BDSM
author: Sofia Quintas individual exhibition

BDSM

BDSM stands for: B of Bondage; DS of Domination/Submission; SM of Sadomasochism.
Their protagonists are Dominators (or Tops), those who control; and submissives (bottoms), those who submit themselves to the wills of others. There are also switchers that according to the stimulus of the partner can be Tops or bottoms. Other identities, with their own choices, and less visible in the BDSM scene, are Fetichists and CrossDressers.

The psychological domination is the base of BDSM that guides itself by the acronym SSC: Safe, Sane and Consensual. These are three conditions without which BDSM becomes violence. In BDSM everything is mutually consented, whether physic or psychological. A sexual stimulation is always present, although not all BDSM relations pass through sex. In the community a relation without BDSM practices is called vanilla.

There's an establishment and quarrel of limits and safewords. Each of the participants clarifies until where admits to go, and where has its limits in terms of practices and experiences. All these practices ask for accessories as whips, collars, chains, switches, handcufs, candles, leather, vinyl or latex clothes, ropes, hypodermic needles, uniforms, etc.

Text: Sofia Quintas