This appropriation either makes him a palatable comic figure or a terrifying possibility, “Hey let’s laugh at the freaky gimp but be careful he’s probably a homicidal maniac!” A convenient media cliché, a stock character easily recognized and easily parodied.

He still wears his enclosure suit, with a few remnants like buckles or a collar, paying homage to its bondage past, his beady eyes gleaming out at us but he’s no longer particularly servile or bound to a dungeon, as he’s a solitary creature. You see the mainstream gimp has far superseded his BDSM and Pulp Fiction origins and now is firmly fixed as a two-dimensional caricature used for grotesque, frightening or comical effect. The word gimp was always used pejoratively, but now its meaning has shifted and it is the new insult to belittle and disparage the fetishist. *I am, however, prepared to accept my memory maybe incorrect and would be interested to know if anyone has any memories/knowledge/references pre-1994 of the term gimp in BDSM. It was a parody of Colonel Blink from The Beezer comic (a UK version of Mr Magoo). I vaguely remember a client of mine bringing in a copy of Viz, a comic magazine, which must have been in the early ’90s and showing me a character called ‘Colonel Blimp the short-sighted gimp’ who due to his impairment always ended up in some kind of BDSM bondage predicament. crippled or handicapped.Īs so much of the BDSM scene was underground in the ’70s & ’80s it’s hard to find any written usage of the word gimp. It was an uncommon bondage term like Jennings Gag or Mermaid (leg sack) a Gimp Suit was a full-body restrain harness that hobbled or bound the recipient – hindering movement, which brings us back to the original definition i.e. I think I can attest that this cannot be the case as I remember the term ‘gimp’ being used in BDSM play prior to 1994*. In fact so stamped in, Tarantino is often cited as having created the term. As the image of this head-to-toe leather-clad man with a studded body harness and zipper hood allowing only his eyes to peer through – has been indelibly seared into our collective consciousness. And he’s been a bit of a superstar ever since. In 1994’s seminal film Pulp Fiction, when Zed tells Maynard to “Bring out the gimp” he didn’t just let him out of his boxed cage, he unforgettably brought ‘the gimp’ into the mainstream. It later started to carry a broader derogatory connotation for an inept, outcast or odd person and by the end of the 20th century was about to make another leap.

The word ‘Gimp’ is thought to have originated as American slang in the 1920s meaning a crippled or lame person, thus someone with a limp.

Bdsm gimp pet play