BDSM is an umbrella term for consensual adult practices involving power exchange, sensation, and discipline.

A Dominant is the partner who holds, by mutual consent, the leading role in a BDSM dynamic, making decisions, setting structure, and directing the scene or relationship.

A submissive is the partner who, by mutual consent, takes the following role in a BDSM dynamic, receiving direction and surrendering decisions within agreed limits, while retaining the right to negotiate, refuse, and stop.

A Switch is someone who moves between dominant and submissive roles, by partner, by mood, by context, rather than identifying with one position permanently.

The Top is the active partner in a BDSM scene: the person performing the actions (impact, restraint, sensation) on or with the bottom. Distinct from, though often overlapping with, Dominant.

The Bottom is the receiving partner in a BDSM scene, the person on whom or with whom the action is performed, distinct from but often overlapping with submissive.

A Master is the male dominant in an M/s dynamic, holding broad, negotiated authority over a slave's daily life.

Mistress is the title for a woman who holds the dominant role in a BDSM dynamic, particularly M/s or Femdom, in both lifestyle and professional contexts.

A slave is the deeply committed submissive in an M/s dynamic, granting broad, long-term authority over daily life.

A Daddy Dom is a male dominant in CGl dynamics whose authority centres on care, protection, and guidance.

A Mommy Domme is a female dominant in CGl dynamics whose authority is expressed through maternal care and structure.

Caregiver is the gender-neutral umbrella title for the caretaking dominant in CGl dynamics.

A little is an adult who takes on a younger headspace (little space) in ageplay, sometimes as a submissive, sometimes not.

A brat is a submissive who expresses submission through playful defiance, provocation, and rule-testing.

A brat tamer is the dominant who pairs with brats, reading defiance as flirtation and answering it with calm escalation.

A sadist derives sexual or emotional pleasure from giving physical or psychological pain, within consent.

A masochist derives sexual or emotional pleasure from receiving physical or psychological pain.

A sadomasochist is interested in both ends of the pain exchange, giving and receiving.

A service sub is a submissive whose main pleasure comes from providing concrete service, from being used, needed, and recognised.

A service top does the practical work of topping, such as binding and striking, but builds the scene around what the bottom wants instead of around their own appetite.

A power top is a strongly dominant top who visibly commands the scene's pace and frame.

A sissy is a male submissive who presents in a feminized form within a BDSM dynamic, often through forced feminization, training, and ritual.

A cuckold is a man who derives erotic experience from his partner's encounters with others, by consensual design.

A cuckquean is the female counterpart of the cuckold: a woman aroused by her partner's encounters with other women.

A hotwife is a married woman who, with her husband's encouragement, has encounters with other men.

Power Exchange is the umbrella term for any consensual BDSM dynamic in which authority moves, deliberately and by agreement, from one partner to another.

Protocol is the set of consensually agreed rules (forms of address, conduct, rituals, tasks) that structure a power exchange.

Spanking, often abbreviated SP in BDSM contexts, is impact play to the buttocks used for sensation, discipline, ritual, or power-exchange dynamics.

CBT in BDSM is an umbrella term for high-risk practices involving genital sensation, pressure, and control. This entry is for reference and does not give instruction.

A safeword is a pre-agreed signal used during BDSM interaction to pause, slow down, or stop a scene clearly.

Consent in BDSM is explicit, informed, voluntary, and revocable agreement, the foundation that separates BDSM from harm.

Aftercare is the post-scene care given to participants of a BDSM interaction to support physical, emotional, and role-state recovery.

D/s stands for Dominance and submission, a BDSM dynamic in which one partner leads and the other follows, by mutual consent.

SSC is a foundational ethical framework in BDSM, calling for interactions that are safe, sane, and consensual.

RACK is a BDSM ethical framework that stresses informed risk awareness as the foundation of meaningful consent.

A hard limit is an activity or topic that a participant absolutely will not do. It is non-negotiable and not to be eroded over time.

A soft limit is a topic a participant feels uncertain or hesitant about, one they haven't refused outright but will only approach under specific conditions.

Sub drop is the emotional or physical low that can follow a BDSM scene for the receiving partner. It is common, manageable, and worth planning for.

Top drop is the post-scene low that can affect the dominant or active partner, emotional, physical, or psychological, often involving self-criticism, fatigue, or doubt after the work of holding a scene.

Negotiation is the conversation in which BDSM participants establish activities, limits, risks, expectations, and stop signals before a scene.

Vanilla is the community-internal, neutral term for non-BDSM intimacy or for people whose practices and interests sit outside kink. Descriptive, not pejorative.

Pet is the role title for someone who relates to a dominant from a pet's position: cared for, trained, and treasured.

Impact Play is the BDSM category covering practices that strike the body, by hand or implement, for sensation, ritual, discipline, or psychological effect.

Bondage is the BDSM category covering practices that restrict bodily movement using rope, cuffs, restraints, or position.

Shibari is the practice of Japanese-style rope bondage, combining restraint, aesthetics, body line, and power dynamics.

Sensory deprivation reduces visual, auditory, or other input, which deepens trust, uncertainty, and dependence.

Sensory overload piles on dense, layered stimulation until no single sensation can be picked out.

Edging is the practice of bringing the receiving partner close to orgasm and pulling back before climax, repeatedly and deliberately, often as part of a control or denial dynamic.

Orgasm Control is the broad category of BDSM practices in which one partner directs whether, when, and how the other reaches climax, through permission, denial, edging, or chastity.

Chastity is the negotiated practice of restricting sexual release, often using a physical device, as part of a control, denial, or devotion-oriented BDSM dynamic.

Pet play is a kink category where participants interact through animal roles, postures, or care-and-training rules.

Ageplay is roleplay between consenting adults built on different age registers or caregiving relationships.

Medical play is roleplay built on clinical scenarios: examination, procedure, authority, and vulnerability.

Wax play uses the heat, drip, and visual effect of melted wax as a form of sensory stimulation.

Breathplay is the restriction or control of breathing, among the most dangerous categories in all of kink.

Flogging is the impact-play form practised with multi-tailed implements, from rhythmic stimulation to heavy sensation.

Needle play pierces the skin with needles for sensation, ritual, or visual arrangement. A high-risk category.

A tally is a structured way of recording mistakes, rewards, tasks, or punishment points within a D/s relationship.

Collaring is the use of a collar to mark a D/s or M/s relationship, commitment, belonging, or agreement.

A tribute is the offering of money, gifts, service, or symbolic devotion from a submissive or admirer to a dominant.

B/D stands for Bondage and Discipline, one of the three letter-pairs inside the BDSM acronym.

S/M stands for Sadism and Masochism, the pain-and-sensation axis of the BDSM acronym.

Public play is kink interaction in public or semi-public space, where privacy and non-participant consent become the issue.

A scene is a single BDSM or kink interaction framed within a specific time, space, and negotiated scope.

Predicament bondage makes the bound person balance between uncomfortable options: tension by design.

A flogger is a multi-tailed impact implement used for broad strikes, rhythmic stimulation, and scene ritual.

A cane is a long, rigid impact implement, classically associated with discipline and formal punishment registers.

A paddle is a flat impact implement: broad contact, thuddy sensation, and the classic voice of discipline registers.

A whip is a single-tail or long whip-type tool that builds intense scene tension through sound, visual threat, and precision.

A crop is a short, thin implement with a leather keeper at the tip, giving precise, pointed sensation with strong visual authority.

A spreader bar is a rigid bar used to hold the limbs at a fixed, spread angle, common in bondage and posture-control scenes.

A hood covers the head or face, combining sensory deprivation, anonymity, depersonalisation, and role transformation in one object.

A ball gag is a strapped-in mouth gag shaped as a ball, used to restrict speech and sound or deepen the sense of submission.

A muzzle covers the mouth or muzzle area, common in pet play, depersonalisation, and speech restriction.

A blindfold removes sight, the entry-level tool of sensory deprivation, trust, and the unknown.

The Wartenberg wheel is a small spiked roller producing prickling, tingling sensation on the skin.

Nipple clamps apply sustained pressure to the nipples: pain, control, humiliation, and sensation in one small device.

A straitjacket is a restraint garment that confines the arms, used in bondage, helplessness, or roleplay scenes.

A collar is a ring worn at the neck, commonly symbolising a D/s relationship, belonging, role, or pet play.

Suspension is a form of bondage that lifts part or all of the body off the ground, generally treated as high-risk rope or bondage work.

Fear play uses fear, threat, and the unknown as psychological stimulus.

Knife play uses blades or blade imagery to create cold sensation, fear, trust, and psychological tension. A high-risk theme.

Gun play uses firearm imagery, replicas, or simulated scenarios to create fear and power differential. A high-risk psychological theme.

Fire play uses flame, heat, and fire's visual menace as sensory stimulus, and is a high-risk category.

Ice play uses cold, through ice and chilled sensation, as sensory stimulus.

Electric play uses electrical sensation on the skin as stimulus, and is generally treated as a high-risk category.

Face slapping is open-hand striking of the face, tied to humiliation, power differential, pain, and emotional charge.

Hair pulling creates control, pain, and postural direction through a grip on the hair.

Heavy impression uses body weight and pressure to create security, helplessness, or sensory intensity.

A predicament is scene design that suspends a participant between two uncomfortable options or postural pressures.

Marking is leaving temporary or lasting marks on the body, as belonging, memory, or power made visible.

Objectification is consensual psychological play that treats a participant as an object, furniture, or pure function.

Humiliation is psychological play that creates shame and power differential through words, posture, tasks, or situations.

Mental play is kink interaction conducted through words, atmosphere, rules, expectation, and psychological tension.

Primal is the kink style or identity that runs on instinct: chase, growl, bite, and wordless interaction.

A sadistic dominant combines the dominant's drive to control with the sadist's pleasure in giving pain.

A Pro-Domme is a woman providing professional, paid domination services.

Findom, short for Financial Domination, is the BDSM practice in which the submissive's tribute, control, or surrender takes a financial form, by mutual agreement and within negotiated limits.

Puppy play is the pet play branch built on canine behaviour, headspace, and caretaking relationships.

Pony play is the pet play branch built on equine posture, training, tack, and role relationships.

ABDL stands for Adult Baby / Diaper Lover, generally treated as a branch of ageplay and caregiving kink.

A rope bottom receives the ties in rope bondage, focusing on rope sensation, posture, and body experience.

Rigging is the design, tying, and management of rope structures, especially in shibari and suspension contexts.

Shadow work is psychological work that uses a BDSM or kink context to explore fear, shame, trauma, or unconscious material.

A time out (T.O.) is a mid-scene pause used to settle, check in, or renegotiate, without necessarily ending the scene.

A BDSM contract is a written document recording rules, limits, duties, and symbolic commitments within a dynamic.

CNC stands for Consensual Non-Consent: adults agreeing in advance to simulate a non-consensual scenario. A high-risk topic.

TPE stands for Total Power Exchange: a high-coverage or around-the-clock power exchange arrangement.

Poly-kink is the orientation combining multiple partners, multiple relationships, or multiple chains of power exchange.

Kink is the broad umbrella term for any non-mainstream erotic interest, practice, or identity, including BDSM, fetish, role play, and unusual configurations of attraction.

A safeword signal is a non-verbal cue for pausing, adjusting, or stopping a scene when speech is unavailable.

A munch is a non-erotic social gathering of kink community members, held in public and in everyday clothes.

Vanilla-passing is when BDSM or kink partners present in public as an ordinary vanilla relationship, to protect privacy or avoid exposure.

Leather names the material and the culture: authority, ritual, scent, touch, and community identity.

Latex names the material and the fetish around it: second-skin shine, enclosure, and silhouette.

Rubber names the material fetish of enclosure, scent, and shine, along with the community culture around it.

Nylon names the material fetish around stockings and hosiery: touch, sheen, and the dressed leg.

A foot fetish is a marked erotic preference for feet, footwear, hosiery, and foot-centred interaction.

Boot worship is interaction that treats boots as the object of worship, service, fetish, or D/s symbolism.

A glove fetish is a marked preference for gloves: their material, touch, visual line, and air of authority.

The mask in fetish contexts carries anonymity, role transformation, authority, and depersonalisation.

Uniform fetish is attraction to uniforms and the authority, rank, roleplay, and institutional feel they carry.

Lingerie in fetish contexts concerns underwear as an aesthetic object: display, viewing, shame, and presentation.

Tease and denial builds desire and power tension through teasing, delay, refusal, and control over release.

Denial is the consensual refusal, delay, or restriction of a gratification, a staple of orgasm control and D/s.

Permission is the protocol vocabulary of a dominant allowing an act: power exchange rendered in a single word.

Punishment is the idea of consequences in D/s: responses to broken rules, carried out inside a negotiated frame.

Reward is the affirmation concept in D/s and training systems: recognition that reinforces behaviour.

Training is the process of building behaviors, habits, or a role state through rules, tasks, feedback, and ritual in BDSM or D/s.

A task is a behavior or assignment set by the dominant and completed by the submissive within a D/s or training relationship.

Rules are the negotiated standards of conduct, limits, and daily requirements within a D/s dynamic.

A ritual is a repeated, symbolic act in D/s, building role, relationship, and scene state through repetition.

Degradation is consensual psychological play that lowers status, dignity, or self-regard through words and situations.

A praise kink draws emotional and erotic charge from praise, affirmation, approval, and being truly seen.

A check-in is the act of confirming physical state, emotions, limits, and consent before, during, and after a scene.

A debrief is the post-scene conversation reviewing feelings, limits, surprises, likes, and adjustments for next time.

Emotional safety is the felt security that lets participants voice limits, revoke consent, and trust they will be respected and cared for.

A trigger is a word, action, situation, or sensory cue that can set off intense emotion, a trauma response, panic, or a distressing memory.

Trauma-Informed Kink is the practice of bringing an awareness of trauma, including how it works and how recovery happens, into BDSM negotiation, scenes, and aftercare.

The traffic light system is a common safeword scheme using red, yellow, and green to signal stop, adjust, and keep going.

A limit list is a negotiation tool for laying out hard limits, soft limits, preferences, and negotiable items.

A risk profile is the negotiation information describing someone's physical state, psychological limits, experience, and acceptable risk.

A kinkster is anyone who participates in, identifies with, or takes an active interest in kink.

A play partner is someone you do scenes with, not necessarily a romantic or long-term relationship.

A dominant partner is the partner who carries the leading role within an intimate or D/s relationship.

A collared submissive has accepted a collar or collaring as the symbol of commitment, belonging, or a D/s bond.

Owned describes the state of belonging: being claimed and committed to by a dominant in a D/s or M/s relationship.

Unowned is a D/s or M/s community term for someone who is not currently in an owner, Master, Mistress, or collar relationship.

24/7 describes a D/s or M/s dynamic that extends beyond individual scenes into everyday life.

Lifestyle BDSM describes practising BDSM or D/s as a way of life, a relationship structure, or a long-term identity.

Casual play is lighter, shorter-term kink interaction that does not necessarily extend into an ongoing relationship.

Long-term D/s is a dominance-and-submission relationship sustained over time, with stable rules or relationship commitment.

Femdom, short for Female Domination, describes any BDSM context in which a woman holds the dominant role.

Maledom abbreviates Male Domination: dynamics and content led by a male dominant.

JOI stands for Jerk Off Instruction: adult content built on verbal, written, or visual instructions guiding masturbation.

CEI is a common adult-platform acronym for Cum Eating Instruction, an explicit instruction-genre content tag.

SPH stands for Small Penis Humiliation: a humiliation genre centred on mocking genital size.

Worship is a kink context that expresses submission, fascination, or a power gap through adoration, praise, service, or reverence.

Deity kink frames the dominant as a god or idol, rendering the power gap in the language of worship.

Financial tribute is monetary offering as an expression of respect, submission, dominance, or relationship ritual.

Subspace is the trance-like, floaty, deeply immersed state of mind a receiving partner may enter during intense scenes.

PRICK stands for Personal Responsibility, Informed, Consensual Kink, the consent framework that puts personal responsibility first.

Sounding is the high-risk practice of inserting purpose-made instruments into the urethra, with a steep hygiene and knowledge threshold.

Ballbusting is a branch of CBT involving kicks, knees, or stomps delivered to the testicles, and it is a high-risk practice.

A rigger is the person doing the tying in rope bondage, opposite the rope bottom, and carrying the technical responsibility.

A keyholder is the person in a chastity dynamic who keeps the key, and with it the power to decide when.

Pegging is anal penetration of a male partner by a woman wearing a strap-on.

A strap-on is a dildo fixed by a harness, enabling anyone to take the penetrating role.

Golden shower refers to play involving urination, grouped under the broader community label watersports.

Exhibitionism is arousal drawn from being watched. Consenting audiences and legality are its non-negotiable boundaries.

Voyeurism is arousal drawn from watching others; in kink contexts, strictly with the watched person's informed consent.

Feminization is the consensual practice of having a partner adopt feminine dress, manner, or identity.

An FLR is a relationship structure with a woman in the leading role, ranging from household decisions to full power exchange.

A play party is a BDSM gathering, in a private or community space, where scenes happen on site.

A dungeon is a dedicated space equipped for BDSM play, whether a private playroom or a commercial or community venue.

Erotic hypnosis is psychological play that uses hypnotic technique to build erotic experience or power dynamics.

Mummification is heavy bondage that wraps the whole body in cling film, bandages, or similar material.

Facesitting is sitting on a partner's face: body dominance, worship, and weight combined in one position.

Trampling is standing or walking on a partner's body, often combined with foot worship.

CFNM stands for Clothed Female, Naked Male: a scenario where the clothing gap itself expresses the power gap.

Milking is play that treats a partner's orgasm as managed output, usually inside an orgasm-control frame.

A paypig is the tributing party in a findom dynamic: a deliberately degrading label, usually self-claimed.

A bull is the third-party male role in a cuckold dynamic, invited to interact with the wife or girlfriend.

Free use is a dynamic where blanket consent is negotiated in advance for a partner to initiate intimacy within agreed bounds.

Gooning is extended edge-riding masturbation aimed at the trance-like, dazed state itself rather than orgasm.

Fisting is the high-intensity practice of inserting the whole hand vaginally or anally, gradual work demanding anatomy knowledge.

The hanky code is a handkerchief colour system from 1970s leather culture: colour signals the interest, pocket signals the role.

Old Guard refers to the post-WWII gay leather tradition: formal protocol, mentorship, and earned leather.

Tickling is play that uses tickle sensation as stimulation, control, or torment, often combined with bondage.

GFD stands for Gentle Femdom: female dominance whose language is tenderness, praise, and care.

Scat refers to practices involving feces, the far end of the fluid-play risk spectrum and banned on most platforms.

Consensual blackmail is a high-risk fantasy dynamic built on the feeling of being compromised, using fictional or harmless collateral.