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Many people ask, “How can I turn my vanilla partner kinky?”.  The short answer isn’t the answer they hope to hear because no, in fact, you cannot turn a non-kinky person into a kinky person.  You cannot expect another person to be someone they are not meant to be.  You especially cannot make someone be anything that they don’t *want* to be… and really, when you think about it, it’s immoral to ask anyone to change simply to suit your specific needs.  Would you alter your values and desires to be what someone else wanted you to be?  I sincerely hope not.

While you aren’t ever going to turn your vanilla partner kinky, you can, with their express consent and genuine interest, expose them to the different aspects of alternative lifestyles which interest you.  Don’t expect miracles.  Don’t expect anything.  Just honestly offer up who you are and what your needs and desires entail.  See if you can negotiate a compromise between your needs and their comfort zone.  That’s what all relationships are about, after all, communication and compromise.

So how do you begin to communicate your need and/or desire for BDSM in your current relationship?  You must first have a clear and concise idea of what your needs and/or desires are and be able to express them to your partner in a relaxed and realistic manner.  If YOU don’t know why you want to practice BDSM and what you hope to get out of it, you can’t expect your partner to be of much help here…and, you’ll probably make them incredibly uncomfortable, if not downright anxious or even scared.

Go online, search and fill out a very basic BDSM scenario and implement checklist.  If you don’t understand a word, a term or an act listed, please go look it up.  Remember, YOU want to pitch BDSM as a good and fun idea to your partner, right?  It helps to know what you’re talking about to such a depth that you should feel comfortable answering your partner’s basic level questions.  If you are asked about something you do not understand, please research and seek out answers together.

BDSM isn’t just about pain and kinky sex.  BDSM not only encompasses the realms of bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism, but also many other abstract ideas, such as control, power, trust, respect, obedience, humility, spirituality, connection and the list goes on and on.  Open and honest discussions with your partner about what your interest in BDSM actually entails can go a long way in making the idea seem less scary and way more doable.  With any luck, both you and your partner will find new areas of interest that will leave you both eager for further exploration!

But…  What if that doesn’t happen?  What if your partner’s not into the kinks and fetishes you’ve been daydreaming about fulfilling?  What if your partner won’t even talk to you about it at all and never even hears about your kinky wonderings?  Well, if that happens, all you can do is be a grown up and deal with it.  Your partner doesn’t owe you their participation in acts that to which they never consented.  Be grateful they even gave you the time to speak on your issue.  If you need BDSM to be a part of your life so badly, and your partner just won’t participate with you, you owe it to the both of you to be honest about that and dissolve the relationship, then and there.  

Some people may think that a harsh recourse, but I really belive that if you honestly know you won’t be satisfied in your current relationship without some aspects of BDSM, then be a decent person and say so.  Don’t try to negotiate with your partner now that they’ve told you they aren’t interested, the time for vetting and negotiating was at the beginning of the relationship.  Definitely don’t try to coerce or badger your partner, don’t lay any guilt trips.  It’s not fair to try to change the rules halfway through the game.  Either stay contented with the relationship as it is or move along to greener pastures, only you can decide what’s best for you, but please have basic consideration for the best interestsof your partner as well.  Such basic considerations and responsibilities for yourself and others are in fact one of the foundations of practicing BDSM.

~Beautifully Broken~