Bondage (BDSM) and Related Topics

BDSM

Erotic humiliation: A submissive woman publicly caged at the Folsom Street Fair in U.S., with cane markings on her body.

A male bondage rigger demonstrates to the audience how to do rope bondage at the 2015 BoundCon event in Germany. The bondage technique used here is box tie, a basic form of arm and breast bondage.

Strappado with rope and a spreader bar. This practice has a distinct effect of immobilization and pain.

Portrait of Marquis de Sade by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (1761)

BDSM is commonly misconceived to be "all about pain". This 1921 art of a clothed male, naked female is an illustration of male dominance and female submission.

A woman being put in suspension bondage at BoundCon, Germany, 2013. Since the submissive is vulnerable to a potential fall, it is important that great care is taken.

Flogging of a bound man by a dominatrix at the Exxxotica adult event, United States, 2009

BDSM activists at Taiwan Pride 2005, Taipei

A sulky cart drawn by a pony-girl, an example of petplay at the Folsom Parade, 2012. She is wearing a bit gag and a neck collar, to which are attached a ring of O and a leash. Bells are hung from her pierced nipples. All these symbols indicate she is roleplaying a 'pet slave'.

A bondage pornography shoot in the U.S., 2011

A whipping scene where both dominant and submissives are female, Paris, 1930

A fresco in the Etruscan Tomb of the Whipping, 5th century BC

Flagellation scene, illustration to Fanny Hill by Édouard-Henri Avril, 1907

Foot worship of one of the feet of a dominatrix by a submissive man. Her other foot rests over the man's head, using it as a footstool (human furniture). This sketch is from a 1950 work named Bizarre Honeymoon.

Start of the leather contingent at the 2004 San Francisco gay pride parade

Consensual giving or receiving of pain is legal in Austria. Photo shows wax play at the Eros Pyramide sex show, Austria, 2009.

Sexual activity may occur in BDSM, but it is not essential part of BDSM. Photo shows erotic humiliation of sexual nature being performed at Wave-Gotik-Treffen music festival, Germany, 2014. The submissive woman is stripped naked, hung upside down, whipped and a master doing sexual roleplay of a devil forces himself on her to cause vagina torture.

Spanking with a paddle in a BDSM dungeon in New York City

The BDSM rights flag with triskelion-type emblem

The leather pride flag, a symbol of the BDSM and fetish subculture

Fanny Pistor (with whip) and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Venus in Furs was inspired by the author's own life where he was dominated by a woman.

BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics.

Combination of four bondage methods: breast bondage, elbow bondage, wrist bondage and crotch rope

Bondage positions and methods

Woman erotically tied with a crotch rope.

Rope bondage in an uncomfortable position. It involves crotch rope, breast bondage, elbow bondage, mouth gag, among other techniques.

Frogtie position is used for genital accessibility. This woman is wearing a crotch flap for increased accessibility, for uses such as locking and rubbing.

A male bondage rigger demonstrates to the audience how to do box tie bondage at BoundCon 2015, Munich.

Side view of breast bondage at BoundCon, Germany, 2008

Breast bondage on a woman in a blue catsuit.

A simple over-arm position that exposes armpits for tickling.

A model wearing a head harness with a ball gag and posture collar

A male model restrained in a rope standing spread eagle.

Strappado with spreader bar and elbow bondage

A chain strappado with legs spread very wide and additional neck chain.

Fetish art showing horizontal suspension, face down.

Burlington bowline finished so it can be slipped

Prusik shackle, with the tail captured by another prusik

Prusik handcuffs, locked with an overhand knot

Bondage, in BDSM, is the activity of tying or restraining people using equipment such as chains, cuffs, or collars for mutual erotic pleasure.

A bondage scenario using period costumes

Sexual roleplay

Roleplay that has a strong erotic element.

Female police officer dominating a bandit man in a sexual roleplay.

Uniform fetish: A Japanese woman dressed as a school student

Sexual roleplayer in a kajira pose at Folsom Street Fair. The woman is posing in an approximation to nadu, the typical position of a "pleasure slave".

The role-play may involve elements of dominance and submission including sexual bondage and erotic humiliation.

Bondage cuffs

An assortment of bondage cuffs with buckles.

An Armbinder consisting of Cuffs and bondage mittens.

Bondage cuffs are restraints designed for use in sexual bondage situations.

Humiliation of a man being forced to kneel and hold a dominatrix's purse with his mouth while being caned at Folsom Street Fair in USA.

Erotic humiliation

About consensual erotic humiliation; for abusive sexual humiliation, see the main articles humiliation and sexual abuse

A nude female submissive cleans her male dominant's shoe by licking it, on a public road in USA, 2012.

Two women humiliating their male submissives in public. One of the submissives is on a dog leash while the dominatrix humiliates him verbally. The other woman is sitting on the submissive (whose testicles are tied) and is preparing to shock him. The submissives are being punished by various means of humiliation, including pet play and electrostimulation.

The erotic humiliation of a woman is performed at Wave-Gotik-Treffen music festival, Germany, 2014. She is stripped naked, hung upside down and whipped while a master who is roleplaying a devil forces himself on her.

A woman urinating into the mouth of a man is an example of the practice of golden showers. The man is degraded by being treated as a human toilet.

Depending upon the consent and limits, BDSM may involve sex. Here, the female slave is made to perform deep throat in an uncomfortable position with her master, which can be insulting for her.

A woman being embarrassed by cum shot on her face.

A woman wearing a strap-on dildo about to engage in doggy style anal sex with a man. Such sex can be a way of humiliating a person.

Humiliation therefore encompasses a range of paraphilia, including foot fetish, breast fetish, shoe fetish, body worship, spanking, cum shots, peotomy, bondage, and most BDSM styles.

This 1921 illustration of a clothed male and naked female shows an example of female submission. The art is by Georges Topfer from his work Le rêve d’un flagellant ("The Dream of a Flagellant").

Dominance and submission

Set of behaviors, customs, and rituals involving the submission of one person to another in an erotic episode or lifestyle.

A D/s couple posing for a picture. Many submissives wear a collar to denote their status and commitment.

A dominant male publicly holds two submissive females using leashes tied to their neck, Folsom Street Fair, 2010

A man doing petplay at Folsom Street Fair and wearing dog leash in his neck.

A nude submissive female cleans the shoe of her male master by licking it (with her consent). Scene is of a public road in USA, 2012.

A woman submissive wearing a typical "slave collar" at Cologne Pride. Her male master is pulling her using the ring of O attached to the collar. The woman is also wearing a mouth gag and her hands are in bondage.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and Fanny Pistor (Baroness Bogdanoff)

A 1995 study indicates that 89% of heterosexual females who are active in BDSM expressed a preference for the submissive-recipient role in sexual bondage, expressing also a preference for a dominant male, and that 71% of heterosexual males preferred a dominant-initiator role.

Spreader bar

Article of bondage equipment consisting of a metal or wooden bar, with attachment points for bondage cuffs at each end, which can be fastened to wrists, ankles or knees to hold them apart.

They are used in bondage play, and sometimes in bedroom bondage, usually in association with other bondage equipment.

Japanese bondage

Kinbaku (緊縛) means "tight binding," while Kinbaku-bi (緊縛美) literally means "the beauty of tight binding."

Blacklight Shibari with fluorescent ropes.

Kinbaku is a Japanese style of bondage or BDSM which involves tying a person up using simple yet visually intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope (often jute, hemp or linen and generally around 6 mm in diameter, but sometimes as small as 4 mm, and between 7 – long.