10 Ways to Explore Nipple Pleasure for Every Body
Written for GFH by Luna Matatas
Nipples don’t get the hype they deserve as erogenous zones. Some of us really enjoy nipple pleasure, others can take it or leave, and for some it doesn’t do anything at all. Mainstream porn and media tend to minimize the erotic potential of nipple pleasure or reduce it to mediocre moves. But doing that minimizes the opportunity for nipplegasms—orgasms that happen by stimulating the nipples on their own or as a focused part of sexual pleasure.
Nipple Pleasure Anatomy
Stimulating the nipples stimulates the same part of the brain—the genital sensory cortex—that's responsible for stimulation responses connected to the clitoris, vagina, and cervix. Nipples can change colour and size during arousal due to the contraction of smooth muscle underneath the areola. Plus a lot of delicious nerve endings (around 800!) means there are lots of ways we can stimulate them with our hands, mouths, rest of our bodies, sensation items, and sex toys.
Everybody has nipples, so anyone of any gender can experience nipple pleasure. Hormonal changes during menstruation, menopause, pregnancy, breastfeeding and surgery can impact the type of stimulation someone enjoys. If you’re wondering about sexual health, nipple play generally has a very low-risk of sexually transmitted infections; unless someone is lactating, then breast milk is a body fluid like any other. Safer sex also means discussing emotional safety—ask your partner if anything is a turn-off or a boundary when exploring sex that includes nipple play. For example, some words may feel offensive or can trigger gender dysphoria. Some fantasies might be off-limits or a huge turn on, like adult nursing. Get to know how your partner likes their body referred to and what mood they want to experience with nipple play.
Like with most types of erotic pleasure, nipple play involves figuring out what works, which requires communication, curiosity and creativity.
Here are 10 ways to get started exploring nipple pleasure today:
Try warming up the nipple with a massage candle or wax candles or cool it down with an ice cube or Ice Chill Vibe. Playing with contrasts of hot and cold sensations can sometimes delight the nerve endings and bring more arousal to the nipples. Hot breath exhaled onto a nipple wet with spit can feel amazing! Get creative with temperature play techniques.
Your partner might enjoy your teeth on their nipples. Start with lighter biting and increase in increments of pressure to see what feels best for your partner.
Try sucking on nipples with your mouth (try a flavoured lube!) or using nipple suction toys. Sucking can stimulate the nerve endings and nipple suction sex toys help bring blood flow and increased sensitivity to the nipple and surrounding area.
Give an erotic chest massage with varying pressures, speeds, and rhythms to your partner’s chest to relax them. Give the nipple a chance to anticipate and desire your touch by giving attention to the rest of the chest starting on the sides and moving towards the middle of the chest. Try using an edible massage bar that melts onto the body and adds a velvety texture to your massage.
Explore a cannabis-infused lube to heighten the receptivity of the nipples to sensation. Most cannabis-infused lubes are safe to ingest, so if you put your mouth on the nipples afterwards, it’s not harmful. If you’ve never used cannabis products before, start with a CBD infused lubricant or massage oil.
Start with nipple pinching to help gauge their pain tolerance. Check-in with your partner and ask if they want you to go harder or softer. If you’ve got consent to increase the pleasure, gently roll the nipples between your fingers or start with a playful pinch. You can encourage your partner to give you non-verbal feedback like arching their back or sticking their chest out if they want more or putting their fingers over yours to show you the pressure of pinch they are aching for.
For more intense nipples sensations, explore nipple clamps or the wartenberg pinwheel. Intense sensations require you to build up of warmth and blood flow to the area and then move into sharper or stronger sensations. Most nipple clamps are adjustable, so you can enjoy wearing them loosely and then as you get more aroused, tighten the tension on the clamps. If you have a vibrator, you can use them on nipples too!
Whether you’re warming up a nipple or you’ve got someone who doesn’t like intense nipple sensations, feathers are always a great way to tickle and tease someone’s chest. You can also use light touch, hair or lingerie to create sensual sensations for nipples. You can experiment with sensual sensations during masturbation too and learn what you like at your own pace.
It can feel amazing to drag your hard nipples against someone else’s chest or back or along their genitals. Press your nipples into your person’s body and experiment with light dragging or intense grinding.
Lingerie, nipple pasties, clamps, coloured wax, chest harnesses or edible body paint are a few of the ways you can decorate your chest area. Many of us are visually aroused. We can turn ourselves and our partners on with accessories to seduce and tease them or prepare for a sexy striptease.
Ask them if they want more or less pressure? Harder or softer? Faster or slower stimulation? If you’re excited to try a bunch of different ideas, pick one or two and allow yourself to play with tease, pressure, speed and contrasts to allow the sensation to sink in for your partner.
It can be really powerful to blend sensations for nipple play. Try to combine nipple pleasure with other types of sexy things that arouse your partner like kissing or genital stimulation or being blindfolded. Encourage your partner to relax, take deep breaths to come into their body and to enjoy receiving sensation. Be playful, patient, and communicative and your erotic nipple exploration will be fun and hot!
