4 myths about BDSM you need to stop believing, according to kink experts

Victor Moussa/Shutterstock

• BDSM, short for bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, and sadism-masochism, is a consensual sexual dynamic in which people play with power through different sexual acts.
• While classic representations of BDSM often feature dominatrixes and submissive leather-clad men, BDSM is an umbrella term that covers a numbers of kinks and fetishes.
• People engaging in BDSM have been framed as freaks, deviants, and sexually perverted in movies like "Secretary" and shows like "Nip/Tuck."
• Here are four common myths about BDSM, according to two kink specialists.

The acronym "BDSM" conjures images of leather-clad dominatrixes in high heeled boots hitting submissive men with a whip might to mind. That, or the erotic novel turned movie franchise "Fifty Shades of Grey."

But BDSM, or bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, and sadism-masochism, is more complicated than that.

From choking ("breath play") to being tied up ("rigging") to being hit with different items ("impact pay"), BDSM can refer to a number of kinks and fetishes. But at their root, sexual acts that fall under the BDSM all have one thing in common.

"It's really about consensual role-play and power exchange," said Phillip Hammack, professor of psychology at University of California Santa Cruz,.

Despite BDSM being a consensual sexual dynamic between adults, it has been stigmatized over the years, with people who engage in kink and fetish sex often framed as freaks or sexual deviants.

Here are four of the biggest myths about BDSM, according to two kink experts.