Clear language, organized by category.

A pre-agreed word or signal used to pause, slow, or stop an activity. It does not replace ongoing consent or ordinary communication.

A negotiated period of kink or BDSM activity with a recognizable beginning and end. It may involve roles, sensation, restraint, power exchange, or other agreed elements.

In explicitly hierarchical relationships, a partner whose relationship has less agreed priority or structural entanglement than a primary relationship. The term describes an arrangement, not a person's worth.

Consensual play that deliberately heightens, contrasts, or redirects physical sensation through changes in touch, texture, pace, pressure, anticipation, or other stimuli.

A dominant whose style centers sensory attention, erotic connection, touch, anticipation, or embodied pleasure within negotiated authority.

A dominant who exercises negotiated authority in ways intended to support a submissive's desired experience, growth, structure, or wellbeing. Service describes style and motivation without transferring authority to the submissive.

A submissive who expresses negotiated submission through useful tasks, care, ritual, assistance, or anticipating agreed needs.

A top who gives an activity primarily in response to a bottom's interests or desired experience while retaining their own boundaries and consent. The term describes motivation or style, not necessarily dominance.

A broad term for consensual behavior that participants understand as sexual. It can include kissing, touching, masturbation, oral sex, penetration, roleplay, or other activities; meaning varies by person and context.

A broad and inconsistently used term for partnered sexual activity, often referring to vaginal or anal penetration but sometimes used more broadly. Naming the specific activity avoids assumptions about what someone means by “intercourse” or “sex.”

Intentional, nonjudgmental attention to present-moment sensations, emotions, thoughts, communication, and choices during sexual experience. Research commonly measures it as an attentional quality; it is not exclusive to Tantra and does not require meditation or spiritual belief.

Japanese terms used internationally for rope bondage traditions that may emphasize restraint, connection, aesthetics, structure, or eroticism. Usage and translation are contested, and rope skill does not remove circulation, nerve, suspension, or fall risks.

A self-selected submissive title used in some broad service or ownership dynamics to express extensive negotiated surrender. It is a consensual role, not legal status, and does not remove autonomy or the right to leave.

A swinging term for agreed shared sexual activity that excludes intercourse with another partner. The exact boundary varies and should be defined rather than assumed.

An approach to polyamory centered on personal autonomy, often without seeking a primary partner, shared household, merged finances, or other conventional forms of couple-based entanglement.

The consensual offering of agreed control within a scene or relationship dynamic while retaining agency, boundaries, and the right to stop.

A person who consensually offers agreed control within a negotiated power dynamic. Submission is an active choice and does not remove agency, boundaries, dignity, or the right to stop.

A community term for an altered, absorbed, euphoric, or deeply relaxed state that some submissive or receiving participants report during or after intense play. Experiences vary, and someone in that state may need extra monitoring and simple communication.

A form of consensual non-monogamy often centered on couples or partners sharing social or sexual experiences with other consenting adults.

A diverse family of South Asian religious traditions that developed in Hindu and Buddhist contexts and may include initiation, ritual, mantra, meditation, embodiment, and paths to liberation. Tantra is broader than sexual practice and should not be treated as a synonym for modern tantric sex.