History Main / SafeSaneAndConsensual

* Consensual means that everyone involved has a sufficiently high intellectual capacity so they understand the risks and consequences of their actions. People who are intoxicated may not be able to give consent because some drugs temporarily lower intellectual capacity.

It's okay for people to do pretty much anything to each other, as long as they are all into it, know what they are getting into, and the risk of permanent harm isn't unreasonably high. Right?

* Sane means that everyone involved are at an accountable mental capacity: No one is drugged down, too insane, or too young or immature.
* Consensual means that everyone involved participates by their own free will.

This pattern can also be used to describe, for example, the difference between a honest boxing match and simply beating someone up. There are many variations of the pattern: Consenting Adults, Informed Consent, Risk Awareness Consensual Kink, and so on. But while nuances may differ and may be important in specific contexts, the basic concept is the same: Everyone involved does not merely give lip-service consent, they know what they are getting into and are capable of deciding for themselves what they want and don't want. For more on the fine nuances of the difference between these phrases, see the [[UsefulNotes/{{Consent}} Useful Notes entry on Consent]].

This trope is about discussing and defining the limits of proper behavior. People simply ''doing'' BDSM in a SSC way is not this trope: It is either CasualKink or BrainsAndBondage, while people doing BDSM in an anti-SSC way falls under BondageIsBad unless this trope comes into play in some form; for example, the victim or another character pointing out that it's not the proper way to do BDSM.

One notable subversion of this trope is pretending that abuse or exploitation is BDSM (and thus implied to be SSC). One notable aversion/way of darkly playing it for laughs is to highlight the need for Safe and Sane by sarcastically pretending that consent is all that's needed - and use an example where someone naively or stupidly agrees to something that they obviously can't handle.

The difference between on the one hand BDSM and similar activities (sexual and otherwise) and on the other hand abuse is often described in the terms of BDSM being SSC -- Safe Sane And Consensual:

This pattern can also be used to describe for example the difference between a honest boxing match and simply beating someone up. There are many variations of the pattern: Consenting Adults, Informed Consent, Risk Awareness Consensual Kink, and so on. But while nuances may differ and may be important in specific contexts, the basic concept is the same: Everyone involved does not merely give lip-service consent, they know what they are getting into and are capable of deciding for themselves what they want and don't want. For more on the fine nuances of the difference between these phrases, see the [[UsefulNotes/{{Consent}} Useful Notes entry on Consent]]

This trope is about discussing and defining the limits of proper behavior. People simply ''doing'' BDSM in a SSC way is not this trope: It is either CasualKink or BrainsAndBondage, while people doing BDSM in an anti-SSC way falls under BondageIsBad unless this trope comes into play in some form, for example the victim or another character pointing out that it's not the proper way to do BDSM.

One notable subversion of this trope is pretending that abuse or exploitation is BDSM (and thus implied to be SSC). One notable aversion way of darkly playing it for laughs is to highlight the need for Safe and Sane by sarcastically pretending that consent is all that's needed - and use an example where someone naively or stupidly agree to something they obviously can't handle.

* In ''Slave Jade'', the female lead is a sexually submissive woman who starts dating a "dominant" psycho who kidnaps her and executes a miserable attempt at inducing StockholmSyndrome. Before they actually met, he seemed to have a very good understanding of consent and safety - what she doesn't know is that the bulk of his mails to her are reasonable thoughts that he have never thought in his own head, but merely copy/pasted from various sites.

See also SafeWord. Compare EthicalSlut. Contrast SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny and BondageIsBad.

* In the [[{{KushielsLegacy}} Kushiel's Legacy]] universe, things can get plenty kinky, but there are ''rules'' in place and violating them is an insult to the Gods.

->S&M guys are ''not'' into pain. If they were, they'd be getting their asses kicked every night.

* In theory completely averted in the UK, in which no consent can ever be legally given for anything that goes so far as to leave a mark or bruise, and charges can be made by the police regardless of the consent levels of the participants. However, this law is rarely used against heterosexual sadomasochists (or vanilla sex that also leave marks). [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Spanner Homosexuals, on the other hand...]]

* Completely averted in the UK, in which no consent can ever be legally given for anything that goes so far as to leave a mark or bruise, and charges can be made by the police regardless of the consent levels of the participants.

* In the German Internet Cannibal case, the defense argued that the victim/"victim" had consented to being eaten. The court rule that noone who is willing to consent to being cannibalized [[MortonsFork is mentally fit to give consent in the first place]]. In other words, not Safe enough to be considered Sane.

* In the Kushiel's Legacy universe, things can get plenty kinky, but there are ''rules'' in place and violating them is an insult to the Gods.

One notable subversion of this trope is pretending that abuse or exploitation is BDSM (and thus implied to be SSC). One notable aversion way of darkly playing it for laughs is to highlight the need for Safe and Sane by sarcastically pretend that consent is all that's needed - and use an example where someone naively or stupidly agree to something they obviously can't handle.

* Sane means that everyone involved are at an accountable mental capacity: Noone is drugged down, too insane, or too young or immature.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

It's okay for people to do pretty much anything to each other, as long as they are all into it, know what they are getting into, and the risk of permanent harm isn't unreasonably high. Right? Of course right.

The difference between on the one hand BDSM and similar activities (sexual and otherwise) and on the other hand abuse is often described in the terms of BDSM being SSC - Safe Sane And Consensual:

Nut how do we really know what's going on? A mutual game, or abuse? Sometimes it can be hard to see the difference between the two.

This pattern can also be used to describe for example the difference between a honest boxing match and simply beating someone up. There are many variations of the pattern: Consenting Adults, Informed Consent, Risk Awareness Consensual Kink, and so on. But while nuances may differ and may be important in specific contexts, the basic concept is the same: Everyone involved does not merely give lip-service consent, they know what they are getting into and are capable of deciding for themselves what they want and don't want.

This pattern can also be used to describe for example the difference between a honest boxing match and simply beating someone up. There are many variations of the pattern: Consenting Adults, Informed Consent, Risk Awareness Consensual Kink, and so on. But while nuances may differ, the vasic concept is the same: Everyone involved does not merely give lip-service consent, they know what they are getting into and are capable of deciding for themselves what they want and don't want.

* In one {{Dilbert}} strip (28 August 2010), the PointyHairedBoss is trying to make people believe that slave labor is ok by pretending that "slave" really refers to the BDSM kind of slavery rather then economical exploitation of poor people.
* Aversion played for laughs in one strip in the comics magazine Larsson, with a therapist encouraging a couple to play with live hand-grenades in bed as part of their sex-life... as long as they both consented to it.

* In PreachingToThePerverted, with the mistress explaining BDSM to the newcomers.
* In ExitToEden, with the mistress explaining BDSM to the newcomers.
* Discussed in TheSMJudge, as Magda is trying to explain the difference between spousal abuse and what her husband has been doing with her.

* In SlaveWorld, this trope is sometimes played straight, but usually overtly Defied with a lot of LampshadeHanging.
* In Slave Jade, the female lead is a sexually submissive woman who starts dating a "dominant" psycho who kidnaps her and executes a miserable attempt at inducing StockholmSyndrome. Before they actually met, he seemed to have a very good understanding of consent and safety - what she doesn't know is that the bulk of his mails to her are reasonable thoughts that he have never thought in his own head, but merely copy/pasted from various sites.

* A core philosophy in {{Hair}} - see page quote

* {{Hair}} - see page quote

* Averted and played for laughs in one strip in the magazine Larsson, with a therapist encouraging a couple to play with live hand-grenades in bed as part of their sex-life... as long as they both consented to it.

Click the edit button to start this new page.