They tie people up, flog them and look at sex on another level. The best part: It’s all consensual.

Welcome to Cuffs, a student BDSM club dedicated to educating students about alternative sexuality issues and provides information on health, safety and disease prevention.

“BDSM includes everything from a tickle fetish to being tied up to impact play, which is more on the aggressive side,” said William Spencer, senior in psychology and president of Cuffs. “We teach that play should always be consensual and limits are set.”

BDSM is a catch-all term that stands for bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadomasochism.

Their meetings create a safe environment for people to meet and share ideas about alternative sexuality. Topics at meetings range from “show-and-tell” nights to kinky Pictionary competitions every Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Memorial Union.

“Anybody can come to a meeting,” Spencer said. “Sometimes we have way too much fun, and one time people came in from the hallway because they heard us laughing and wondered what was going on. They didn’t find out till later what our organization actually was.”

Cuffs allows students, faculty, staff, spouses, partners, singles and just about anybody else to join. It costs $5 a semester, and, as of now, has 35 members.

Interestingly, the club got its start in August 2001, when the founder decided that kink was a natural and healthy part of sexual orientation and that there needed to be an organization to meet the needs of people.

“It’s important for people who have an interest in BDSM to have a place to learn about it, and since it is a small minority, they need to be able to find people interested in it,” said William S. Robinson, professor of philosophy and religious studies and adviser for Cuffs.

Cuffs was the fourth BDSM student group officially recognized by a university in the nation. But even they went though a time where their credibility as a club was questioned.

“We were down to five members,” Spencer said. “We were concerned that we were going to fade out, but we still wanted to educate students and the community.”

The club was suspended in 2004 by the Office of Judicial Affairs and were later found to be acceptable as an organization. No legal charges were brought upon the club.

Spencer said negative connotations seem to correlate with having a social club that explores alternative sexuality.

“The main misconception that people have is that what we do is all sexual. We do not condone sexual intercourse, what we do is more about sexual tensions,” Spencer said.

Robinson agreed.

“I’m aware of some connotations against them, although I don’t hear much about it,” he said.

On campus, some students were confused at what Cuffs actually represents.

“With the word Cuffs, it leads people to think of violent sex, and people usually look down on that. It just sounds violent – I think of a sex club and orgies,” said Austin Thomas, sophomore in aerospace engineering.

Spencer said the club tries to make people comfortable and keeps the atmosphere clean and casual.

“Our job is to keep freshmen from doing something stupid,” Spencer said.