Body worship

{{short description|Submissive act pertaining to BDSM}}

File:Bodybuildingmeisterschaft_06.jpg before a competition (1995) by Andreas Bohnenstengel. Bodybuilding competitions are akin to a form of muscle worship, as the bodybuilder exposes their body for an audience.]]

Body worship is the practice of physically revering a part of another person's body, and is usually done as a submissive act in the context of BDSM. It is often an expression of erotic fetishism{{cite book|title=The Little Vanilla Book: S&M Wisdom to Improve Your Everyday Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NweiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|first=Lux|last=Alani|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=2015|isbn=9781582705712|page=108}} but it can also be used as part of service-oriented submission{{cite book|title=The New Bottoming Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vI1XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143|first1=Dossie|last1=Easton|first2=Janet W.|last2=Hardy|publisher=SCB Distributors|date=2011|isbn=9781890159870|page=143}} or sexual roleplay. It typically involves kissing, licking or sucking parts of a dominant's body{{Cite book|title=Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFnUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|first=Paul|last=Baker|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2004|isbn=9780826473431|page=86}} such as the vulva,{{cite book|title=Dominatrix: Gender, Eroticism, and Control in the Dungeon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7mTee1YiKcC&pg=PA202|first=Danielle J.|last=Lindemann|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=2012|isbn=9780226482590|page=202}} the penis,{{cite web|title=What is Cock Worship?|url=https://www.kinkly.com/definition/12486/cock-worship|website=Kinkly|date=3 September 2022}} the buttocks,{{cite book|title=Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNkNhPZQprcC&pg=PA147|first=Anil|last=Aggrawal|author-link=Anil Aggrawal|publisher=CRC Press|date=2008|isbn=9781420043099|page=147}} the feet,{{cite book|title=Social Deviance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UglDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA316|first=Tim|last=Delaney|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2017|isbn=9781442252547|page=316}} the breasts or the muscles.{{sfnp|Lindemann|2012|page=114}} Body worship was included in the introductory classes on BDSM introduced in 2003 by the Society of Janus, the largest BDSM educational organisation in San Francisco.{{cite book|title=Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dR7bTc1aXbcC&pg=PA9|first=Margot|last=Weiss|publisher=Duke University Press|date=2011|isbn=9780822351597|page=9}}

Dominatrices sometimes use body worship as part of dominance and submission.{{cite news|title=What Working as a Dominatrix Taught Me About Dating Men|url=https://www.thrillist.com/sex-dating/nation/how-being-a-dominatrix-improved-my-dating-life|author=Miss Elle|date=6 September 2016|website=Thrillist}} This may involve a submissive stroking, massaging or bathing the dominatrix{{sfnp|Easton|Hardy|2011|page=143}} or kissing and licking her buttocks. In addition, the submissive may be required to perform cunnilingus (sometimes called "full-body worship"){{sfnp|Lindemann|2012|page=202}} or anilingus on her. These activities may take place during facesitting (sometimes called "queening"), in which the dominatrix sits on the submissive's face. A muscle worship fetish may be catered for by a dominatrix who is also a bodybuilder.{{cite book|title=Transgressive Bodies: Representations in Film and Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ac6XCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68|first=Niall|last=Richardson|publisher=Routledge|date=2016|isbn=9781317007395|pages=68–71}}