Aesthetic

Originally, “aesthetic” was a philosophical term with quite a complex meaning. However, many people are using it right now to refer to something that is beautiful, especially on social media. It is important to know this because some people praise a Shibari scene when they see it by saying that it looks aesthetic.

In the case of Shibari, many people can see just how beautiful the combination of the skin with the ropes looks, and how the patterns and the knots blend with the bottom’s position.

However, aesthetic being the new way of saying pretty is not the end of the story. Even though that’s the most common use of the word, there are other connotations for it.

First of all, when something is aesthetic, it means that it has a purpose, as opposed to something more spontaneous. So, for example, someone may look pretty in a certain outfit. But, if that person just grabbed the first clothes at hand, it wouldn’t be aesthetic. On the other hand, when someone spends an hour choosing and combing their outfit until they get the specific result they were aiming for, that is aesthetic.

In the case of Shibari, it is evident for any bondage enthusiast that it is something done purposefully. Even though there is a place for spontaneity in a scene, most of what happens is planned ahead, mainly for safety and consent reasons.

Aesthetic is also used to indicate that something is photogenic and shareable. Once again, anyone can see just how beautiful Shibari turns out to be. It is even difficult to take a bad picture of a Shibari scene. And sharing rope content on social media usually brings positive comments and admiration.

So, we can say that Shibari is aesthetic, according to the current use of the word.