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 Glossary


  • BDSM � Bondage, Discipline, Sadomasochism
  • Bottom � One who enjoying giving up control or receiving sensation during a scene
  • D/s � Dominance/submission, typically of a mental or emotional nature
  • Edge play � BDSM activities that are often deemed riskier; examples include breath, fire, and knife play
  • Lifestyler � A person involved in a relationship in which power exchange is a defining dynamic
  • Limits � BDSM activities in which a person chooses not to participate
  • M/s � Master/slave, a deep form of power exchange, generally 24/7
  • Munch � A public social gathering of like-minded people, usually over food or drinks
  • RACK � Risk Aware Consensual Kink, an alternative mantra to SSC (see below) recognizing that BDSM is to some extent inherently risky
  • Safecall � A safety technique of prearranging a phone call at a specific time to a friend who knows where you are and can send help if you don�t call or don�t say a prearranged code word
  • Safeword � An unusual (in context) word, e.g., �pumpkin�, which means stop everything, sometimes in conjunction with a second word meaning slow down, e.g., �red� and �yellow�
  • SSC � Safe, Sane, and Consensual, a mantra of many in the BDSM community
  • Scene � A temporary period during which some form of power exchange occurs
  • SM � Sadomasochism; gaining pleasure from pain, either from inflicting it (sadist) or from receiving it (masochist)
  • Top � One who enjoys controlling a scene or giving sensation
  • Watersports � Play involving urine
  • WIITWD � Scene abbreviation, often used online and in vanilla settings; stands for What It Is That We Do
  • 24/7 � A constant, full-time relationship