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If you explore the organized communities of SM/fetish sex, you will come across a plethora of words, acronyms, and terms that may be unfamiliar to you. This subcultural slang is used to help kinky people clarify what they do with their partners. The slang comes from all corners of the kinky world--gay, lesbian, professional domination, leather, fetish. The Internet too has given rise to a variety of terms relevant to kinky people.
Below is a primer that should cover almost all your needs in understanding what people are talking about. Some terms left off this (like spanking, whipping, flogging, etc.) are plain English and do not require special definitions here.
Most of these terms are not set in stone. Indeed, people may disagree with some of my definitions. It's also important to note that the definitions of all the terms below are continually evolving, as people debate their meaning and strive to find new ways to articulate the realities of kinky sex.
Adult Babies: also
known as AB's or
infantilists, are people who
get erotic and emotional pleasure from wearing diapers or acting
like babies.
Ageplay: Animal Training: B&D. BDSM. Bear: Bi-Kinky: Bi-Possible: Biological
Female/Male: Black Party: Blood-sports: Body modification: Body service: Body worship: Boot-boy: Bottom: Boy: Breath Control: Brown Showers: Butch: CBT, CBTT: Collaring: The Community: D&S: Daddy:
Daddy/boy relationships also exist in the non-leather gay
community: among non-kinky gays, Daddy/boy relationships are
generally focused on mentoring and care-taking.
Dominant: Dungeon: Edgeplay: Electroplay/electrotorture: Fat Admirer: Femme: Fisting: Flag/flagging:
People also flag their top/bottom
orientation with the
left/right "code" or "convention". Dominants or tops flag on the
left; submissives or bottoms on the right. The applies to other
SM attire (for example, a dominant always wears her whip on the
left side of her belt).
Below, I've listed the most popular
"SM"-type flags,
according to color, and indicating what it means if you wear the
color on the left and on the right.
Foot-play:
erotic interactions with feet and all forms of foot fetishism (see chapter on Fetishes)Foot worship:
also called "foot service." Oral service (licking, kissing, sucking) to bare feet.Forced feminization:
this is when a dominatrix (or sometimes a male dominant) "forces" a submissive man into feminine clothes. It is confusing to some people that this scene is described as "forced" when the submissive consented to it--or even requested it.French Maid:
fantasy role-play in which the submissive (male or female) is dressed in a "french maid's uniform" and serves food, drinks, and so on. The uniform usually comprises a very short, one piece dress, often made of fetish material; a frilled petticoat; a frilly apron; stockings and high-heels; and other frou-frou (such as a lacy headpiece, lace wrist-cuffs, and white gloves). See "sissy maid" below.Gender dysphoria:
the clinical term applied to people who feel unhappy in their biological sexGender fuck:
when someone emulates, or partly emulates, the opposite sex, often to shock others. By partly, I mean they may appear with one surprising element to their dress: a man otherwise dressed male who adds (fake) breasts to the combination; or a woman dressed in regular clothes who packs a large strap-on in her jeans. Genderfuck has a political element to it as it is intended to upset standard notions of gender.Golden Showers:
also known as GS and piss-play. It specifically means to pee on someone or to be peed on. However, the term is used generically to describe the spectrum of urine-play, including ingestion, wetting one's pants (or ordering someone to wet theirs), and having one's bladder controlled (or doing the controlling) either through verbal commands or devices which prevent or cause urination.Gorean Master:
a male dominant who adopts the code and style of life as portrayed by the GOR books of John NormanHead-play:
also known as mind-play, mind games, head games, head trips, and mind-fucking. This means any kind of manipulation by the top which heightens anticipation and fear in an emotionally masochistic bottom and thus intensifies the bottom's erotic response. This includes everything from "verbal abuse" (see below) to complex scenarios that confuse or surprise the bottom into deeper "sub-space." A "mind-fuck" (deliberately misleading a partner into believing something horrible is about to happen) is the deepest level of this play.Kajira:
this fictional term for "slavegirl" derives from the GOR series, and denotes women who attempt to live by the standard set in the books.Kink-Friendly:
this describes someone who, while not necessarily kinky him or herself, is nonetheless sympathetic and supportive to kinky people. A "kink-friendly therapist," for example, is someone who has a permissive view of kinky sex. "Kink-friendly" is also used to describe businesses which welcome leather people as customers.Kink-Positive:
something (such as a magazine article) which portrays kinky sex in a positive light, or someone (like this author) who espouses positive attitudes towards sexual diversity.LDR:
the acronym for "long-distance relationship." It originated on the Internet as short-hand for couples who form serious relationships with partners who live far away.LTR:
the acronym for "long-term relationship"Leather Culture:
the united societies of men and women (largely gay and lesbian, but increasingly open to bisexuals and heterosexuals) who embrace the traditions, ethics and pride of open involvement in the leather Scene. This may include (and isn't limited to): active participation in leather society and politics, the wearing of black leather, formation of leather "families," attendance at competitions,Leather Family:
a surrogate, adults-only family comprised of lovers, friends, and sometimes mentors who share compatible sexual interests and socio-political goals. Leather families share deep, binding, and sometimes spiritual commitments to one another based on their joint devotion to all things leather. The famous phrase cited by lesbian SM activist and scholar, Gayle Rubin, sums it up best: "leather is thicker than blood."Leathermen/Leatherwomen:
long used to refer specifically to gay or lesbian leatherpeople, but now used more generally to apply to all people committed to leather culture. (Lesbian leatherwomen may also refer to themselves as leatherdykes.)The Lifestyle:
when used with "the," it usually refers to "the leather lifestyle," meaning people who embrace all aspects of leather culture in their dress, their sexual politics, their social commitments, their traditions, and their sex lives. "Being in the lifestyle" is not the same as "being a lifestyler," because someone "in the lifestyle" or "in the life" could be single or otherwise uninvolved in a full-time SM relationship.Lifestylers:
people who assume their dominant, submissive, top or bottom roles as a way of life. Lifestyle relationships are role-based, but not role-play. Many lifestylers are not "in the lifestyle" in that they do not participate in the organized SM Scene, but instead conduct their SM relationships in privacy at home. (See Chapter 7: Role-Playing and Role-Based Relationships)Limits:
the basic set of physical or other limits that the bottom sets during negotiation. For example, if a bottom does not like anything more painful than erotic spanking, she may set a pain "limit" that rules out whippings and other intense stimuli. (See chapter on submissives.) Dominants too have limits on how far they wish to go with a submissive. (see chapter on dominants for a complete discussion of this).
Master/Mistress:
a master is a male dominant; a mistress is a female dominant. Masters and Mistresses (as opposed to tops) always have power exchange relationships with their partners.Messy:
usually used in combination with "wet" ("wet and messy"). Refers to a fetish for being covered, or having one's clothes covered, with wet, messy substances--typically mud or oil, but can also include body wastes or gooey foods (honey, chocolate syrup, ice cream, and so on). "Messy sex" means the people like to get gooey and get it on.Mind-games:
See "Headplay."Munch:
this term originated on the Internet, and refers to a group lunch or brunch at a public restaurant where kinky people can make new acquaintances or socialize with old friends in a low-key, pressure-free "vanilla" setting.Negotiation:
the art and science of reaching a clear, consensual agreement with your adult partner about the type of relationship you will have and the kinds of kinky things you will do together. The negotiation process lasts as long as the couple needs to hammer these things out--it could be days, weeks, months or even years. Couples also may re-negotiate terms periodically as their relationship evolves and their needs change.
"Negotiating a scene" involves a much
narrower type of
dialogue, in which partners only decide on what they will do
during a scene.
New Guard:
a recent movement in the Scene which embraces many traditional Old Guard standards and updates them with some freer-flowing and more permissive attitudes towards role-playing, lifestyle, and pansexuality which are more responsive to the needs of younger people entering the Scene. Sometimes called Next Guard (to signify the youngest generation of traditional leatherpeople).Old Guard:
the nearly mythic, exclusively gay male, loosely organized network of leather clubs (circa 1940s-1950s) which established the rituals and mores of leather culture. Old Guard members took a highly regimented, quasi-militaristic approach to leathersex, and organized a tight, profoundly interconnected community based on solidarity in leather diversity.
The Old Guard is frequently seen as a phenomenon of the
older generation (men now in their 60s and 70s) and thus
considered, in some quarters, as outdated. At the same time, it
is held in high reverence by those who stand in awe of the
structure that the Old Guard created and passed on. Indeed, the
Old Guard was a revolutionary movement.
While the Old Guard itself was never
a monolithic group
but a series of clubs and leather families which instituted
individual rules, the Old Guard influence has been profound
within the Scene. Many of today's SM traditions derive from the
Old Guard, from the superficial (leather dress and
types of toys) to the philosophical (standards on what
constitutes a moral SM relationship). Some people view Old Guard
traditions as the only pure model for leathersex.
There are a handful of Old Guard
"tribes" around the
globe (particularly in the US and Europe). Some have opened
their arms to embrace the new, more pansexual SM population into
its ranks. Ironically, the trendiness of kinky sex has caused a
minor resurgence in interest in Old Guard traditions.
Pain Slut:
a heavy masochist (male or female)Pain threshold:
the limit at which pain ceases to be pleasure and becomes undesirable for the submissive or bottom.Pansexuality:
a political, philosophical and social movement within the organized SM/fetish communities which unites kinky people across orientation lines (i.e., gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, and transgendered together). This movement is fairly young but already gaining widespread acceptance in North America, although the old traditions of gay- only or lesbian-only venues and events continue as well.
Politically speaking, pansexuality is a
way of uniting disparate SM/fetish communities into a solid front
which can more effectively fight for kinky civil rights and
better educate the public about the diversity and consensuality
of kinky sex.
A "pansexual" event welcomes people of
all orientations.
"Pansexual play" means that gay and
non-gay alike may engage in
some non-sexual SM acts together, particularly in group settings
(for example, a lesbian or gay man may consent to spank members
of the opposite sex at a party, though neither would sleep with
or otherwise have a romantic relationship with them).
Panty training:
this is when a dominant "forces" a male submissive to wear panties and other embarrassing bits of feminine lingerie, both to cross-dress and humiliate himPercussion play:
an umbrella term used to describe all forms of striking. Spanking, paddling, slapping, whipping, flogging and caning are all types of percussion play.Permanent v. play piercing:
a permanent piercing refers to the implantation of body jewelry (such as nipple rings). A play piercing is a form of radical SM play in which needles or other piercing implements are temporarily inserted in flesh, either as part of a ritual (sometimes spiritual) or for the erotic pleasure of the pain it brings.Petticoat training or
petticoating: the same as panty training,
but with ruffled slips. (See chapter on Transgenderism.)
Play: Play-partner: Play-space/playroom: Ponyboy/ponygirl: Power exchange: Puppy: Pushy (or Greedy)
Sub: R/T: SAM:
SM: Safe, Sane and Consensual (or
Safe, Sane, and Mutually Consensual: Safe Word: Sash queen: Scat: Scene:
I must interject a personal comment here.
From time to
time people write me and criticize me for not being more
open-minded about eating poop. After all, I seem perfectly
comfortable with many other extreme types of sex, including ones
that make some of my poop-eating fans faint with horror. Am I
secretly a prude after all?
I will explain. You can't eat poop without
putting
yourself at risk of disease. It is true that some people who do
this don't get sick. Some people who step in front of speeding
cars don't get run over, either.
Human feces (unlike urine) is, by its very
nature,
infested with bacteria. Bacteria is what breaks food down and
turns it into waste in our alimentary canals. Those bacteria
remain alive in our waste after our bodies eliminate it. A
bacterial infection transmitted by ingesting feces can be fatal.
There is no absolute way to protect yourself against getting one.
It is purely luck of the draw, so to speak.
Therefore, to my mind, ingestion, while a
perfectly
acceptable fantasy, can never be acted out with a guarantee of
safety, unlike many seemingly more dangerous types of SM.
My advice: substitute chocolate. They don't
call the
anus "Hershey Highway" for nothing.
a) The Scene (always with a capital S) refers to the SM/fetish/leather worlds. To "be in the Scene" means that one participates, even if only nominally, in organized events and considers oneself a member of this subculture. To be "out in the Scene" means that you are a known player.
b) a scene (always with a lower-case S) refers to one's kink or fetish, as in "My scene is feet" (i.e., the person has a foot fetish).
c) a scene (also with a lower-case S) refers to a time- limited SM encounter; the synonym of session (see below). "I did a hot bondage scene with him."
d) to scene: unfortunately for those of us who are
sticklers on grammar, definition (c) of scene has morphed into a
verb. It means "to do SM," as in "I scened with her the other
day" or "I'll be scening with him next week."
Session: Sharps: Sissy: Slave: Slave contract: Subspace: Switch: TPE: 24/7: Toilet slave: Top: Top's Disease: Toys: Tranny Chasers: Transgendered/transgenderist: Transvestite: Transsexual: Vanilla: Verbal Abuse: Water Sports: WIITWD (acronym for "What It Is
That We Do"):
A "pre-op transsexual" is someone who has
taken some
steps towards change--hormone therapy, breast implants (for
male-to-female) or removal (for female-to-male), electrolysis,
plastic surgery--but has not yet had "sexual reassignment
surgery" (the medical procedures which alter genitalia).
A "post-op transsexual" is someone who
has completed the
process by undergoing surgery to change her or his sex and, from
then on, lives as a full-fledged member of the opposite sex.
Some transsexuals do not want sexual
reassignment surgery
and instead opt to live as hermaphrodites, with the secondary
characteristics of both sexes. The slang--but not necessarily
flattering--terms for male-to-female hermaphrodites are "chicks
with dicks" and "she-males."
The glossary above was excerpted from
COME HITHER
A Commonsense Guide to Kinky Sex
(Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 2000)
U.S. $13. Available at all bookstores
Reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited.
copyright © 1998-2000
Dr. Gloria G. Brame
All Rights Reserved