Floggers feature a solid handle and multitude of leather or synthetic strips (known as "falls"). The sensations a flogger can deliver depend on the type of leather or material, the length of the flogger, the width and weight of the falls, and the overall balance between the falls and the handle.

Floggers are used to deliver pleasurable and painful sensations to fleshy areas such as the buttocks and the muscled areas of the upper back (not the spine!). Many BDSM enthusiasts start off with a lighter flogger as part of a warm up regimen. Once the skin begins to flush as blood flow increases, the submissive often becomes ready and eager to receive deeper and harder flogging.