It is always more pleasurable to lure willing prey unto your restraints than for the prey to find himself there unprepared, so it should be for the initial steps leading up to a flogging session. The basic scene as conceived and directed by the Top and as experienced and followed by the bottom will be the ritualistic acting out of the S/M power equation or exchange. This formula will usually follow as such: Dominance and submission, plus the administration of erotic pain over the acceptance of erotic pain, equals the level of S/M the Top is trying to achieve.

Whatever format a flogging scene follows will only be limited by the inventiveness of the Top. If it starts out as a first meeting pick-up in a bar, the bottom can be "arrested" and handcuffed on the spot. This will depend on how believable and intimidating the Top wants to appear. Variations on