to identify themselves but they found an eager audience. Since then, there have been two more waves of tamakeri or, as it is better known ball busting or bb for short. Today, bb films boast much higher production values, often with some type of plot or unifying theme. While the focus is still on the torture of a man’s testicles, modern films usually include more mainstream sex acts once a man is done being abused.

Ball busting isn’t a particularly well known fetish, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t popular. A quick search on the popular free porn site Red Tube reveals more than 850 movies for ball busting fans. When you search the term on Google, you have to dig several pages down before you start to find links that aren’t links to movies, photos and some pretty creative artwork. While the fetish is clearly popular, it is difficult to find out much about it that isn’t anecdotal. This adds to the mystique of the fetish in some ways, but it also hides much of the danger.

The fact of the matter is, ball busting can potentially do a real number of your testicles. Getting hit repeatedly in the groin can result in chronic pain, nerve damage and even infertility. Testicular ruptures can also happen which can result in the need of surgery and, even then, the testicle cannot always be saved. For some fans of ball busting and other forms of cock and ball torture, or CBT, sometimes the idea of completely destroying a man’s testicles to the point where he has to be castrated is the ultimate fantasy.

There isn’t a lot of information available in terms of the demographic for this type of fetish but there is clear overlap between ball busting and the world of BDSM. Many people who post about their first hand experiences are quick to point out that taking things slowly in order to safely explore their limits was fundamental in developing a healthy relationship with their fetish. Others expressed frustration that the fetish remains widely unknown as they struggled with injuries – sometimes serious – because they had not been able to find resources about their budding obsession.

There’s no doubt that the material and resources surrounding ball busting will continue to grow as more men explore their fantasies and push their limits. This will almost certainly become an area more widely discussed and studied in an effort to learn more about why something that seems so painful and unpleasant can be the thing that drives some men wild.