Some people in the BDSM community begin dominant terms with an upper case, for example: Top, Master, Dom, Domme, etc., as well as to begin submissive terms with a lower case, even where normally incorrect, chiefly in acronyms and abbreviations, such as D/s for Dom/sub. The term BDSM is a portmanteau of initialisms intended to encompass all of the following activities: Etymology īDSM 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. This glossary of BDSM (an initialism for bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, and masochism) terms defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.īDSM activities are described as play in BDSM terminology.

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