Consent in a Shibari Scene

Shibari is a BDSM practice, and like any other BDSM practice, it is important to have good communication, trust, and to never forget consent and negotiations before a scene.

Consent is very important. If you rely only on implied consent, there is a lot of room for misinterpretation. Therefore, you cannot count on someone being able to read your mind. Consequently, it is important to never assume that they know what you want and don’t want.

It is very important to have a frank and honest conversation about boundaries and consent with your partner. You need to talk about mutual expectations, limits and experience.

Talking about boundaries, limits, experience, and expectations before the scene can prevent things you don’t want to happen. Negotiation also comes with consent, where you get to negotiate what to do or what not to do, and how far you might go. Some topics that you can use for the pre-negotiation can be:

The main purpose of the scene.
What is the mood of the scene going to be?
Keywords to “stop” and “slow down”.
What is the setting of the scene? and Where would it be?
Is sexual activity welcome in the scene? To what extent?
What things are we going to avoid?
What do you want to include?
Is nudity or partial nudity welcome in this scene?
Can we take pictures and videos, and if so, are we going to publish them?
Are other objects apart from rope welcome in the scene?

Consent and negotiation must be given without any sign of impaired judgment. Consent can also be revoked, since you might change your mind during the session, but it needs to be communicated very clearly.

Now you know everything you need about consent in a Shibari scene.

Image: Shibari Academy