Skip to content
18+
Kinkcenter › Guides › Consent & communication

Consent in kink: informed, ongoing, revocable

This guide explains how consent is understood in BDSM, from explicit agreement and negotiation to safewords and the main consent models.[1] The topic matters because acts undertaken without explicit consent may be considered abusive within the community.[2]

In short

  • Consent within BDSM is the explicit and informed agreement by a participant to engage in specific acts or types of relationships.[1]
  • Where an act has been previously consented to, the consent can be terminated at any point, and by any participant, through using a safeword.[3]
  • One study has shown that BDSM negotiations to establish consent consist of four parts: style of play, body parts, limits and safewords.[4]
  • Safe, sane and consensual (SSC) is the most recognisable consent model and risk-aware consensual kink (RACK) is the second most popular, and SSC is not without criticism.[5][6]
  • Researchers and kink educators warn that sexual choking is not as safe as many people think.[7]
The consent cycleSix steps in a circle: learn, talk, negotiate, play with check-ins, aftercare, reflect, and back to learning.Consent isongoingLearnTalkNegotiatePlay, with check-insAftercareReflect
Consent is not a single yes. It is revisited before, during and after every scene.

What consent means

Consent within BDSM is described as the explicit and informed agreement by a participant to engage in specific acts or types of relationships.[1] It bears much in common with the concept of informed consent.[1]

It is described as simultaneously a personal, ethical and social issue that attracts much attention within BDSM.[1] That attention has resulted in competing models of consent.[1]

Negotiation before play

One study has shown that BDSM negotiations to establish consent consist of four parts, covering style of play, body parts, limits and safewords.[4]

Fifty Shades is the popular exemplar, where consent is shown through a series of contracts and frank discussions.[8] There is controversy as to how far it goes and how well it defines the lines of consent, but it provides a starting point for any discussion.[8]

Revocable consent and safewords

Where an act has been previously consented to, the consent can be terminated at any point, and by any participant, through using a safeword.[3]

Within the BDSM community, it is generally considered a high risk activity to engage in BDSM without a safeword.[2] Those who ignore the use of a safeword may be shunned within the BDSM subculture.[2]

In a survey of 513 US adults, BDSM experience was positively associated with the use of safe words.[9] The study used a convenience sample, so its findings must be interpreted with acknowledgment of its limitations.[9]

Consent models: SSC and RACK

Safe, sane and consensual (SSC) is the most recognisable and popular model of consent in BDSM circles, though not without criticism.[5] Risk-aware consensual kink (RACK) is the second most popular model and was created to overcome perceived shortcomings of SSC.[6]

RACK is generally permissive of certain risky behaviours, as long as the participants are fully aware of the risks.[6] It acknowledges that nothing is ever 100% inherently safe, so within RACK there is only 'safer' and 'less safe'.[10][11]

David Stein, who coined the SSC phrase, says it was only intended as a minimum standard for ethically defensible S/M play.[12] Less well-known models include CCC (Committed, Compassionate, Consensual) and the 4 C's (Caring, Communication, Consent, Caution).[13]

Advance consent: a contested practice

Consensual non-consent (CNC), also called meta-consent and blanket consent, is a mutual agreement to be able to act as if consent has been waived.[14] Comprehensive consent is given in advance, with the intent of it being irrevocable under most circumstances.[14]

CNC is considered a show of extreme trust and understanding.[15] It is controversial within BDSM circles, even often frowned upon due to concerns about abuse and safety, and it is mainly limited to those in Master/slave relationships.[15]

Injury, risk and the limits of the evidence

Little is known about the physical marks and injuries that individuals sustain from consensual BDSM-related activities.[9] One exploratory study found that marks and injuries are common and quite varied.[9]

Researchers and kink educators write that sexual choking is not as safe as you think.[7] They also report significant problems with consent and legal issues.[7]

Legal cases and public debate

The 2007 conviction of Glenn Marcus on counts of sex trafficking and forced labour renewed much debate on the issue of consent in BDSM, both within and outside the community.[16]

In April 2007, two UK men were convicted of false imprisonment in a case where a third party asserted the matter had not been consensual.[17] Cases of consensual adult choking involving injury or death have resulted in criminal or civil charges in the US.[7]

Terms in this guide: Consent, Safeword, Negotiation, SSC (Safe, Sane, Consensual), RACK (Risk-Aware Consensual Kink), 4Cs (Caring, Communication, Consent, Caution), BDSM, Hard limit / soft limit

Sources

  1. Source grade BWilliams, D.J. (2014). "From "SSC" and "RACK" to the "4Cs": Introducing a new framework for negotiating BDSM participation" . Journal of Human Sexuality . 17 : 1– 10 – via Gale Academic. go.gale.com (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  2. Source grade B”collarncuffs.com on safewords” collarncuffs.com; Holt, Karen (2016). "Blacklisted: Boundaries, Violations, and Retaliatory Behavior in the BDSM Community" . Deviant Behavior . 37 (8): 917– 930. doi : 10.1080/01639625.2016.1156982 – via Taylor & Francis. tandfonline.com (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  3. Source grade ABrown, Ashley (2019). "A Systematic Scoping Review of the Prevalence, Etiological, Psychological, and Interpersonal Factors Associated with BDSM" . Journal of Sex Research . 57 (6): 781– 811. doi : 10.1080/00224499.2019.1665619 . PMID 31617765 – via Taylor & Francis. tandfonline.com (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  4. Source grade B“Conversational-Phases-in-BDSM-Pre-Scene-Negotiation” Journal of Positive Sexuality journalofpositivesexuality.org (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  5. Source grade CJacques, Trevor (1993). On the Safe Edge: A manual for SM play (1st ed.). Toronto, Canada: WholeSM Publishing. pp. 3– 4. ISBN 9781895857054 . (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  6. Source grade CSwitch, Gary (2001). " "Origin of RACK: RACK vs. SSC" " . Vancouver Leather . Archived from the original on 2009-05-01 . Retrieved 2024-04-18 . web.archive.org (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  7. Source grade BRatcliff SE, Wright S, Herbenick D, Sunassee AA, Cummings K, Zachary T, et al.. Why Sexual Choking Is Not as Safe as You Think: A Call to Action from Sex Researchers and Kink Educators. Arch Sex Behav. 2026;55(6):2397-2412. doi:10.1007/s10508-026-03481-7
  8. Source grade C"How Does the Fifty Shades Novel Handle Themes of Consent? - GoodNovel" . goodnovel.com (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  9. Source grade BDrouin M, Hernandez E, Machette A, Garcia JR, Boyd RL. An exploration of marks/injuries related to BDSM sexual experiences. Sex Med. 2023. doi:10.1093/sexmed/qfad020
  10. Source grade CKhan, Ummni (2014-05-27). Vicarious Kinks: S/M in the Socio-Legal Imaginary . University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-6810-2 . books.google.com (via Wikipedia: Risk-aware consensual kink)
  11. Source grade Cdanae (2003). "Rack vs. SSC" . Within Reality. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16 . Retrieved 2010-10-05 . web.archive.org (via Wikipedia: Risk-aware consensual kink)
  12. Source grade Cdavid stein (2002). " "Safe Sane Consensual" The Making of a Shibboleth" (PDF) . VASM Scene . Vancouver Activists in S/M. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-09-11 . Retrieved 2010-10-05 . boybear.us (via Wikipedia: Risk-aware consensual kink)
  13. Source grade CKaak, Ayesha. "B&D, S&M, D&S, RACK, PRICK, SSC... An entree of acronym soup and kink" . Australian National University. academia.edu (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  14. Source grade C"Consensual non-consent" Archived 2009-09-01 at the Wayback Machine , Informed Consent dictionary, Accessed 12 June 2012. informedconsent.co.uk; Dictionary of BDSM Terms , "Consensual Non-Consent", Accessed 12 June 2012. xeromag.com; Masterboundyou (2021-01-20). "5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CONSENSUAL NON-CONSENT" . BoundYou . Retrieved 2025-07-17 . boundyou.wordpress.com; "What is Blanket Consent? (Free Use & CNC) - Dom sub Relationship" . 2023-10-30 . Retrieved 2025-07-17 . domsubrelationship.com; "CNC, Blanket Consent and everything in between" . Altlife.Community . Retrieved 2025-07-17 . altlife.community (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  15. Source grade C"Consensual non-consent" Archived 2009-09-01 at the Wayback Machine , Informed Consent dictionary, Accessed 12 June 2012. informedconsent.co.uk (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  16. Source grade C" "Sex Slave Trial" New York Post" . Archived from the original on 2007-03-12 . Retrieved 2007-03-19 . web.archive.org (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)
  17. Source grade C"Man was forced to live like a dog" - BBC News . ( Analysis of consent issues on BDSM forum Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine ) news.bbc.co.uk (via Wikipedia: Consent in BDSM)

Grades: A systematic review or official classification, B peer-reviewed study, C expert or community organisation, D practice from the community without research. How we grade sources.

Every claim was checked against its source before publication. Last checked 8 October 2026.