BDSM is a preference and sometimes form of personal relationship centering around activities that are erotic but may not be sexual, and which may include the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role play.

Practitioners of BDSM vary hugely in their perception of what activities are integral to BDSM, and some borderline activities ( light bondage, hot wax, blindfolds ) may be practiced by people identifying as " vanilla " ( i. e., not into BDSM ) – so inclusion in the community is usually dependent on self-proclaimed identification with the community.

Although there are many people who identify as being into BDSM who don't share the experience with anyone besides play-or sexual partners, " BDSM " is also used to denote a subculture of people interested in BDSM who may socialize together, educate each other, and throw " play parties " at which BDSM activities are welcome.

BDSM is currently frequently used as a catch-all phrase to includes a wide range of activities, forms of interpersonal relationships, and distinct subcultures which may or may not fit well into the original three intended categories.

Dominatrix ( plural dominatrixes or dominatrices ) or mistress is a woman who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline ( in sexual-fetish sense of the word ) and sadomasochism, or BDSM.

The term dominatrix is sometimes used to describe a professional dominant ( or " pro-domme ") who is paid to engage in BDSM with a submissive.

It should be noted that the term " lifestyle " to signify BDSM is occasionally a contention topic in the BDSM community and that some dominatrices may dislike the term.

" You can look but you can't touch " is the mechanism of this operation, which plays upon the BDSM practice known as " tease and denial ".

The domestic discipline scenario is commonly invoked in erotic spanking, but with a bare bottom or totally nude, with bondage and less direct physical contact being a feature of BDSM.

In BDSM, a top or dominant is the partner in a BDSM relationship or in a BDSM scene who takes the active or controlling role over that of the bottom or submissive partner ( s ).

The top is the actor within the BDSM context who applies to the bottom partner ( s ) the techniques of a sexual, sensual, and psychological activity: flogging, bondage, servitude, or humiliation.

While it is possible that a dominant would not act as a top and thus have no expression of his or her control through kink-or fetish-based activities, it may be argued that such a relationship, lacking any erotic aspect to the exercise of control, would fall outside of the BDSM context.

The acceptance of a bottom or submissive role in a BDSM relationship, is seldom absolute, often operating within a set of defined limits.

Often, it is interpreted as sex which does not involve such elements as BDSM, kink, or fetish activities.

This belief is partly based on certain things often found in the parades, such as public nudity, BDSM paraphernalia, and other sexualized features.

In recent times anarchism has also voiced opinions and taken action around certain sex related subjects such as pornography, BDSM and the sex industry.

It can also be used to describe insertive sex without any element of BDSM or any fetish.

In addition to referring to LGBT-identifying people, it can also encompass: pansexual, pomosexual, intersexual, genderqueer, asexual and autosexual people, and even gender normative heterosexuals whose sexual orientations or activities place them outside the heterosexual-defined mainstream, e. g., BDSM practitioners, or polyamorous persons.

Watersports may also be used in a BDSM scene as a form of humiliation, sometimes involving desperation until incontinence or infantilization, sometimes physical humiliation associated with being urinated on or pressured to consume urine.

It may also be used as a part of sex or in conjunction with other BDSM activities.

It also mentions BDSM activities such as slapping and moaning as " play ".

BDSM imagery and paraphernalia are also common.

Munches can also be a place to get advice about or pass on anecdotes about BDSM experiences.

The handkerchief code ( also known as the hanky code, the bandana code, and flagging ) is a color-coded system, employed usually among the gay male casual-sex seekers or BDSM practitioners in the leather subculture in the United States, Canada, and Europe, to indicate preferred sexual fetishes, what kind of sex they are seeking, and whether they are a top / dominant or bottom / submissive.

Aside from fashion and medical uses, corsets are also used in sexual fetishism, most notably in BDSM activities.

The term can also include BDSM apparatus and sex furniture such as slings, however it is not applied to items such as birth control, pornography, or condoms.

There is also a lot of information and features on fetishism and BDSM in general.

In recent years, Kinbaku has become popular in the Western BDSM scene in its own right and has also profoundly influenced bondage, combining to produce many ' fusion ' styles.

Sensation play in BDSM can also involve sadomasochistic play, involving the application of carefully controlled stimuli to the human body so that it reacts as if it were actually hurt.

Many people associate leather culture with BDSM ( Bondage / Discipline, Dominance / Submission, Sado / Masochism, also called " SM " or " S & M ") practices and its many subcultures.

Risk-aware consensual kink ( RACK, also risk-accepted consensual kink ) is an acronym used by some of the BDSM community to describe a philosophical view that is generally permissive of certain risky sexual behaviors, as long as the participants are fully aware of the risks.

Practices of domination common to many BDSM and other various sexual relationships are also prevalent, such as various forms of orgasm denial, cock and ball torture, tease and denial and tie and tease, as well as ageplay, erotic spanking, cunnilingus, body worship, foot worship, ass worship, face slapping, hair pulling, caning, dripping hot wax on the genitals, heavy whipping, spitting, golden showers, forced chastity and forced bisexuality.

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

Subspace ( also sub space, flying, or floating ), in the context of a BDSM scene, is a psychological state that can sometimes be entered by the person bottoming in the scene.

The psychological aspect of BDSM also causes many bottoms to mentally separate themselves from their environment as they process the experience.

In modern times, male infibulation may be performed for personal preferences or as part of BDSM.

While many in the BDSM community consider safewords to be an essential part of safe play, there is a contingent that chooses to occasionally play without using safewords.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty was an erotic trilogy published in the 1980s by Anne Rice which contained bondage scenarios, as part of a wide range of BDSM acts.

Many of the most common sexual roleplays involve a power differential and form part of the dominance and submission aspect of BDSM.

In BDSM, servitude refers to performing personal tasks for their dominant partner, as part of their submissive role in a BDSM relationship.

* as part of games of BDSM and sexual bondage

Since then, the lifestyle around male dominance and has grown into a large part of the BDSM scene.

It is also used in BDSM activities especially on female submissives most commonly as a part of tease and denial.

Play piercing as part of a BDSM scene can produce an intense natural endorphin high which can last for hours and can induce orgasm in many of the people who experience it.

This practice is done in some cultures as a rite of passage or as part of a BDSM performance.

Whips can be used on oneself as part of a religious practice, or on consenting persons during BDSM activities.

This includes the freedom to take part in sexual activities which were previously considered unacceptable or even criminalized, such as BDSM, fetishes, and homosexuality.

A wide variety of chastity devices make use of frenum piercings to secure themselves to the penis, as part of fetish or BDSM activities.

In BDSM, it's not uncommon for ice play to be used more elaborately ; ice is frequently used as an insertable ( for the vagina, anus, and occasionally for the male urethra ), part or whole of the body may be shortly immersed in ice or ice water, or ice may be used to provide contrast in a scene that also involves warm or hot stimuli.

In Germany, the pop punk band Die Ärzte recorded the song Sweet, Sweet Gwendoline that introduced her to a large part of the population that otherwise had no contact to the BDSM subculture.

Body worship is any practice of physically reverencing a part of another person's body, and is usually done as a submissive act in the context of BDSM.

Used as part of cock and ball torture within a BDSM relationship, the parachute provides a constant drag, and squeezing effect on the man's testicles, moderate weights of 3 – 5 kg can be suspended, especially during bondage.

This is widely used as a part of the scene in various BDSM activities such as human furniture, bondage, public humiliation, and animal roleplay. A woman wearing a leather Straitjacket with leg irons

Like other " heavy " genital modifications, it may be performed under less than ideal situations by amateur practitioners as part of CBT or other BDSM activities.

* In the BDSM subculture, a houseboy performs domestic chores as part of a D / s relationship, for whom he handles all of the domestic chores.

BDSM activities, especially those incorporating a degree of sensation play often cultivate the endorphin rush as part of their " payoff " to the sub.

* fetishes, such as shoe / boot worship, uniforms, smoking, latex, heavy rubber, among others are activities considered part of BDSM