Dominance and submission, often shortened to D/s, means adults agree that one will direct some choices and another will follow within a defined context. It can be a brief role-play, a recurring relationship pattern, an identity label or several of these at once.
The UK Kink GuideEvidence-led glossary Back to the glossaryPower & roleIn plain English Words in context A non-graphic adult example What not to assume
Dominance and submission
Also known as D/s · power exchange
A consensual adult scene, relationship structure or identity in which authority is deliberately distributed unequally within negotiated limits. The scope may be brief, recurring or woven into daily life, but it remains revisable and never creates literal ownership or unlimited control.
Start here
New to this term?
A dominant directs within the agreement; a submissive chooses to follow. A switch may take either role in different contexts. A top performs an activity and a bottom receives it, which does not necessarily indicate authority. A ‘scene’ is a bounded period of agreed activity or role-play.
Two adults agree that one chooses the form of address and directs an evening ritual, while work, money, healthcare and contact with friends remain outside the dynamic. They review the agreement later and either can withdraw consent at any time.
Unequal roles do not make the people legally or morally unequal. D/s does not prove personality, gender, dependence or a wish for every activity. A collar, title, 24/7 label or promise never creates literal ownership, unlimited authority or permission for coercive control.
Sources and evidence type
Manual claim and limitation notes are shown where an individual source audit is complete. Other evidence-type labels are a publisher aid awaiting source-by-source confirmation.
Hébert & Weaver (2015), dominant and submissive role experiencesResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
Bennett (2025), qualitative analysis of adult BDSM switchesResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
Cascalheira, Thomson & Wignall (2022), 24/7 BDSM and consentResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
Tarleton, Mackenzie & Sagarin (2025), BDSM consent normsResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
Bowling et al. (2024), disclosure and reporting of consent violationsResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
Dunkley & Brotto (2020), BDSM consent reviewResearch study
- Source design
- Peer-reviewed research or review
- What it can support
- The specific population, measures and findings reported by the paper.
- Important limitation
- It cannot automatically establish UK prevalence, causation, diagnosis, consent or an individual outcome. Check recruitment, definitions and study design.
WHO ICD-11 clinical descriptions and diagnostic requirements (2024)Clinical guideline
- Source design
- Current public-health or clinical guidance
- What it can support
- Service pathways, health definitions and recommended public-health or clinical actions within its stated scope.
- Important limitation
- General guidance cannot assess an individual’s symptoms, exposure, medicine, contraindications or urgency.
Serious Crime Act 2015, section 76 (England and Wales)Law or regulator
- Source design
- Primary legislation, prosecutorial or regulator guidance
- What it can support
- The legal provision or official regulatory position for the jurisdiction and date stated.
- Important limitation
- It is not fact-specific legal advice. Commencement, amendments, jurisdiction and case law may affect application.
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, section 1Law or regulator
- Source design
- Primary legislation, prosecutorial or regulator guidance
- What it can support
- The legal provision or official regulatory position for the jurisdiction and date stated.
- Important limitation
- It is not fact-specific legal advice. Commencement, amendments, jurisdiction and case law may affect application.
Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, section 1Law or regulator
- Source design
- Primary legislation, prosecutorial or regulator guidance
- What it can support
- The legal provision or official regulatory position for the jurisdiction and date stated.
- Important limitation
- It is not fact-specific legal advice. Commencement, amendments, jurisdiction and case law may affect application.
Power & role
Illustration created using generative AI; not documentary evidence.
In brief
Unequal roles between equal people.
Dominance and submission—often shortened to D/s—describes adults giving different meanings and responsibilities to authority. A dominant may direct an agreed scene, ritual or part of a relationship, while a submissive chooses to follow within the negotiated scope. Some people switch between these positions or do not use role labels at all. The inequality is part of the shared framework; the adults retain equal legal personhood, bodily autonomy and the right to withdraw consent.
Roles, activities and identities
A D/s role can be temporary and scene-specific, a recurring way of relating, or part of how someone understands themself. Hébert and Weaver's qualitative study of 21 adults explored distinct benefits and challenges reported by dominant and submissive participants, while later identity research shows that role labels can be personally meaningful without determining every activity or relationship.
Role does not reliably predict gender, sexual orientation, personality, physical strength or preferred sensation. Dominants may also bottom, submissives may top, and switches may choose roles according to partner, context, mood or the activity. Bennett's interviews with 15 adult switches describe role choice as situational and connected to multiple aspects of self, challenging a simple permanent binary.
Dominant and submissive may describe a scene role, relationship practice or identity. Unequal roles are created by an agreement between adults with equal rights.
Illustration created using generative AI; not documentary evidence.- Status
- Detailed editorial draft
- Publisher
- The UK Kink Guide
- Reviewed
- Structured draft present; individual review date not recorded
- Evidence
- 10 cited sources · types labelled below
- Jurisdiction
- UK-focused general education
Read the rest: evidence, law, safety and sources
Relationship or scene roles organised around negotiated authority. The labels may describe an activity, a recurring dynamic or an important identity.
Activity roles describing who gives or receives a particular sensation or action. A top is not necessarily dominant, and a bottom is not necessarily submissive.
Someone who takes dominant-type and submissive-type roles in different contexts or at different times. Switching is a distinct and flexible role pattern, not indecision.
Community terms for dynamics intended to extend beyond time-limited scenes. They may be deeply significant, but ‘total’ does not remove consent, law, essential needs or the ability to renegotiate.
A harmful pattern that creates fear, removes genuine choice or substantially restricts ordinary life. It is not converted into consensual D/s by a title, collar or claimed agreement.
Scope, time and everyday life
Some dynamics begin and end with a scene. Others use recurring rituals, decision-making responsibilities, service or forms of address within defined parts of a relationship. Adults may describe a continuous dynamic as ‘24/7’, while ‘total power exchange’ signals an aspiration to unusually broad authority. Neither phrase tells an outsider exactly what the adults have agreed.
Cascalheira, Thomson and Wignall's phenomenological study of four adults described 24/7 BDSM as roles woven into daily life, alongside flexible rules, contextual communication and practical negotiation. Its very small qualitative sample documents possibilities rather than a universal model. Continuous identity does not mean continuous activity, and broad authority still sits inside real-world limits, changing circumstances and law.
Authority may be limited by time, setting, activity or subject. Work, healthcare, money, friendships and ordinary life are not automatically included in a role agreement.
Illustration created using generative AI; not documentary evidence.Objects, clothing and symbols
Collars, keys, rings, bracelets, badges, written agreements, seating arrangements, clothing, journals and service objects may symbolise a role or relationship. A collar can mean commitment, an active scene, fashion or nothing kink-related; a key may evoke trust or responsibility; contrasting seats can make hierarchy visible. Meaning belongs to the people using the symbol and cannot be inferred from appearance alone.
Written agreements and digital messages can record scope, privacy choices and review points, but they are memory and communication aids rather than transfers of legal ownership. A title, signature, photograph or piece of jewellery does not make consent permanent. Objects should also remain compatible with access needs, employment, healthcare, public safety and the wearer's ability to remove or decline them.
Consent, responsibility and accessibility
Negotiation can cover which decisions are delegated, when roles apply, what remains private, how either person can pause or withdraw, and which areas are never part of the dynamic. Submission is not blanket consent, and a dominant's responsibility to notice distress and respect a boundary is not reduced by the role. Consent to authority over one task does not imply consent to restraint, sex, pain, money, healthcare or another person's access to communications.
Speech, hearing, mobility, cognition, fatigue, medication, neurodivergence and sensory processing can affect how instructions and responses are communicated. An accessible dynamic may use plain language, writing, additional time or non-verbal signals, but no aid should be treated as proof that consent continues. Safewords supplement ordinary words and observation; silence, freezing or role-consistent obedience cannot be assumed to mean agreement.
A dominant role increases neither entitlement nor immunity from accountability. Withdrawal, uncertainty or changing capacity requires an immediate responsive check.
Illustration created using generative AI; not documentary evidence.What research can—and cannot—show
Tarleton, Mackenzie and Sagarin found strong explicit-consent norms among 202 adult BDSM practitioners, alongside some relationship-context variation. Bowling and colleagues' survey of kink practitioners nevertheless documents consent violations and barriers to disclosure. Community vocabulary and good intentions therefore do not guarantee that a particular interaction is consensual or harmless.
Much D/s research uses small interviews, self-selected online surveys or community samples, and definitions of role, relationship and activity vary. Findings cannot establish a universal personality profile, explain why an individual prefers a role or prove that one relationship structure improves wellbeing. Research about one role or community should not be generalised to all dominants, submissives or switches.
Clinical, wellbeing and UK legal boundaries
Consensual adult D/s is not a paraphilic disorder merely because it involves unconventional authority or identity. A collar, role title or desire to submit or dominate is not diagnostic evidence. Support may be useful where a person experiences persistent distress, impaired daily life, serious risk, unwanted compulsive behaviour or difficulty respecting consent, but seeking support does not itself establish a diagnosis.
UK law applies to conduct and relationships, not the D/s label. In England and Wales, section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 addresses repeated or continuous controlling or coercive behaviour in intimate or family relationships; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own domestic-abuse legislation. Preventing access to money, medication, sleep, food, work, healthcare, communication, friends or freedom of movement may be abusive depending on the pattern and circumstances. A claimed power exchange is not a defence to non-consensual or criminal behaviour.
Non-graphic examples
What the umbrella may include
- Adults use formal titles during an agreed scene and return to ordinary language when it ends.
- A couple delegates planning of a recurring ritual while keeping finances, healthcare and work explicitly outside the dynamic.
- A switch takes a dominant role with one partner and a submissive role with another without treating either as less authentic.
- A collar marks a private commitment but can be removed for comfort, work, healthcare or personal choice without penalty.
- A broad relationship agreement is revised when disability, medication, employment or another life circumstance changes.
Prepare for an appointment
Questions you could ask a professional
- What information would help you understand my question?
- What are the realistic options and uncertainties?
- How can disability, communication or privacy needs be accommodated?
- When should the situation be reviewed again?
These prompts do not replace assessment and do not imply that every reader needs professional care.
Continue learning
Take the next step from definition to context.
Continue with independent guidance connecting dominance and submission to evidence, consent, safety, uncertainty and practical decisions.
What submissive and dominant roles mean, how they differ from top and bottom, and what an adult role agreement must leave open.
Read the full guideRelated in-depth reading
Read the full guide.
Explore a connected question with context and UK support routes.
Top and bottom meaning in LGBTQ+ slang and BDSM: understand vers, power bottom and role differences, without assuming consent or personality.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsTypes of doms and subs: soft dom, service sub, brat and moreTypes of doms and subs explained for adults: soft dom, service sub, brat, rope top and switch, with consent, boundaries and UK support.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsFemale-led relationships (FLR): meaning, rules and consentFemale-led relationship (FLR) meaning: agree household, money and communication rules, understand wife-led marriage, and recognise coercive control.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsFemdom and female-led relationships: meaning and consentWhat femdom and female-led relationships mean, with adult consent, household agreements, financial independence, privacy and UK support.
Read the full guide Community & cultureWhat is BDSM? A beginner's guideA plain-English introduction to adult BDSM, its language, consent, risk, UK law and the questions worth asking before any activity.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsCollars and 24/7 dynamics: meaning and limitsA non-graphic adult guide to collaring, 24/7 or total power exchange, check-ins, exit plans and warning signs of coercion.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsOrgasm control and edging: meaning and consentA non-graphic guide to orgasm control and edging, consent, power dynamics, performance pressure, health questions and when to seek support.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsPraise kink: meaning and how to talk about itA guide to praise kink, individual wording, negotiation, self-esteem, service and D/s dynamics—without making affection or respect conditional.
Read the full guide consent relationshipsAdult authority roleplay: a consent-first guideAdult authority roleplay: agree fictional roles, boundaries, costumes, privacy and stopping without confusing character power with consent.
Read the full guide Consent & relationshipsLong-distance D/s dynamicsHow adults can define remote power exchange, communication, privacy and stopping without turning distance into constant access.
Read the full guide