Handcuffs Fetish

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The effect and attraction of handcuffs, to a fetishist, are as significant in the concept of them as they are in the use of them. They have become a vital component of BDSM scenarios and their usefulness in role-plays to demonstrate the hierarchy at work between the characters is never in doubt.

For a submissive, or a switch, one of the main initial encounters with handcuffs that allows an understanding of their significance and potential is their first sighting of a security guard or, even better, a policeman. A fantasy association is made between a badge of authority, a sturdy leather belt and finally with that all important pair of, publically sanctioned, handcuffs.

A dominant will identify with the user of the cuffs instead and apply them to a submissive as a tool for correction, control and punishment. Having the use of their hands restricted removes the submissives ability to make physical contact in any meaningful way and cuts off a key sense pleasure. Cuffs, fetters and shackles are also a fetishistic shorthand for enslavement and this message is understood in every society.

Cuffs, in the way they hang and dangle from waistbands, can also be read as a type of fetishistic jewellery or metaphor for strength and sexual potency.