Both sides of the rope

Most rope involves two people: one who ties and one who is tied. The names for these roles describe what someone is doing in a given scene, not who they are. Shakti Bliss, writing for Shibari Study, points out that “top” and “bottom” do not by themselves mean dominance or submission; any power exchange is something people agree on, not something the words imply. Shibari Study’s glossary makes the same point: a bottom is not necessarily submissive.

The tying side: rigger or rope top

The person who puts the rope on is usually called the rigger. Shibari Study’s glossary notes that some people question the word, since rigging is also a trade that requires formal qualifications, yet it now commonly stands in for rope top. Anatomie Studio in London adds that some prefer “rope top”, and that neither term should be confused with “dominant”. Voudou Ropes gives the Japanese word shibarite, literally the tying hand; the Japanese terms for rope teachers include nawashi and bakushi.

Tying asks for more than technique. People surveyed by Shakti Bliss described how many small choices a rigger makes at once, about where a line goes and how much tension to use, while also reading what the person in the rope is feeling, and the emotional, physical and mental responsibility that comes with it.

The tied side: rope bottom or model

The person in the rope is the rope bottom, also called the rope model; Voudou Ropes gives the Japanese shibariuke, the receiver of the tie. Anatomie Studio, founded by a rope bottom, calls bottoming half of every rope pairing and a skill in its own right, and notes that classes and workshops have increasingly recognized this over the past decade, with dedicated resources and prerequisites for models.

Why do practitioners insist the role is active? Voudou Ropes puts it plainly: being in rope is neither a passive nor a powerless position, because the bottom shapes the scene by communicating, adjusting their body and bringing their own energy. Shakti Bliss describes the bottom’s breath, movement and expression as constantly feeding into what happens next.

The skills people name are consistent. Anatomie Studio lists body awareness and moving well within a tie, learning to tell the ache of effort from sharp pain that signals a stop, a working knowledge of the nerves that rope can affect, and above all communication: describing sensations precisely, sometimes through signals agreed in advance. Voudou Ropes adds knowing your own limits and saying them. Both note that this develops over years, and Anatomie Studio acknowledges it is not always easy; some bottoms go quiet in rope, others hesitate to voice discomfort, which is why it recommends raising this before the scene so the partner knows what to expect.

Switch

A switch enjoys both tying and being tied without identifying with just one of them; Shibari Study’s glossary notes the word is used across BDSM, not just rope. Shakti Bliss reports that people who switch describe gaining empathy for how tension lands and how quickly intensity builds, and that tops who have been tied tend to pay more attention to pacing.

Self-tying

Tying your own body is self-tying, in Japanese jibaku. Anatomie Studio describes it as practice and also a way of connecting with yourself. Shibari Study’s self-tying article presents it as its own practice rather than a lesser version of partnered rope: you are the one tying and the one tied at the same time. The people it quotes self-tie for creativity, for sensation, as a calming or meditative practice, for independence, and to understand what the people they tie go through.

What “rope bunny” means

Rope bunny is an informal name for the person who is tied. Voudou Ropes treats it as playful: some people use “rope bottom” as the general term and keep “bunny” as friendly slang. Shibari Study’s glossary says that in the United States it often suggests enthusiasm, as in “gym bunny”, but can also be taken as belittling, so it is best left for people to choose for themselves. Anatomie Studio goes further, calling the term controversial and less used as rope scenes have diversified, with many people put off by its cute tone. For the full guide to the word and the etiquette around it, see our guide to being a rope bunny, or choosing another word. Between “bottom” and “model”, Anatomie Studio sees preferences vary by community: “bottom” carries a kink association, “model” does not, and people disagree about whether “model” sounds more passive or more professional.

How people find their side

Many people start on one side and later explore the other. Shakti Bliss calls her own path, from rope bottom to self-tying to tying others, a fairly common arc, and lists reasons people give for crossing over: curiosity about what is actually happening in the rope, spaces where tops are in short supply, wanting the same knowledge as the person tying them, or a change in their personal life. The author of Shibari Study’s self-tying article recalls first assuming everyone was either a rigger or a bottom before learning that people can do both, or tie themselves.

Community guides describe a conversation before any rope goes on. Anatomie Studio lists the kinds of things discussed: injuries, medications, sensations someone wants or does not want, and parts of the body that are off limits, adding that these can shift over time or from one day to the next, which keeps the conversation open. Voudou Ropes describes a safe word that ends a scene at once, the bottom’s right to decline a tie or a partner at any point, including shortly before starting, and the expectation that a rigger sticks to what was agreed. For the wider picture, see safety and Finding people to tie with.

For background on the two roles, Dominant Guide’s guide to shibari describes the positions of rigger and rope bottom, discusses the psychology of tying and being tied, and includes a section on safety.