BDSM is many different usually erotic techniques or roleplaying involving bondage, willpower, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, along with other relevant interpersonal dynamics. Presented the wide selection of procedures, a number of which may be engaged in by people that usually do not take into account on their own for being practising BDSM, inclusion within the BDSM community or subculture often is alleged to rely upon self-identification and shared practical experience.

The initialism BDSM is 1st recorded in the 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 employed as a capture-all phrase covering an array of activities, varieties of interpersonal associations, and distinct subcultures. BDSM communities frequently welcome anybody with a non-normative streak who identifies While using the Neighborhood; this may involve cross-dressers, human body modification enthusiasts, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and Many others.

Pursuits and relationships in BDSM will often be characterized by the members' taking on roles that happen to be complementary and entail inequality of power; As a result, the idea of knowledgeable consent of both 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 highest is definitely the instigator of an motion though the bottom would be the receiver of the action. The two sets of conditions are subtly different: as an example, anyone might elect to work as base to another individual, one example is, by becoming whipped, purely recreationally, with no implication of staying psychologically dominated, and submissives may be ordered to massage their dominant companions. Even though the base carries out the motion and the best receives it, they've not always switched roles.

The abbreviations sub and dom are usually made use of rather than submissive and dominant. At times the female-distinct conditions mistress, domme, and dominatrix are made use of to explain a dominant female, instead of the occasionally gender-neutral phrase dom. Individuals who modify amongst top rated/dominant and base/submissive roles—irrespective of whether from partnership to partnership or inside a provided connection—are referred to as switches. The exact definition of roles and self-identification is a common topic of debate among BDSM participants.