BDSM is various generally erotic tactics or roleplaying involving bondage, willpower, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other connected interpersonal dynamics. Provided the wide range of methods, some of which may be engaged in by people who don't think about themselves to generally be practising BDSM, inclusion during the BDSM Group or subculture typically is claimed to rely on self-identification and shared expertise.

The initialism BDSM is initial recorded in a Usenet post from 1991, and is particularly interpreted as a mix of the abbreviations B/D (Bondage and Self-discipline), D/s (Dominance and submission), and S/M (Sadism and Masochism). BDSM is now made use of being a catch-all phrase masking a wide array of routines, forms of interpersonal interactions, and unique subcultures. BDSM communities usually welcome anyone that has a non-normative streak who identifies Together with the community; this could incorporate cross-dressers, physique modification fans, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and Other folks.

Actions and interactions in BDSM are frequently characterised with the participants' taking up roles which are complementary and require inequality of electrical power; So, the concept of educated consent of the two the associates is crucial. The conditions submissive and dominant tend to be made use of to distinguish these roles: the dominant lover ("dom") requires psychological Regulate more than the submissive ("sub"). The phrases major and bottom also are used; the very best is definitely the instigator of an action though the bottom may be the receiver of your action. The two sets of phrases are subtly distinctive: for instance, an individual may perhaps decide to act as base to a different human being, for instance, by currently being whipped, purely recreationally, with none implication of being psychologically dominated, and submissives could be requested to therapeutic massage their dominant associates. Even though the base carries out the action and the top receives it, they've got not automatically switched roles.

The abbreviations sub and dom are commonly made use of rather than submissive and dominant. At times the female-distinct phrases mistress, domme, and dominatrix are applied to explain a dominant female, in lieu of the sometimes gender-neutral term dom. Individuals who alter among best/dominant and bottom/submissive roles—no matter whether from romance to marriage or inside of a given relationship—are called switches. The precise definition of roles and self-identification is a standard issue of discussion between BDSM members.