It seems those learning rope often want to rush straight to suspension, instead of taking the time to learn fundamentals, learn to read people or their partner in rope and acquire the skills to tie.  Unfortunately missing the real point of rope in their aim to suspend as quick as they can often without any kind of tuition or sufficient knowledge about the potential risks or dangers.

I think some of the reasons for this rush to fly, is because suspension is perceived to be the end point or desirable goal for rope bondage. I would argue that it is really not, but I guess for some it can be. Aside from a general assumption that doing suspension bondage gets you laid as a rigger, and a cringe-worthy perception that people will stop to look at how cool you are and admire your throbbing ego, this would all become terribly deflated when overconfidence and ignorance gets the bottom hurt to whatever degree, and the rigger ends up looking like a total ass.

There is nothing wrong with being new to rope and with the right information, practice and lessons your skill could develop quickly. Resources of varying quality are available worldwide and online, although I would not recommend learning online, similar I would not recommend learning to drive online. Hands on practice and feedback is essential to successful learning, although that’s another post entirely.

There is always risk with bondage, and significantly increases with suspension. When things fail they tend to do so catastrophically. Rope bottoms please take care with who you allow to tie and suspend you, if they are tying beyond their skill and you are aware of this, you are relying on luck and luck alone. To the tops out there, there is more to rope bondage than suspension, don’t put the people you are tying at risk, no picture or scene is worth it. Even the best of the best have things go wrong from time to time so the risk of things going wrong when you have limited knowledge and experience is quite substantial.