Glossary of BDSM

This glossary of BDSM (an initialism for bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, and masochism) defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.

[1] BDSM abbreviations have their origins in classified personal advertisements, where euphemisms for paraphilic and socially disapproved practices were required by periodical editors to circumvent censorship and obscenity law.

The term BDSM is a portmanteau of initialisms intended to encompass all of the following activities: Some people in the BDSM community begin dominant terms (Top, Master, Dom, Domme, etc.)

Some extend this to honorifics and capitalization: for example, Master Rob's slave, linda, may refer to him as Sir and themself as i (or as "this slave", restricted from referring to themself in the first person).

[citation needed] High protocol refers to groups or individuals that adhere to strict roles and role-based rules of conduct, whereas low protocol refers to groups or individuals that are more relaxed.

Erotic spanking image taken at Studio Biederer , Paris, 1930
A woman getting fisted by a man
A man is flogged with a multi-tailed whip as he is tied to an X-cross
Flogging at the Up Your Alley Fair , San Francisco , 2006
Two women mummified with pallet wrap and duct tape, restraining their entire bodies, at Exxxotica 2013
Animal roleplay at Cologne Pride , 2014
Rope bondage in an uncomfortable bondage position at BoundCon, 2013
Wax in a colorful pattern on the back of a subject