Terms

I sometimes use terms that you might not have heard before:

Sex-positive. The surprisingly controversial opinion that sex is a good thing. Sex-positive culture embraces a wide range of sexuality, and often places less importance of specific labels (such as "gay" or "straight") than mainstream culture.

Polyamory. Poly is the practice of openly and ethically loving more than one person at a time.

Primary partner. A common poly arrangement is for a person to have a single "primary" relationship, which in at least some ways takes precedence over any other relationships. My primary partner is Rabbit.

Secondary partner. A "secondary" relationship is in some ways subordinate to a primary, although exactly what that means varies a great deal from relationship to relationship.

Kink. By "kink", I mean a wide variety of non-traditional sexual behavior. A good starting point is that everything I'm talking about is Safe, Sane, and Consensual.

BDSM. Another word for kink. Among other things, it can stand for Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sadism and Masochism.

Top. A "top" takes the dominant role in a BDSM encounter. Specific flavors of tops include dominants, sadists, and masters.

Bottom. A "bottom" takes the non-dominant role in a BDSM encounter. Specific flavor of bottoms include submissives, masochists, and slaves.

Switch. A "switch" is a person who sometimes tops and sometimes bottoms.