Bondage (BDSM)

A suspended model in a hogtie bondage. Her nipples are clamped and she is gagged with a ball gag harness

Man handcuffed to a bedrail, with a blindfold on

A ball-gagged model whose face is bound using bondage harness and bondage collar

Rope bondage: A gagged model bound in an uncomfortable position using breast bondage and crotch ropes

A woman wearing a steel collar and steel handcuffs.

Petplay: Woman bound outdoor using a dog's chain, at the Folsom Street Fair.

Bondage demonstration at the 2003 Folsom Street Fair

Multiple knots being tied by a male bondage rigger, so as to ensure a strong rope bondage.

A woman chained to a Saint Andrew's cross

Two women mummified with duct tape, restraining their entire bodies, at Exxxotica 2013

A Shibari expert weaves a rope on a woman's upper body at Venus Berlin, 2019.

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.

A leather dog mask worn over a latex coat.

Erotic pose of three women in bondage gear

Practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation.

- Bondage (BDSM)

297 related topics

BDSM

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

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.

Sadomasochism

Giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation.

Autosadism is inflicting of pain or humiliation on oneself. The photo shows pornographic actress Felicia Fox pouring hot wax over herself in front of an audience (U.S. 2005). Her nipples and genitals are also clamped.

A submissive woman bound to a Saint Andrew's Cross being whipped at the Folsom Street Fair. The red marks on her body are from the whipping.

S&M may involve painful acts such as cock and ball torture. Image shows a dominant woman holding a bound man's penis, applying electricity to his testicles at the Folsom Street Fair.

Woman's buttocks turned red as a result of a paddling

Play piercing on a woman's back using multiple needles

Pussy torture: wax play done on a bound nude woman's genitals at Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival, Germany, 2014.

A submissive man is consoled by his dominant after she has made his back bloody by beating.

However, the term BDSM also includes B&D (bondage and discipline), D/s (dominance and submission), and S&M (sadism and masochism).

Consent

Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another.

The prevalence of mental illness is higher in more economically unequal countries

Consent has also been used as a defense in cases involving accidental deaths during sex, which occur during sexual bondage.

Human sexual activity

Manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality.

This Indian Kama sutra illustration, which shows a woman on top of a man, depicts the male erection, which is one of the physiological responses to sexual arousal for men.

Sexual intercourse in the missionary position

An Ottoman miniature from the book Sawaqub al-Manaquib depicting homosexuality

A 1925 Gerda Wegener painting, "Les delassements d'Eros" ("The recreations of Eros"), of two women engaged in sexual activity in bed.

A man handcuffed to a bed and blindfolded

The potential for injury or even death that exists while engaging in the partnered versions of these fetishes (choking and bondage, respectively) becomes drastically increased in the autoerotic case due to the isolation and lack of assistance in the event of a problem.

Handcuffs

Individual's wrists in proximity to each other.

An inmate in handcuffs and a belly chain with a handcuff cover, concealing the keyholes

Display of old handcuffs, Tatton Park Flower Show, 2010

Police handcuffs are sometimes used in sexual bondage and BDSM activities.

Foreplay

Set of emotionally and physically intimate acts between one or more people meant to create sexual arousal and desire for sexual activity.

Foreplay by kissing a woman's back moving towards her hips

Even a suggestion of the use of sex toys or the playing of games involving fetish, sexual bondage, blindfolding or sploshing is an indication of sexual interest.

Sexual roleplay

Roleplay that has a strong erotic element.

A bondage scenario using period costumes

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 positions and methods

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

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.

Dominance and submission

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

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").

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.

Physical restraint

Physical restraint refers to means of purposely limiting or obstructing the freedom of a person's bodily movement.

Handcuffs and chains from wrought iron as formerly used on prisoners; Wales, 19th century (museum exhibit)

Modern chain handcuffs made of hardened steel; Hiatt 2010

Iron wrist shackles with chains and padlock; Germany ca. 17th century

Modern prison restraints including steel handcuffs and belly chains

for eroticism