'Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
—Rihanna, "S&M"
Tropes related to BDSM (i.e. bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism.) and its depiction in fiction.
Most of these tropes are sexual in nature, as media overwhelmingly tends to treat the subject as the Subculture of the Week. Those who adopt it as a lifestyle do not necessarily see it as sexual; see the Useful Notes page for more information. Some of the tropes listed here are used in non-sexual contexts as well.
While often used interchangeably with terms like "fetish" or "kink", note that this also isn't intended to cover any sexual fetish under the sun, such as Casual Kink.
See also Sadism Index and A Restrained Index. For a harsher meaning of "bondage", see A Slave to the Index.
Tropes:
- Abuse Mistake: If the activities are viewed as non-consensual by an outsider.
- Aggressive Submissive: Someone whose personality is normally domineering or aggressive is submissive in the bedroom.
- Bondage Is Bad: BDSM associated with villainy.
- Bound and Gagged: A person who's tied up and silenced.
- Brains and Bondage: Intelligent people in particular being drawn to BDSM.
- Combat Sadomasochist: A combatant who enjoys inflicting and receiving pain.
- Dominance Through Furniture: Power is proved by reducing living beings to the level of chairs.
- Dominatrix: A sexually dominant woman.
- Dressed All in Rubber: Fetish clothing is often made of latex.
- Dressed Like a Dominatrix: A villainous or at least dubious character wears clothing inspired by BDSM.
- Erotic Asphyxiation: Restricting the air supply of the submissive.
- Fetishes Are Weird: Fetishism is associated with creepiness.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Fetish clothing is often made of leather.
- Heroic Seductress: An heroine uses her sex to dominate over the bad guys.
- Kinky Cuffs: Handcuffs are associated with BDSM.
- Kinky Role-Playing: Play-acting in a fetish context may involve "dominant" and "submissive" roles.
- Kinky Spanking: Spanking as a form of domination.
- Mischief for Punishment: When the submissive desires punishment.
- Obligatory Bondage Song: A song themed around bondage.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Dominatrixes (or those whose designs are inspired by dominatrixes) often wear sexy, revealing corsets.
- Pink Is Erotic: The color pink represents eroticism and scenes of a sexual nature.
- Power Dynamics Kink: Wielding authority over a submissive person as kink.
- Powerful People Are Subs: People in positions of authority in daily life are submissive in the bedroom.
- Property of Love: Being seen as someone else's property as a form of affection.
- Psychosexual Horror: A subgenre that explores psychosexual development as a subject matter, including themes of sexual development and sexual activities.
- Sadist: A character who enjoys the pain of others, which can be sexual.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Guidelines for engaging in healthy and enjoyable BDSM.
- Safe Word: A word used by the submissive as a safety measure if their boundaries have been crossed.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Traditional methods of "enhanced interrogation" prove ineffective against masochists.
- Unwilling Suspension: A person who is tied up and hanging helplessly.
- Whip of Dominance: Using a whip as a symbol of dominance, control, authority, or sadism.
