BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in by people who do not consider themselves to be practising BDSM, inclusion in the BDSM community or subculture often is said to depend on self-identification and shared experience.
Bondage, in the BDSM subculture, is the practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation. A partner may be physically restrained in a variety of ways, including the use of rope, cuffs, bondage tape, or self-adhering bandage.
Kinbaku (緊縛) means "tight binding", while Kinbaku-bi (緊縛美) literally means "the beauty of tight binding". 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 7–8 m long. In Japanese this natural-fibre rope is known as asanawa. The allusion is to the use of hemp rope for restraining prisoners, as a symbol of power, in the same way that stocks or manacles are used in a Western BDSM context.
Jay Joseph Wiseman is an American BDSM author, educator, and expert legal witness. His book SM 101: A Realistic Introduction has somewhere in the area of 100,000 copies in print. It is also one of the Society of Janus' "Suggested Readings" regarding BDSM.
Bondage in BDSM is the activity of tying or restraining people using equipment such as chains, cuffs, or collars for mutual erotic pleasure. According to the Kinsey Institute, 12% of females and 22% of males respond erotically to BDSM.
Cock and ball torture (CBT) is a sexual activity involving the application of pain or constriction to the male genitals. This may involve directly painful activities, such as genital piercing, wax play, genital spanking, squeezing, ball-busting, genital flogging, urethral play, tickle torture, erotic electrostimulation, kneeing or kicking. The recipient of such activities may receive direct physical pleasure via masochism, or emotional pleasure through erotic humiliation, or knowledge that the play is pleasing to a sadistic dominant. Many of these practices carry significant health risks.
Greenery Press is a publishing house based in Emeryville, California, specializing in books on BDSM and polyamory, with over 50 titles in print. Most titles are non-fiction, but a smaller number of fiction titles and memoirs are published under the Grass Stain Press name. Greenery's sales top 100,000 books per year.
Midori (美登里) is a sexologist, educator, author, artist, speaker, and coach. Midori wrote the first English language book with instruction on Japanese rope bondage and continues to write on alternative sexual practices, including BDSM and sexual fetishism, bondage, erotic fiction, and more. She teaches classes, presents at conferences, coaches individuals and professionals, and facilitates in-depth weekend intensives. She is based in San Francisco, California.
Janet W. Hardy is an American writer and sex educator, and founder of Greenery Press. She has also been published as Catherine A. Liszt and Lady Green. She is the author or co-author of eleven books, and frequently collaborates with Dossie Easton.
This glossary of BDSM terms defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.
A nose hook is a type of BDSM device commonly used in Japanese bondage, or shibari, and more broadly in contemporary BDSM practices. A nose hook consist a blunt metal hook which ends that are inserted into the nostrils of the person being bound, and pulled upwards with a strap that passes over the head and can be connected to a collar to maintain tension.
The X-cross, X-frame, saltire cross or Saint Andrew's cross is a common piece of equipment in BDSM dungeons. It is erotic furniture that typically provides restraining points for ankles, wrists, and waist. When secured to an X-cross, the subject is restrained in a standing spreadeagle position.
In human sexuality, kinkiness is the use of non-conventional sexual practices, concepts or fantasies. The term derives from the idea of a "bend" in one's sexual behaviour, to contrast such behaviour with "straight" or "vanilla" sexual mores and proclivities. It is thus a colloquial term for non-normative sexual behaviour. The term "kink" has been claimed by some who practice sexual fetishism as a term or synonym for their practices, indicating a range of sexual and sexualistic practices from playful to sexual objectification and certain paraphilias. In the 21st century the term "kink", along with expressions like BDSM, leather and fetish, has become more commonly used than the term paraphilia. Some universities also feature student organizations focused on kinks, within the context of wider LGBTQ concerns.
Rope bondage, also referred to as rope play, kinbaku, shibari or fesselspiele, is bondage involving the use of rope to restrict movement, wrap, suspend, or restrain a person, as part of BDSM activities. Japanese bondage is the most publicly visible style of rope bondage. An alternative style, "Western bondage" is about achieving restraint; the Japanese style is more concerned with the artistry of the process. String bondage is the wrapping of rows of string around a body area for arousal. String bondage is also known as constrictions.
A nawashi is a person with a recognized proficiency in the historic erotic art of Japanese bondage. The word nawashi is used in SM circles to mean "rope artist".
Go Arisue is one of the world's top kinbakushi.
Breast torture is a BDSM activity in which sexual stimulation is provided through the intentional application of physical pain or constriction to the breasts, areolae or nipples of a submissive. It is a popular activity among the kink community. The recipient of such activities may wish to receive them as a result of masochism or they may have a desire to please a dominant who is sadistic. Those involved may also be motivated by breast fetishism. Mild breast torture such as light impact play on the breasts is also occasionally used outside of the BDSM context to provide stimulation and pleasure during conventional sex. While breast and nipple torture is usually performed on women, most techniques or methods may also be used on men.
BDSM is a frequent theme in culture and media, including in books, films, television, music, magazines, public performances and online media.
Lee Harrington is a sexuality and spirituality educator, author, and artist, currently based in Denver, Colorado. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he began transitioning from female to male in 2007.
