Roles
Kink Roles
A kink role is a label that describes how someone participates in kink. It may reflect their position in a relationship or power dynamic, what they enjoy doing or receiving during play, a fetish or activity they identify with, a relationship style, or a persona they take on for fantasy and roleplay.
Broadly, kink roles may describe:
- Power and relationship dynamics, such as Dominant, submissive, caregiver, or pet.
- What someone does or receives during play, such as Top, bottom, rigger, or rope bottom.
- Fetishes and interests, such as rubberist, leather fetishist, or foot fetishist.
- Relationship styles, such as swinger, hotwife, cuckold, or bull.
- Personas and roleplay identities, such as pup, doll, vampire, or monster.
These categories are not rigid. A role may fit into more than one, and people may use several roles to describe different parts of their interests or identity.
BDSM Roles
BDSM roles are a subset of kink roles. They specifically describe someone’s position or function within BDSM.
The best-known BDSM roles broadly include:
- Dominant, submissive, and switch roles
- Top and bottom roles
- Master, Mistress and slave roles
- Sadist and masochist roles
- Rope and bondage roles
- Impact, sensation, service, and discipline roles
Not every role used in kink is specifically a BDSM role. A rubberist, swinger, foot fetishist, or fantasy character may be part of kink culture without necessarily involving bondage, power exchange, discipline, pain, or control.
A label does not always reveal exactly how someone practices it. Someone might be both a submissive and a masochist, for example. Or they may take on a pet role within a BDSM power dynamic.
Some roles are commonly associated with honorifics, but roles and honorifics are not the same thing. A role describes a position or identity within a dynamic, while an honorific is a consensual title used to address someone. It may or may not be part of that role.
Roles on FetLife
FetLife uses role in an especially broad sense. FetLife members can identify themselves by choosing from more than 600 roles organized into 50 categories for display on their profiles.
The list goes well beyond traditional BDSM roles, allowing people to express everything from their preferred activities and fetishes to their relationship styles, fantasy personas, and community identities.
Some FetLife roles are widely recognized throughout kink and BDSM communities. Others are highly specific, more recent, or were coined and popularized by FetLife users.
Below you can check out many of the roles available to FetLife members.
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