BDSM is several different often erotic methods or roleplaying involving bondage, self-discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other associated 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 alleged to depend upon self-identification and shared knowledge.

The initialism BDSM is very first recorded within a Usenet submit from 1991, and 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 now used to be a capture-all phrase covering a wide range of things to do, forms of interpersonal interactions, and unique subcultures. BDSM communities generally welcome any one that has a non-normative streak who identifies With all the community; this will likely contain cross-dressers, physique modification fans, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and Other folks.

Activities 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 applied to distinguish these roles: the dominant lover ("dom") requires psychological Regulate more than the submissive ("sub"). The phrases top and bottom also are utilized; the highest is 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 decide to work as base to another individual, by way of example, by remaining whipped, purely recreationally, without any implication of getting psychologically dominated, and submissives can be purchased to therapeutic massage their dominant partners. Although the bottom carries out the action and the very best gets it, they have got not essentially switched roles.

The abbreviations sub and dom are frequently employed as an alternative to submissive and dominant. From time to time the feminine-specific terms mistress, domme, and dominatrix are utilized to describe a dominant lady, as opposed to the often gender-neutral expression dom. People who transform concerning major/dominant and base/submissive roles—regardless of whether from connection to romantic relationship or in a presented romance—are identified as switches. The exact definition of roles and self-identification is a typical matter of debate amongst BDSM individuals.