The BDSM community has spent years combating the stubborn notion that being kinky is somehow the result of an unhappy or abusive childhood. Into spanking? Then you must have been spanked as a kid. Into being dominated by a man? You must have daddy issues. It was a relief when some studies showed that kinksters aren’t any more likely to have childhood trauma than vanilla people. But research is always evolving, and now a 2025 study paints a more complex picture. Here’s what you need to know.
If you get turned on by being told what to do in bed, obeying your partner’s commands, or being erotically humiliated, it’s possible you’re a submissive. This is the flip side of the D/s coin, or the “right side of the slash.” Whereas dominants guide the scenes and set the rules, submissives follow their lead. But, like follows in dance, submissives are responsible for maintaining their own frame and balance, making the entire D/s scene and dynamic possible.
Welcome to Part 2 of our complete guide to D/s, where we’ll be exploring all the ins and outs of being a BDSM submissive. (In Part 1, we did a deep dive into dominance.). In this post, we cover:
Ever felt the pull to take charge in the bedroom? To be the one who guides the experience, sets the rules, and is responsible for your partner’s pleasure and surrender? You might have a dominant inside you waiting to come out.
Among all the facets of BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism), dominanceandsubmission(D/s)is arguably the most widely practiced, and it’s easy to see why. Giving and taking control (power exchange) doesn’t require fancy toys or gear—it’s mental. And while it may seem simple, doing it well takes more than instinct.
Welcome to Part 1 of our complete guide to D/s.To kick off this series, we’re doing a deep dive into the left side of the slash to explore the dominant mindset. We cover:
With the release of GPT5 on August 7, we thought it would be a good time to revisit how to use AI for BDSM scene planning. In our previous post about using AI in BDSM, we prompted four AI LLMs to generate specific scene ideas. This time, we reran those same prompts across five models and added a new prompt. Some of the results surprised us!
When you’re new to BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism), the amount of information available can be overwhelming and confusing. You might find yourself wondering if BDSM is really for you (we did!), if you can call yourself kinky if you’re not into all the letters in the abbreviation (yes!), or if you’re an imposter if you’re not interested in being someone’s full-time, live-in master or slave (you’re not!).
Welcome to Bound Together’s complete guide to BDSM for beginners. What follows is a practical roadmap for people who want to explore BDSM in the bedroom without adopting what’s known as a 24/7 lifestyle. We’ll cover all the basics:
It’s no secret that a significant portion of BDSM practitioners are into pain. What’s less clear is whether kinky pain is providing some of those people with relief from chronic pain. A 2025 study explores whether BDSM helps or hurts kinksters with chronic pain conditions. Here’s what you need to know.
On the surface, the Disney+ miniseries Dying for Sex tells the true story of one woman’s erotic adventures as she grapples with terminal cancer. But it’s about much more than that. Through the show’s thoughtful and nuanced portrayal of BDSM, it explores themes of self-discovery, personal agency, and deep compassion.
When we think back to the first knots and spanks that marked our BDSM journeys, we realize that the advice that would have helped our younger selves find better and more mind-blowing experiences are exactly the same things we still do today. Here are five tips that helped us navigate BDSM with curiosity and care.
As anyone exploring BDSM has likely discovered, finding reliable educational resources can be a challenge. While experienced kinksters often emphasize the importance of classes and community learning, many newbies turn to pornography to explore and learn about kink. But how well does porn actually educate people about BDSM? A February 2025 study by Iris Ryn Olson and Bryce Westlake examines this question, revealing the gaps, benefits, and risks of using porn as a learning tool about BDSM. Here’s what you need to know about the study.
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Depending on what you read, the premise of the erotic drama Babygirl is either believable and feminist or unbelievable and deeply unfeminist. The kink in the movie is either realistic and titillating or unrealistic and passe. The movie was either clearly made by someone with kink experience or by vanilla know-nothings. There have been so many contradictory takes on this movie it’s hard to know what to think.
But the director, Halina Reijn, has given us a huge hint about this tale of a high-powered female CEO’s D/s affair with a young male intern. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she said, “We’re witnessing two people who are not doing it totally right. They have no experience in the Dom/sub world. My movie is a fable, it’s not a documentary. It’s a cautionary tale.” It’s through this lens that we’ll discuss the good and the bad of Babygirl. (This post does include spoilers.)
