In an internet conversation today, where I expressed some enthusiasm for the whipping scene in the movie Starship Troopers, I was asked by some non-kinky guys what exactly the difference is between "flogging" and "whipping." Realizing that it's probably true that experienced leatherfolks like me probably do throw around words like "flogger" or "single tail" like everyone knows what that is - when they don't - I thought I'd take a moment to try and clear things up.
First, lets talk a minute about pain. The pain sensations involved in these scenes are generally spoken of along a sort of scale from "thud" to "sting." To understand the difference, you could try this: take a paperback book and smack your thigh with it, hitting with the center of the wide flat cover. That should be pretty "thuddy." It's a sort of widely dispersed sensation, not particularly sharp in any one place. For "sting" try the same thing with a belt. (You don't have to do it very hard - unless of course you want to.) That should be pretty "stingy." More of a sharp, almost cutting sensation, rather concentrated along the line where the belt hit.
Once you understand that difference, you're a long way to understanding the differences between flogging and whipping. It's basically in the difference in the equipment used, and the resultant difference in sensation.
First, floggers. What SM folks today generally call a "flogger" is an evolution of what used to be known as a "cat 'o nine tails." I say "evolution of" because, well, what we use as floggers are basically designed start to finish for SM play - to deliver sensations, including pain, but without any major damage. The word "flogging" may conjure up images of pirates punishing scalawags bound to the mizzenmast, but the "cats" they used were very different - we'll get to them later. For now, here's a photo to illustrate the basic design of the modern "flogger."
So what we have here are a number of leather "tails" tied together to a handle which is covered with braided leather. Certainly there are lots of variations on this, but this is the general prototype. The important differences from one flogger to the next are mainly in the type and weight of the leather used for the tails, and how the tips of the tails are shaped. Deerskin leather, for example, is very light and soft. It would be pretty much impossible to do much, if any, injury to a person with a deerskin whip. (Unless maybe it was just an enormous flogger with a few hundred tails or something.) Elk is also fairly soft, though thicker than deer. Cowhide leather is about medium. Bison and bull are heavy.
Generally the heavier the leather, the more you move from a "thuddy" sensation for the bottom (the person being flogged) to a "stingy" sensation. But there are other factors involved. The tips of the tails for example. In the picture above note that the ends of the tails are rounded - this keeps things pretty thuddy. But if the tails were cut at a straight angle, creating a point on one side, then the tails would add a biting sensation to every stroke, and some sting would get mixed in with the thud. Also the texture of the leather overall - a stiff smooth leather, like something you'd see a stiff shiny belt made of, makes for a pretty sharp stinging sensation overall.
How are they used? Well, basically, you swing them and hit the bottom with them. Most commonly on the back. There are various styles and techniques for how to do this, which again become ways to vary the sensations. Hit hard, hit soft. Hit many times in a row very fast, or slowly and deliberately. Swing the flogger in a figure eight so you get both sides of the back equally. Forehand. Backhand. Etc. Etc.
Now have a look at a "cat o' nine tails":
Photo from Heartwood Whips
Now this is a bit more like what old time pirates might have used. Notice: there are fewer tails, and they are braided, not single pieces of leather. This makes each tail heavier than the regular flogger tails. Consider some basic physics for a moment - the heaviness of the tails increases their velocity when swung through the air, and consequently increases their force when they hit the bottom. Fewer, heavier tails equals way more sting, way less thud. (Which should give you a good idea where we're heading when we get to whips in a minute.) Also notice the tips again. There are lots of different ways to finish the ends of cat tails - here they're knotted. So just imagine for a moment those little knots flying through the air aiming for your back. I find in general with cats, especially knotted ones, you're really getting in the area where you can end up breaking the bottom's skin and drawing blood. That's why this sort of tool is much closer to what old time punishments were actually delivered with - because they weren't considering the niceties of sting vs. thud.
So, as you may have guessed by now, "whips" refer to anything that's just one tail, not a bunch of tails tied to a handle. For example, this:
Photo from Happy Tails
This is called a "signal whip." Also sometimes called a "snake whip." This one's about four feet long. A single tail whip that has a long solid handle (sort of like the floggers and cats above) is usually called a "bullwhip." Bullwhips most commonly are a lot longer than just four feet. In the case of pretty much all single tailed whips, you're talking pretty much pure sting, no thud at all. And you're also talking about serious potential for danger and injury if the person using the whip doesn't know what they're doing.
There are safe ways to use a single tail whip. For the full details, I refer the reader to Joseph W. Bean's book Flogging, pages 71-74. The gist of it is, "forget about its ability to crack." Don't try to crack the whip on someone, use it more like a belt or a flogger. (But even so, practice with it first to be sure you can control it.)
When you see a whip crack, it's said that the sound is caused by the tip of the whip breaking the speed of sound. I believe I've read recently that this is not really the case - but regardless, the tip of that thing is moving awfully damn fast, and when it hits, it's gonna hurt like hell. Truly skilled tops, however, practice for hours and hours to get good enough that they can reliably hit the bottom with just the barest tip of the whip. This creates an incredibly intense, sharp cutting sensation, and is very likely to cut the skin open, but won't create huge swaths of cut flesh like the scene in Starship Troopers.
To speak from personal experience. A single tail whip can hurt surprisingly less than you expect. In the vast majority of single tail scenes I've ever seen - and in all that I've actually been in - things start out with a lot of flogging. This sets the brain to flooding your body with endorphins and opiods, chemicals that suppress pain and can lead to euphoric sensations. (This is why we do all this in the first place!) So by the time the single tail comes around, I as the bottom am already flying around in the clouds, mentally. The sensation of being hit with the single tail is indeed incredibly intense, incredibly sharp - but (and here's the key) only in a very small spot for a very short time. By the time you register it, it's gone. You learn to not tense up - to let the pain ripple over you like a rock hitting the surface of a pond. And it becomes just more fuel for endorphins, more lift to get you higher.
In fact, that's the key to being a bottom, regardless of whether it's flogging or whipping. You let the pain wash through you, the way ocean waves do when you're standing on the beach. It's when you clench and resist it that it's not enjoyable. Relax and let your body do what it's programmed to do.
That should give you a picture of what leatherfolk are talking about when they talk of flogging and whipping. It's all just about degrees and types of sensations and experiences. And it might begin to give you a hint of why people like me enjoy it.
But only a hint.
Last fall, I got to give a good friend of mine his first flogging ever. When it was over, while he was wiping up tears, he said to me "I was prepared for the pain, but not for the emotions. You didn't tell me about that." Well, no, I didn't. Because I really can't.
"The best things cannot be said. The second best are misunderstood." (Joseph Campbell.)