Consider, for a moment, tattoos. Removable and temporary tattoos are gaining in popularity. But there goes the whole cachet of tattoos, really. The very reason they're worth having is, in fact, the ordeal you go through to get them and the finality of the decision. Therein lies the line that separates the inked from everyone else.
Boxing, mountain climbing, weight lifting, straight teeth, ballet, zazen, piercings, rugby — the list goes on and on of things you can't enjoy without a little risk and/or pain. And yet when it comes to sex, mention risk or pain and most people will run for the exits.
There is a not-so-small group of people, though, who consider the torment of being bound and suspended in ropes an exquisite experience. This is not surprising: cultures all over the world have long histories of body crisis rituals, whether voodoo possession in Haiti, the Apache sun dances, or the trance-state dancing of the Guedra in Morocco. In one sense, bondage has become a sexualized replacement of these lost, archaic rituals.