BDSM is a number of usually erotic techniques or roleplaying involving bondage, self-control, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Offered the wide range of practices, some of which can be engaged in by people who don't think about themselves to be practising BDSM, inclusion in the BDSM Group or subculture normally is claimed to depend upon self-identification and shared knowledge.

The initialism BDSM is very first recorded within a Usenet submit from 1991, and it is interpreted as a mix of the abbreviations B/D (Bondage and Self-control), D/s (Dominance and submission), and S/M (Sadism and Masochism). BDSM is currently utilized to be a capture-all phrase covering a wide range of functions, kinds of interpersonal relationships, and distinctive subcultures. BDSM communities normally welcome any person with a non-normative streak who identifies While using the Local community; this will involve cross-dressers, overall body modification fanatics, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and Many others.

Pursuits and relationships in BDSM will often be characterised from the members' taking on roles which have been complementary and entail inequality of power; As a result, the idea of knowledgeable consent of each the companions is essential. The phrases submissive and dominant are often utilised to distinguish these roles: the dominant associate ("dom") takes psychological Management over the submissive ("sub"). The phrases major and bottom also are used; the very best is definitely the instigator of an action though the bottom would be the receiver of your action. The two sets of phrases are subtly distinctive: as an example, another person may elect to work as base to a different individual, by way of example, by remaining whipped, purely recreationally, without any implication of getting psychologically dominated, and submissives can be purchased to massage their dominant partners. Although the bottom carries out the action and the highest gets it, they may have not necessarily switched roles.

The abbreviations sub and dom are often employed in place of submissive and dominant. In some cases the female-particular terms mistress, domme, and dominatrix are employed to describe a dominant girl, as an alternative to the in some cases gender-neutral time period dom. People who improve between leading/dominant and bottom/submissive roles—no matter whether from romance to marriage or inside of a specified relationship—are called switches. The precise definition of roles and self-identification is a standard issue of discussion between BDSM members.