memes

There's a couple of things going on.

The big one is just a massive selection bias in what people take pictures of. I know how to do a functional tie to restrain someone's hands and feet. I do it plenty. But if there's going to be pictures, I'm going to go for something more visually impressive.

There is also a constraint aspect in addition to the restraint. A common type of tie is a rope harness that goes around your torso without actually restraining any of your limbs. In addition to the aesthetic, it also squeezes you, which is kind of like wearing a hug.

As far as restraints go, it is surprisingly difficult to fully restrain arms/hands. A simple binding of the wrists leaves a lot of room to maneuver; and unless you are actively trying to pull your hands apart, barely feels like you are restrained at all. Finding a tie that really restraining and holds up [0] against all the wiggling your subject will do is difficult and tends to follow one of a few forms.

Other people don't particularly care for the being tied part as much as the getting tied part. It can be a rather intimate experience with how close the top needs to be to your body, and the constant tension they maintain through the rope across your body.

And, of course, there are the type of people who are interested in the aesthetics. They tend to be the ones most interested in pictures.

[0] I almost include safe in this list. But given that the tie shown in this picture is probably the most popular, I cannot in good conscience say that.