History Main / BrainsandBondage

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1521481661012716400
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:260:[[Webcomic/GirlsWithSlingshots https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_claricesmart.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:260:Cracking whips and cracking the books!]]-]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/BootyRoyaleNeverGoDownWithoutAFight'': Recurring character Goujima Sara is a porn actress well-known for her work in extreme hardcore porn as domme, sub, and even director. She uses it to fund her university education in physics. She also speaks English fluently, a relative rarity in Japan (by way of contrast, BrainyBrunette Hara Akira's English is merely passable and protagonist Haebaru Misora's is nonexistent).

* In the first issue of ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'' the organization's MIT physics consultant provides a situational analysis while still wearing his gimp mask.
* When [[NoNameGiven 355]] sends Yorick for therapy in ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' it turns out that the process is an extended [=BDSM=] session with the therapist.

* Mildly inverted with Grimbor (the Chainsman), an adversary of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes; he is a brilliant man so long as it comes to restraints and bondage, but dumb in any other way; it reminds one of an ''idiot savant''.
* ComicBook/EmmaFrost of the ComicBook/XMen. She worked as a Dominatrix at the Hellfire Club and has degrees in several fields, including a Bachelor of Science in Education with a minor in Business Administration from the prominent Marvel Universe's Empire State University. She was also founder and CEO of Frost Enterprises, a major multinational conglomerate headquartered in New York City that rivaled Stark Enterprises and Worthington Industries and specialized in shipping, aerospace engineering and new technology R&D.

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'': [[IHaveManyNames Morning/Fallen/Rainbow]] [[CombatMedic Glory]] is this, with her marefriend [[IdiotHero Blackjack]] as sub.

* ''Fanfic/AGoodCompromise'' opens with a post-coital Captain Tyria Sark (rising star on command track) and husband Jolin Tabris (lawyer and retired JAG officer) realizing they have to untie her.
-->'''Jolin:''' Let's see, now how did this go together, again? ''({{beat}})'' Just kidding.

* ''Fanfic/KitsuneNoKenFistOfTheFox'': [[spoiler:Naruto and Hinata]] are a married couple by the time of the story's twenty-third Gaiden chapter, and as it turns out, they engage in bondage sex with him as the dominant and her as the submissive, where he gags, blindfolds, chains and whips her. They're both motivational speakers, plus he's a successfully published author and she's a company CEO and trained concert pianist.
* ''Fanfic/GuysBeingDudes'': Arlo is just as much of an EvilGenius as in canon and gets very excited over the prospect of strapping Spark into the trunk of Team GO Rocket's CreepyStalkerVan.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Annie Savoy from ''Film/BullDurham'' reveals in one scene that in her day job she's an English prof at a community college. She's very given to quoting famous poets, and the first night she and Nuke Laloosh were together they didn't even have sex: she just tied him to the bed and read Creator/WaltWhitman to him all night. [[spoiler:When she and Crash Davis ''finally'' get together it turns out she also likes being on the receiving end.]]
* Judy Bernly, the brainy secretary of ''Film/NineToFive'', is perceived to be into this by her ex-husband Dick when he catches her in the bedroom with her boss Frank Hart while she, Doralee, and Violet were holding him hostage.

* As per the page quote - the works of Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne. He was one of the most gifted lyric poets of the Victorian era, and the only thing he enjoyed as much as being whipped was writing about it. The narrators of his poems and novels are as eloquent as he is, and all discourse exquisitely on the nature of pleasure and pain.
* ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' includes a character expounding on the virtues of "sado-anarchism."

* ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' is made of this trope. Terre D'Ange is by and large highly accepting of any sexual kinks, and while there's less talk among the general public about the S&M practices, they're also considered sacred. This view is magnified exponentially by the main character, who experiences pain as pleasure (the mark of her patron god). She is a high class prostitute, and engages in a wide range of masochistic sexual encounters. Many of these are portrayed as loving, cleansing, or just downright fun. The negative [=BDSM=] scenes are a result of true malice on the part of her client, and are portrayed as perversions of the kink, rather than the entirety of it. Moreover, Phèdre is extremely intelligent, and the books often wax philosophical on the nature of pain, pleasure, and sexuality.

* Vishous of the ''Literature/BlackDaggerBrotherhood'' is a sexual dominant. It's not until the end of his book that he allows himself to be the one tied up and caned.
* ''Literature/{{Accelerando}}'' states that [=BDSM=] is more popular than traditional sex in the near future timeline, as there's less chance of pregnancy or disease.

* The Gray Mouser in Creator/FritzLeiber's Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser stories is the more openly intellectual of the two protagonists, and he has a tendency to (mostly consensual) sexual sadism that becomes increasingly explicit over the series in publication order, as publishers became more tolerant.
* In ''[[Literature/AddictedSeries Addicted]]'', Rose and Connor are both educated and intelligent and enjoy playing mental games with each other. Naturally, this happens in the bedroom as well.
* In ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful,'' Sam, a submissive, is shown as having intellectual interests such as art. Then again, that makes sense in a novel with plenty to say about the psychology of BDSM.

* Dr. Chase from ''Series/{{House}}'' is a brilliant surgeon who turns out to know the {{dominatrix}} whom one patient has been seeing--they used to hang out at the same [=BDSM=] club.

* Abby on ''Series/{{NCIS}}''.
** As well as another case where the boyfriend was suspected, until he was found tied and gagged. Quite the alibi.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' the victim is a doctoral student who was a dominatrix. Her boss at the dungeon was a former lawyer. Also, Beckett occasionally implies this, mostly to mess with Castle. And the first of the {{defictionaliz|ation}}ed ''Literature/NikkiHeat'' novels has a SexyDiscretionShot away from one of these between the leads (Nikki's safeword is apparently "pineapple").
** In the fifth season, at least one episode has implied that [[spoiler: both Castle and Beckett have a taste for this in the bedroom.]]
* Chuck and Blair are considered to be the most intelligent characters in ''Series/GossipGirl'', and they have a ''lot'' of fun. (Their relationship was originally based on a MindGameShip.)
* Dr. Charlotte Lewis, Sawyer and (hinted) Dr. Juliet Burke in ''Series/{{Lost}}''.
** In the [[spoiler:fifth]] season, Juliet is living in the village with her live-in boyfriend Lafleur [[spoiler:who is actually Sawyer undercover]]. One evening they get a unwelcome visitor [[spoiler:who has found evidence that there's something wrong with Lafleur/Sawyer]]. Lafleur beats him up and asks Juliet to get some ropes to [[BoundAndGagged pacify]] him. Without hesitation, she turns to the bedroom. Of course. Where else would she be keeping the ropes?
** In episode eight of the sixth season, Sawyer is on a date with Dr. Charlotte Lewis. When she says she's an archaeologist he asks her if she's like Indiana Jones. When she says yes, he asks her if she have a whip. She smiles and says "maybe". One minute later into the episode they are naked in bed. Charlotte says "Wow. Not bad, considering we didn't have that whip", and Sawyer replies "Bring it next time". Both lines said while cuddling, and said in a very friendly tone of voice.
* Worf and Dax in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' frequently end up in medical during the middle of the night with dislodged limbs and broken bones. While Worf is more of a highly traditional ProudWarriorRaceGuy, Dax is a scientist with literally several lifetimes of experience first, and treats Klingon martial arts as just a sport. It's not explicitly said how they did it, but they certainly like it rough.
** A lot of Klingons enjoy the rough stuff. On the same morning after Worf and Dax's first night together, Quark and Grillka also showed up in the infirmary with similar injuries. Data even once mentioned that in Klingon culture a broken clavicle during sex is considered a blessing on the future marriage.
*** But that's OK really because Klingons have a spare set of clavicles ([[FridgeLogic don't ask how that works]]) along with redundant spares for almost everything, up to and including higher brain function - it's when they get involved with another species that problems occur.
* In the ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' episode "A Spy in the House of Love", Echo is first shown imprinted with a dominatrix personality, and waxes philosophical to Boyd that it's about trust rather than pain.

* Hinted at in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' with [[TheSmartGuy Wesley]], who has EncyclopaedicKnowledge of demonology. In episode 2.20, we get the following exchange (while researching how to keep together while going through a dimensional portal):
-->'''Angel:''' What, we handcuff ourselves together? Who do we know that has handcuffs?\\
'''Wesley:''' Well, I-- ''(pauses and looks uncomfortable)'' --wouldn't know.
* In ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', a modern day version of the Literature/SherlockHolmes canon, [[FemmeFatale Irene Adler]] is a dominatrix who caters to the rich and powerful, using her "access" to gain sensitive material for blackmail and leverage. She's also, in every [[WorthyOpponent sense]] [[BatmanGambit of the word]], the only one to ever [[OutGambitted beat]] Sherlock Holmes, and much more thoroughly than in the original story.[[spoiler: For a while, at least.]]
-->'''Sherlock:''' A power-play with the most powerful family in Britain. Now that ''is'' a dominatrix. Ooh, this is getting rather fun, isn't it?
** Some complained that Irene became a sex worker for {{Fanservice}} purposes. WordOfGod pointed out that acting ''wasn't'' a reputable career in the late 19th century, and the [[SettingUpdate modern equivalent]] would be, well, a sex worker.
* Across the pond, Sherlock himself is an example in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''.
-->'''Joan Watson:''' There was a woman leaving just as I got here -- did she get you high?\\
'''Sherlock:''' To about six feet. ''(takes his belt off a ladder with handcuffs dangling from it)''
** In another episode Holmes is alerted to the BodyOfTheWeek by a dominatrix he knows who had been hired by the victim. Holmes explains some of the BDSM terms she uses to the police and she sends him a bullwhip as a thank-you gift for his help.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Engrenages}}'', the very cerebral magistrate Roban, while investigating a rape case, reveals that he knows a suspicious amount about the practicalities of safe suspension bondage, which helps him find evidence to prove that the victim's claims about what was done to her are true.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'':
** Miu Iruma is [[GadgeteerGenius the Ultimate Inventor]] and a shameless pervert. Her outfit alone gives off a bondage vibe and it is (not very subtly) implied that she is a masochist.
** Korekiyo Shinguji's Free Time Events reveal he is a very intelligent anthropologist and that he seems to have a thing for BDSM. [[spoiler:Also crosses over into BondageIsBad when it's revealed that he's a SerialKiller who was involved in [[BrotherSisterIncest an incestuous relationship with his sister]].]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'': in the strip "Battledress", a group of adventurers switch into "sexy" battle gear for an erotic dungeon crawl. The two melee fighters switch into stripperiffic versions of their normal outfits, while the wizard switches into a gimp suit. Like most of ''Oglaf'', this strip cannot be linked directly on TV Tropes.

* [[https://www.cracked.com/article_18559_6-famous-geniuses-you-didnt-know-were-perverts.html This list]] is not restricted to bondage specifically, but it is notable.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' the victim is a doctoral student who was a dominatrix. Her boss at the dungeon was a former lawyer. Also, Beckett occasionally implies this, mostly to mess with Castle. And the first of the {{defictionaliz|ation}}ed ''Literature/NikkiHeat'' novels has a SexyDiscretionShot away from one of these between the leads (Nikki's safeword is apparently "pineapple").

* ''Series/Forever2014'' has twice implied that brilliant immortal Doctor Henry Morgan is into the rough stuff. In the pilot, when a search of his home unearths what the cops call "torture devices," he casually tells the detective interrogating him, "Oh, those are for sex. Sometimes you need to push the envelope." Later in the season a victim surfaces who has been seeing a "domination therapist," Molly Dawes, whom Morgan comes to respect and even flirt with, and when she offers a practical demonstration of the use of electricity in BDSM, he's perfectly willing to be put in cuffs for it, although he looks nervous when her questions get too personal and trigger memories of a past trauma. In a later episode Molly is revealed to have a PhD from Yale, meaning she fulfills this trope as well.

* ''Series/Forever2014'' has twice implied that brilliant immortal Doctor Henry Morgan is into the rough stuff. In the pilot, when a search of his home unearths when the cops call "torture devices," he casually tells the detective interrogating him, "Oh, those are for sex. Sometimes you need to push the envelope." Later in the season a victim surfaces who has been seeing a "domination therapist," Molly Dawes, whom Morgan comes to respect and even flirt with, and when she offers a practical demonstration of the use of electricity in BDSM, he's perfectly willing to be put in cuffs for it, although he looks nervous when her questions get too personal and trigger memories of a past trauma. In a later episode Molly is revealed to have a PhD from Yale, meaning she fulfills this trope as well.

* ''Series/Forever2014'' has twice implied that brilliant immortal Doctor Henry Morgan is into the rough stuff. In the pilot, he needed to explain to the cops why he had torture devices in the basement. The audience never finds out whether he was telling the truth or not. Later in the season a victim surfaces who has been seeing a "domination therapist," whom Morgan comes to respect and even flirt with. Both times he ends up in a [=BDSM=] situation on-screen, though, it's a misunderstanding or [[spoiler: attempted murder.]]