Abuse versus consensual power exchange
The distinction between negotiated, withdrawable adult role authority and patterns of coercion, fear, isolation or control that remove meaningful choice.
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The UK Kink GuideUnderstand more. Learn without shame.Browse the taxonomy
Sex, sexuality and kink glossary
Search names, aliases and concepts, or narrow the list by theme. The catalogue is alphabetical and designed to grow as reliable sources do. These practical filters are more specific than the site's eleven broader subject centres.
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Glossary results
Accessible and adaptive design
Design and adaptation that reduce barriers across varied mobility, dexterity, strength, sensation, cognition, communication and assistance needs.
Read the full explanationAccountability, apology and repair
Processes for acknowledging impact, stopping harmful conduct, accepting appropriate consequences and making changes intended to prevent recurrence. An apology does not require forgiveness or reconciliation.
Read the full explanationAdult sexting
Consensual exchange of sexual or intimate words, images or recordings between adults, with separate decisions about content, recipients, storage and reuse.
Read the full explanationAdult sleep-fantasy terminology
Also known as: somnophilia fantasy · sleep fantasy
An adult fantasy or fictional theme involving sleep, waking or imagined unawareness. It must be separated from real sexual activity with a person who is asleep, unconscious or unable to give ongoing consent.
Read the full explanationAftercare
Planned support or communication after a consensual kink or BDSM scene, used to help participants move out of roles, attend to comfort and make sense of the experience. It may be emotional, social or practical, and its meaning and preferred form vary between people rather than following one universal routine.
Read the full explanationAge of consent and adulthood
Separate legal concepts: the general age at which a person can consent to sexual activity is 16 across the UK, while a person under 18 remains a child for many safeguarding, image, exploitation and position-of-trust laws.
Read the full explanationAI companions and sexuality
Conversational or embodied AI systems designed or used for ongoing relational, romantic or erotic interaction, often with persistent personas and personalised responses.
Read the full explanationAnorgasmia
Persistent or recurrent absence, marked delay, infrequency or reduced intensity of orgasm despite wanting orgasm and receiving stimulation the person considers adequate, assessed in context and especially where it causes distress.
Read the full explanationArmpit interest
Also known as: maschalagnia
A focused adult attraction to armpits that may involve appearance, scent, hair, clothing, movement or consensual intimacy.
Read the full explanationAromantic
An orientation generally describing little or no romantic attraction. Aromantic, often shortened to aro, can also serve as an umbrella for varied aro-spectrum experiences.
Read the full explanationArousal
A psychological and/or physiological response associated with sexual attention, meaning or stimulation. Subjective excitement and genital or other bodily responses may align imperfectly, and neither proves desire, pleasure or consent.
Read the full explanationArousal non-concordance
A difference between a person's reported experience of arousal and genital or other bodily responses. A bodily response cannot establish desire, enjoyment, identity or consent.
Read the full explanationAsexual
An orientation generally describing little or no sexual attraction. Asexual, often shortened to ace, is also an umbrella for varied ace-spectrum experiences.
Read the full explanationBalloon fetish
Also known as: looning · balloon interest
An adult interest in balloons that may centre on colour, shape, surface, movement, sound, inflation imagery, fragility or the anticipation of a pop. Community language includes “looning”, but people differ substantially and may enjoy, dislike or avoid popping.
Read the full explanationBDSM
Also known as: bondage and discipline · dominance and submission · sadism and masochism
- Part of
- Kink
- See also
- Consent negotiation
An umbrella term for consensual adult practices involving restraint, rules, power exchange, intense sensation or role-based experiences. Its initials commonly group bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism; not every participant is interested in every element.
Read the full explanationBelly and abdominal interest
Also known as: belly fetish
A focused adult attraction to the abdomen, potentially involving shape, softness, movement, fullness, clothing, sound or consensual touch.
Read the full explanationBisexual
An orientation involving the potential for sexual and/or romantic attraction to more than one gender. Attraction need not be equal, simultaneous, constant or expressed through behaviour.
Read the full explanationBlindfold play
The consensual reduction or removal of sight using a blindfold to alter anticipation, attention, sensory balance or role experience.
Read the full explanationBlood and bodily-fluid exposure
Contact whose infection significance depends on the fluid, route, body site, skin integrity, amount and source context. A splash onto intact skin is not equivalent to a sharps injury or contact with eyes, mouth or broken skin.
Read the full explanationBlood interests and blood play
Also known as: blood kink
An adult interest, fantasy or activity involving blood imagery or blood. Blood exposure can transmit infection and needs to be distinguished from fantasy, medical care, self-harm or non-consensual injury.
Read the full explanationBodily autonomy
The principle that a person should direct decisions about their own body, health and sexuality, within the law and with equal respect for every other person's rights and autonomy.
Read the full explanationBody worship
Also known as: worship kink · body worship kink
Focused, consensual admiration or ritual attention directed toward an adult partner's body or chosen feature, potentially expressing praise, devotion, service or power exchange.
Read the full explanationBody-safe claims
Marketing language suggesting that a product or material is suitable for bodily contact; it is not one universal certification, test method or guarantee for every user and use.
Read the full explanationBodyweight kink
Also known as: body-weight kink · bodyweight play · body-weight play
- Related
- Trampling · Body worship · Feederism · Muscle interest
An informal and ambiguous search phrase that may refer to body-weight pressure, attraction to body size or physique, body worship, or weight-change fantasy; it is not one standardised kink term.
Read the full explanationBondage
- Related
- Restraint · Rope play
- Part of
- BDSM
- See also
- D/s · Consent negotiation
The consensual use or representation of restraint and restricted movement between adults for aesthetic, psychological, sensory or role-based meaning. Bondage ranges from symbolic imagery to technically complex restraint; it is distinct from detention, coercion or preventing someone from leaving without agreement.
Read the full explanationBoot worship
Consensual ritual or focused attention to boots as objects, symbols of authority, materials, fashion or items worn by an adult partner.
Read the full explanationBoundary
A limit a person sets around their body, time, information, relationships or participation. It identifies what they will or will not accept rather than granting control over another person.
Read the full explanationBranding and scarification interest
Also known as: sexual branding · scarification fantasy
An adult interest or fantasy involving permanent or semi-permanent marks associated with heat, cutting or scar formation. The interest is distinct from a recommendation or instruction to create such marks.
Read the full explanationBrat and brat-tamer dynamic
A consensual adult power dynamic in which negotiated cheekiness, provocation, testing or playful resistance invites an agreed response from a brat-tamer or other partner.
Read the full explanationBreast interest
Also known as: mazophilia · breast fetish
A focused adult attraction to breasts or chest tissue, including appearance, movement, clothing, touch or symbolic associations.
Read the full explanationBreath restriction interest
Also known as: breath play · sexual choking · erotic asphyxiation
An adult interest in fantasies or acts involving restricted breathing or blood flow. Community language often says sexual choking, while clinical and legal sources distinguish external neck compression as strangulation from choking on an internal obstruction. Every form of actual oxygen or blood-flow restriction can cause severe injury or death.
Read the full explanationBystander intervention
Safe action by a witness to interrupt, distract, document, delegate or seek help concerning potentially harmful behaviour.
Read the full explanationCaning
An impact-play term for the use or fantasy of a cane-like implement. It is not interchangeable with flogging, paddles, crops or spanking, and can carry concentrated physical risk.
Read the full explanationCapacity to consent
The present, decision-specific ability to understand relevant information, use or weigh it and communicate a choice. The exact legal test depends on the UK jurisdiction and context.
Read the full explanationCatfishing
Using a false or materially deceptive online identity to form or manipulate a relationship, which may range from misleading self-presentation to fraud, exploitation, blackmail or abuse.
Read the full explanationChastity play
A consensual dynamic in which access to sexual touch or release is symbolically or practically restricted for an agreed period. It may centre on anticipation, ritual, control or commitment rather than continuous device wear.
Read the full explanationCheck-in
A brief communication used to confirm comfort, capacity, consent or changing needs before, during or after an interaction.
Read the full explanationCleaning and disinfection
Cleaning physically removes soil and many microorganisms; disinfection uses a validated process to inactivate specified microorganisms on an inanimate surface. Neither term automatically means sterilisation.
Read the full explanationCoercion
The use of force, threats, manipulation, control or serious pressure to obtain conduct that is not freely chosen.
Read the full explanationCollaring
The consensual use or exchange of a collar as clothing, scene equipment or a symbol of role, commitment, belonging, protection, protocol or relationship meaning.
Read the full explanationCommunity accountability
Collective, usually non-state processes intended to respond to harm, support affected people, establish responsibility and change individual or organisational conditions that enabled harm.
Read the full explanationCompersion
A term for positive feelings about another person's pleasure or relationship. It may coexist with jealousy and is not required for ethical non-monogamy. The word describes an emotion someone may recognise, not a promise to feel happy or accept a relationship arrangement they do not want.
Read the full explanationCompulsive sexual behaviour disorder
An ICD-11 impulse-control disorder involving a persistent failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges, resulting in repetitive behaviour and marked distress or significant impairment over an extended period.
Read the full explanationCondoms and barriers
Products used to reduce contact with bodily fluids or skin and lower the likelihood of some infections and/or pregnancy. Protection depends on material, fit, correct use and the exposure involved.
Read the full explanationConsensual degradation
Also known as: degradation play
Negotiated psychological play using lowered status, language or ritual to create intensity. It overlaps with humiliation but may focus more on role and identity language than embarrassment.
Read the full explanationConsensual exhibitionistic play
Also known as: agoraphilia · exhibitionistic play
A staged adult scenario in which agreed visibility or display creates excitement. It belongs in private, controlled or specifically consenting settings; exposing non-consenting bystanders is outside this definition.
Read the full explanationConsensual humiliation
Also known as: humiliation play
A negotiated form of psychological play in which embarrassment, teasing or status difference is used for intensity. Because language can have lasting effects, participants often define subjects and words that remain off-limits.
Read the full explanationConsensual non-consent fantasy
Also known as: CNC · resistance role-play
A pre-negotiated adult fantasy that stages resistance, capture or apparent loss of control while real consent remains active, bounded and withdrawable outside the fiction.
Read the full explanationConsensual non-monogamy
An umbrella for relationship structures in which adults knowingly agree that more than one sexual and/or romantic connection may occur.
Read the full explanationConsensual objectification
Also known as: objectification play
Role-play in which a person is temporarily treated as a symbolic object, display or function under agreed conditions. The person’s real autonomy and right to stop remain intact throughout.
Read the full explanationConsensual sleep fantasy
Also known as: consensual somnophilia
An adult fantasy involving sleep, apparent sleep or staged unresponsiveness, ethically explored through fiction or role-play while real participants retain capacity and communication.
Read the full explanationConsensual voyeuristic play
A staged adult scenario in which being watched, or watching, is agreed by everyone involved. It is categorically different from observing an unaware person, invading privacy or recording without permission.
Read the full explanationConsent
A person's freely chosen, informed and continuing agreement to a specific activity or interaction while they have capacity to decide. Consent can be conditional, paused or withdrawn and is not supplied by silence, a relationship, a role or previous participation.
Read the full explanationConsent negotiation
Also known as: scene negotiation · boundary negotiation
An explicit and continuing process through which adults agree the scope of a kink or BDSM interaction, including roles, boundaries, communication, relevant risks and conditions that could affect capacity. Negotiation may happen before, during and after an interaction; it is not a contract that grants blanket or permanent permission.
Read the full explanationConsent to bodily harm
The legally limited role consent may play when an activity causes injury. A private agreement does not automatically provide a defence to assault, and rules depend on harm, purpose, recognised exceptions and jurisdiction.
Read the full explanationConsent versus compliance
The distinction between freely choosing an activity and merely going along because of fear, pressure, dependency, resignation or perceived consequences.
Read the full explanationConsent violation
Conduct outside a person's freely given consent, including continuing after withdrawal or exceeding agreed scope. It is an umbrella description, not a substitute for legal or safeguarding assessment.
Read the full explanationContraception
Methods used to reduce the chance of pregnancy. Methods differ in effectiveness, duration, reversibility, side effects, user control and protection against sexually transmitted infections.
Read the full explanationConversion practices
Interventions or practices directed at changing, suppressing or preventing a person's sexual orientation or gender identity because one outcome is presumed preferable. They may be presented as therapy, counselling, prayer, discipline or support.
Read the full explanation Back home
Evidence-led glossary / living edition
A glossary of sex, sexuality, relationships, kink and adult wellbeing.
There is no fixed, exhaustive list: language, communities, clinical guidance and research continue to change. This growing map connects foundational sexuality education with kink, relationships, health, identity and commonly misunderstood expressions.
293curated entries
16thematic groups
18+consensual scope
Consensual adults only
Non-consensual acts, exploitation and content involving minors are outside this glossary.
Description, not diagnosis
Definitions explain language. They do not assess a person or replace clinical advice.
Sources over folklore
Clinical distinctions and prevalence claims are tied to published or professional sources.
A non-explicit visual language
Ideas, represented through objects.
These commissioned still lifes use material, ritual and attention as visual shorthand—never bodies or acts.
Objects and materials can carry tactile, aesthetic, symbolic or erotic meaning.
Negotiated roles can structure authority, service, performance and shared ritual.
Many practices are organised around anticipation, contrast and focused attention.
Method & limitations
A useful map, not a claim to completeness.
Terms were selected to establish a broad foundation across identity, objects, materials, roles and activities. Definitions synthesise the sources listed here with established community usage, which is not always uniform. Entries use plain language and explicitly mark where a consensual scenario differs from harmful or non-consensual conduct.
The list will expand, but not every coined label merits its own entry. Preference is given to terms with meaningful use, a distinct concept and enough evidence to define responsibly.
Core reading
- Clinical descriptions and diagnostic requirements for ICD-11 mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disordersWorld Health Organization, 2024
- Proposals for Paraphilic Disorders in the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Eleventh Revision (ICD-11)Krueger et al., Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2017
- Disorders related to sexuality and gender identity in the ICD-11Reed et al., World Psychiatry, 2016
- The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General PopulationJoyal & Carpentier, Journal of Sex Research, 2017
- Relative prevalence of different fetishesScorolli et al., International Journal of Impotence Research, 2007
- Psychological characteristics of BDSM practitionersWismeijer & van Assen, Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2013
- The Biology of BDSM: A Systematic ReviewWuyts & Morrens, Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2022
- Choking/Strangulation During Sex: Understanding and Addressing Young Australians' Views of SafetyConte et al., Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2025
- There is no safe way to strangle — position statementInstitute for Addressing Strangulation, UK
- The Role of Consent in the Context of BDSMDunkley & Brotto, Sexual Abuse, 2020
- How was That for You?: Gender, Aftercare and Impression Management in BDSMMercer, Journal of Sex Research, 2026
- Consent Norms in the BDSM Community: Strong But Not InflexibleTarleton, Mackenzie & Sagarin, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2025
- What are rape and sexual assault? — consent guidanceCrown Prosecution Service, England and Wales
- Core Knowledge Areas for sexuality educators, counsellors and therapistsAASECT professional framework
- Sexual healthWorld Health Organization
- An Introduction to BDSM for PsychotherapistsSociety for Psychotherapy, APA Division 29, 2015
- From SSC and RACK to the 4CsWilliams et al., Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, 2014
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