An Open Letter to the Kink Community: On Safety, Skill, and the Responsibility to Teach and Provide
Rope bondage is an inherently risky practice. When done skillfully, it can be a powerful medium for connection, creativity, and transformation. But when practiced or taught without adequate technical knowledge, rope can cause serious, permanent harm.
In recent months, I’ve seen a growing number of beginner practitioners offering to teach rope sometimes after only a handful of classes or personal experiences. While the enthusiasm for sharing is understandable, this trend poses very real dangers. Rope is not just an art form; it’s a form of edge play involving restricted circulation, compromised nerve pathways, and the potential for loss of life, limb function, or permanent nerve damage when done incorrectly.
Every tie, simple or complex, carries mechanical and anatomical risks. The human body is not built to endure compression in certain areas, and even small mistakes, such as rope placement over vulnerable parts of the body, poor tension causing sliding, or failure to recognize early warning signs of nerve compression can lead to injuries that never fully heal. I personally know more than a handful of people who have sustained permanent injuries from rope. Teaching rope safely requires far more than knowing a few patterns or frictions.
It demands:
A working knowledge of human anatomy, especially nerve and circulatory systems.
Crisis management skills for responding immediately to signs of distress or medical emergency.
A deep understanding of load distribution, friction, and structural tension, particularly when teaching suspension.
Experience under supervision from qualified mentors who can identify unsafe habits before they become dangerous.
Beginners teaching beginners create a feedback loop of misinformation and unsafe habits that can escalate quickly. What may appear “fine” in one practice session can become catastrophic when repeated, shared, or scaled up especially in suspension work or partials where load-bearing safety becomes critical.
To those new to rope: please, take your time. Study with teachers who can demonstrate both technical mastery and risk awareness. Learn not only the beauty of rope, but the physics of it. There is no shortcut to competence when lives and limbs are at stake.
To those who feel called to teach: teaching is a responsibility. It requires humility, technical rigor, and readiness to act when things go wrong. If you haven’t yet apprenticed or studied in depth with someone experienced, this is an invitation to keep learning before you lead. Rope is beautiful because it is powerful and power demands respect. Let’s honor the lives, bodies, and trust of those we tie by ensuring that knowledge, safety, and skill always come first.
With respect and responsibility,
Misha Love
