Restraint

Ties, cuffs, or holds that keep a body from moving freely.

Why people do it

Being unable to move takes the decisions away, and for a lot of people that is the whole appeal — nothing to do, nothing to be responsible for. For the person tying, it is the slowest and most deliberate way to say that someone is theirs for the next hour.

Smallest way in

Wrists in front with a scarf or a dressing-gown belt, ten minutes, in the room you already use. Nothing behind the back and nothing anchored to furniture on the first night.

What to watch

Safety shears within arm reach before the first knot, every time, and a spare key if anything locks. Two flat fingers of room under every wrap. Check the fingers for colour and warmth, and take a tie down after twenty minutes even if it feels fine. Keep rope off the mid-upper arm — the radial nerve runs there and is behind most bondage injuries. Never leave a tied person alone.

In the planner

101 different things carry this tag, and switching it off removes every one of them. The mildest of them sits at easy.