Definition of BDSM
plural BDSMs
: sexual activity involving such practices as the use of physical restraints, the granting and relinquishing of control, and the infliction of pain
- BDSM refers to a range of sexual preferences that generally relate to enjoyment of physical control, psychological control, and/or pain. It can be broken down into six overarching components: bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadism and masochism. Bondage and discipline consist of using physical or psychological restraints, domination and submission involve an exchange of power and control, and sadism and masochism refer to taking pleasure in others' or one's own pain or humiliation. Those who practice BDSM may identify with one or more, in any combination, of these components.
- —Ali Hebert and Angela Weaver, Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, August 2014
- Whatever one thinks of BDSM, given the pain and intensity associated with it, it certainly doesn't come across as a stress-reducing activity—to most outsiders, there wouldn't appear to be anything relaxing about whips and handcuffs.
- —Roni Jacobson, New York Magazine, 3 Feb. 2015
