Binding, also known as chest or breast binding is the flattening of breast tissue using constrictive material. People who bind are most often assigned female at birth (AFAB), which includes women, transgender men, and nonbinary persons. Binding is commonly used for the following purposes: aesthetics, costuming, masculinizing one's appearance, alleviating gender dysphoria, and inducing gender euphoria.

Binding is NOT benign. Depending on how you bind, there are some things you can and can't do until you remove your binder, such as exercise, swim, or sleep.

Binding can be as dangerous as it can be freeing, 97.2% of individuals who bound their chests experienced at least one negative physical symptom from binding, the most common of which were back pain (53.8%), overheating (53.5%), chest pain (48.8%), and shortness of breath (46.6%). At the most extreme, binding unsafely can result in fractured ribs, punctured lungs, and permanent disfiguration. 

Don't let this discourage you though, on this site you will learn all the essentials on how to bind safely.