Ep217: From 2017 to 2026 - Reflecting on Nine Years of Rope Conversations (Listener Mail)
Rope PodcastShow Notes
Listener Bethany asks Fox and Mya a deceptively simple question: after nine years of making the Rope Podcast, what’s actually changed about their rope - and the way they think about it? The answer turns into a wide-ranging, honest reflection on how rope evolves over time: through experimentation, relationships, community, aging, and life doing what life does. In this episode, they talk about: • How their intents in rope have shifted - and why that matters • Using experimentation to uncover what truly sits at the core of their rope practice • How the ties in Fox’s rope system have changed over the years • How changes in relationship style reshaped how they think about and position rope partners • Mya’s journey from early innocence into a deeper engagement with safety, consent, and responsibility as a bottom • What’s changed in the rope scene around them - and how that’s influenced their choices • A key lesson from doing rope cross-culturally, and how it transformed their approach to consent • Some of the biggest shifts in how they approach rope, and what prompted them • The tying styles they’ve explored, abandoned, or kept • How age and changing lives have altered what rope looks like now • How tying outside their rope partnership has evolved for each of them • Ways they try to live their values in rope, even when it’s uncomfortable • What hasn’t changed - and why those constants still matter • And yes… cuddly rope and TV rope This conversation feels like sitting down with old friends who’ve carried rope through some of life’s biggest transitions and come out with deeper curiosity and clearer priorities. Part reflection, part history, and part check-in, it’s a look at what it really means to grow with rope over the long term. Click to listen, and consider: what’s changed in your rope over the years - and what’s stayed the same?
More from Rope Podcast
Do you have to be completely upside down for it to count as an inversion? The answer might surprise you.
Can it be harder for a rope top to stop a scene than for the bottom? Listener writes in to ask why calling a halt can sometimes feel particularly difficult or risky for the person tying. We often talk about bottoms having permission to stop, slow down or change a scene, but tops can face their own pressures: expectations around performance, responsibility for the experience, and the feeling that once a scene has started they should be able to see it through.
Decorative rope can look intricate and intimidating - but what happens when the person wearing it starts moving, or you take it out of a controlled environment and into a busy party? Fox and Mya continue their conversation with Roper_Ducky, a husband-and-wife Rigger/Bunny couple from Jacksonville, Florida, known for their colorful, playful decorative and wearable rope. This time, the conversation gets into the practical side of decorative rope, including: • The risks that can come with decorative ties • How movement can change the rope once it is on the body • The bottom’s role and responsibilities when wearing decorative rope • What changes when you tie at a party rather than at home • The particular challenges of creating decorative rope in a busy social environment • Why decorative rope doesn’t need to be as daunting as it looks • Advice for people who want to start experimenting with it • Roper_Ducky’s cross-legged/agura rainbow weave tie • The community that can grow from sharing ties online and seeing other people recreate them Along the way, they explore the balance between aesthetics and practicality, what both partners can contribute to making decorative rope work, and why you don’t need to start with something enormously complicated to create something beautiful. You can see more of Roper_Ducky’s work on Fet/Instagram at @roper_ducky.
This week, Fox and Mya are joined by Roper_Ducky, a husband-and-wife Rigger/Bunny couple based in Jacksonville, Florida. They’ve been tying together since November 2025, developing a distinctive style centred on decorative and wearable rope, bright colours and playful themes. For them, rope is at once a way to connect through touch, a creative outlet and a collaborative art form - with plenty of experimentation along the way. In this episode, we talk about: • How they got started tying together • The value of rope mentors • Learning to dye their own rope • Why decorative rope can offer more egalitarian opportunities to tie • Using decorative rope as an icebreaker at parties • Swinging, creativity, connection and finding your own way into rope • And plenty more When they’re not tying at home, you can find Roper_Ducky at local rope and kink events around Jacksonville — and you can see more of their colourful work on FetLife at @roper_ducky.
What happens when you add one extra rule to a rope scene? In this episode, Fox and Mya discuss a type of rope game they call stipulations: additional restrictions or conditions that change how a scene works. A top might be forbidden from using their left hand, for example, or the partners might agree on another rule that disrupts their usual way of tying. The fun comes from discovering what that restriction changes. A familiar tie may suddenly require more communication. The top may need to abandon their usual sequence and improvise, while the bottom may become more actively involved through balance, movement, problem-solving or verbal guidance.