Bondage means restriction of a person’s bodily movement for erotic reasons using fastenings of various kinds. It can either involve fastening parts of the body to each other (such as cuffing the hands) or tethering to another object (such as chaining someone to a cross or bench), or even to another body!
There are countless different bondage techniques: some bondage practitioners become highly skilled and take pride in their originality and invention, and bondage competitions are popular features of many SM events. On the other hand, the simple act of tying someone’s hands behind their back with a plain but reliable knot can carry such a profound symbolic charge that it may be as effective as an elaborate creation involving total immobility.