Types of kinks: a plain-talking guide to what people actually enjoy

Everyone's curiosity starts somewhere. Maybe you read something, maybe a fantasy kept coming back, maybe a partner mentioned something and you realised you were a lot more interested than you expected. Whatever got you here — this is a straightforward guide to the most common types of kinks, what they actually involve, and what draws people to them.

A quick note before we get into it: kink is not a checklist. Nothing on this page requires your interest, your participation, or your approval. Some of what's here will resonate immediately. Some of it won't be for you at all. That's entirely normal — the kink world is big enough for all of it.

We've organised things into broad categories to make it easier to navigate, but in practice there's significant overlap. A bondage scene might also involve power exchange and sensation play. A D/s relationship might incorporate service, punishment, and roleplay all at once. The categories are a map, not a rulebook.

Bondage and restraint

Bondage is one of the most widely practised kinks across every demographic — and one of the most misunderstood. At its core it's straightforward: one person is physically restrained by another, using rope, cuffs, ties, tape, or other means. What makes it compelling is considerably more interesting than the mechanics.

For the person being restrained, the experience is often about the psychological weight of giving up physical control. Vulnerability, trust, and the intense focus that comes from not being able to move freely. For the person doing the restraining, it's frequently about care and responsibility — holding someone's safety and comfort in their hands, literally.

Bondage ranges from light and playful — a pair of soft cuffs, a silk tie around the wrists — through to the intricate, aesthetic world of rope bondage. At the more skilled end sits Shibari, the Japanese art of rope tying, where the bondage itself becomes something visually elaborate and technically demanding. Some practitioners treat rigging as an art form every bit as serious as any other.

Safety matters more in bondage than in almost any other kink. Nerve damage from poorly placed rope, circulation issues from knots that shift — these are real risks that proper technique and experience address directly. If you're new to bondage, learning from someone experienced is genuinely worth your time. Read more in our guide to safe bondage practices.

Impact play

The deliberate application of physical sensation through striking — spanking, flogging, caning, paddling, whipping. Impact play sits at the intersection of physical sensation and power, and it's more nuanced than it looks from the outside.

The body responds to intense chosen sensation very differently than to unwanted pain. Adrenaline, endorphins, context, trust — all of it changes the experience completely. Many people who enjoy receiving impact play describe it as deeply releasing, sometimes meditative. There's a reason "floaty" is a word you'll hear a lot in this context.

Spanking is the most common entry point — accessible, adjustable, and something most people have at least a passing familiarity with as a concept. Flogging uses a multi-tailed implement and delivers a broader, thuddier sensation. Caning is precise and sharp. Each implement creates a genuinely different physical and psychological experience, and experienced players often have strong preferences.

Safety in impact play is primarily about anatomy — knowing which areas of the body are safe to strike and which aren't. The lower back, spine, and back of the knees are off limits. Our impact play safety guide covers this in detail.

Power exchange and dominance/submission

If bondage is the most widely practised kink, power exchange is probably the most widely felt. The dynamic between a dominant and a submissive — one person exercising authority, the other yielding it — touches something deep in a significant proportion of the adult population, regardless of whether they'd use those words to describe themselves.

D/s dynamics exist on a spectrum. At one end: a couple who enjoy a bit of dominant/submissive energy in bed. At the other: people in 24/7 Total Power Exchange relationships where one partner has authority over daily decisions, routines, and behaviours. Both are valid. Both require the same foundation: clear communication, genuine consent, and ongoing attention to how both people are actually feeling.

The dominant role — whether that's a Dom/Domme, a Daddy Dom, a Master or Mistress — carries real responsibility. Dominant partners set the parameters of the dynamic, but they operate within limits the submissive has established. The authority is real but it's given, not taken.

Submissives — whether identifying as sub, slave, little, or pet — choose to give up a degree of control. That choice takes self-knowledge, trust, and clear communication. Submission is not passivity. It's a considered, active decision to let someone else lead, within a framework you've both agreed on.

For people who find themselves drawn to both sides of the equation, the switch identity exists for exactly that reason. Many people are more fluid than a single fixed label suggests.

Sensation play

Sensation play is a broad category covering any kink that centres on creating intense, unexpected, or heightened physical sensation — without necessarily involving impact or pain. The goal is to engage the nervous system in ways that feel electric, overwhelming, or disorienting in the best possible sense.

Wax play — dripping hot wax from specifically formulated candles onto skin — combines heat, anticipation, and visual drama. Sensory deprivation, most commonly through blindfolding, strips away one sense to amplify everything else. Touch becomes enormous when you can't see. Sound becomes startling. The body's whole attention shifts.

Electro play uses devices like TENS units or violet wands to deliver electrical stimulation ranging from a faint tingle to a sharp, vivid pulse. It has its own specialist community and requires proper equipment and knowledge — not something to improvise with.

Tickling deserves a mention here too, because it's consistently underestimated. Sustained tickling on someone who can't get away produces an intensity — involuntary laughter, physical helplessness, complete loss of bodily control — that maps onto power exchange dynamics in a way people who haven't experienced it seriously often don't appreciate.

Psychological and mind-based kinks

Some of the most powerful kink happens entirely — or primarily — in the mind. These are the dynamics where what's said, implied, or withheld carries as much weight as anything physical.

Humiliation and degradation involve one person being spoken to, treated, or positioned in ways that would be insulting outside the context of a negotiated dynamic. The arousal comes from the power differential being made explicit and intimate — the vulnerability of being genuinely reduced by someone whose authority you've chosen to give. This is, perhaps more than any other kink, one where specific negotiation about language, scenarios, and firm limits is absolutely essential before anything begins.

The counterpart — and more common than many people realise — is the praise kink. The arousal here comes from being told you're good, that you've pleased, that you're valued. It's the affirming flip side of the coin, and it's just as real a dynamic.

Roleplay lets people inhabit characters and scenarios — teacher and student, captor and captive, royalty and servant — creating a structured fiction within which desires can be explored with a degree of separation from everyday identity. The scenario provides the frame; the people inside it make it real.

Brat taming deserves its own mention. A brat is a submissive who deliberately resists, pushes back, and misbehaves — not out of genuine non-consent, but as part of a dynamic in which the dominant's job is to bring them to heel. The game is in the resistance and the response. A well-matched brat and brat tamer have something genuinely entertaining and satisfying that outsiders sometimes mistake for conflict.

Fetish wear and material fetishes

For some people, the kink lives in materials and clothing as much as in any activity. Leather has a long history in BDSM subculture — the smell, the weight, the way it looks and sounds. It carries decades of community association as much as intrinsic sensory appeal. Latex and rubber offer something different: a second-skin quality, total enclosure, a visual and tactile intensity that's hard to replicate with any other material.

Fetish wear isn't purely aesthetic — for many people the material itself is the point, not just a costume. The difference between a kink and a fetish is worth understanding here: a fetish involves a specific object or material being central to sexual arousal, not just enjoyable. Our guide to the difference between kink and fetish explores this in more depth.

Body and foot fetishes

Body part fetishes — particularly foot fetishes and foot worship — are among the most common fetishes in the general population and among the most under-discussed. Research consistently places foot fetishism at the top of body part preferences, and yet it remains one of the interests people are most likely to carry privately without ever acting on.

Foot worship in particular has a clear power dynamic dimension — the act of kneeling and attending to someone's feet carries submissive connotations that make it a natural fit within D/s relationships. But it exists independently of power exchange too, for people whose interest is primarily sensory or aesthetic.

Exhibitionism, voyeurism, and public play

Exhibitionists find arousal in being seen — in performing, displaying, being watched. Voyeurs find it in watching. The two are natural complements, and in kink contexts both operate with the full awareness and consent of everyone involved. Play parties and kink events specifically create space for consensual observation.

Public play — taking kink activity into semi-public spaces — occupies more complex ethical territory. The consent of uninvolved bystanders matters here: the community draws a clear line between consensual exhibitionism at events and activity that exposes non-consenting members of the public.

Cuckolding sits in this neighbourhood too — a dynamic in which one partner is aroused by their partner being sexual with someone else, with the full knowledge and often active participation of all involved. The dynamic is specific and psychologically layered, and significantly more common than mainstream conversation acknowledges.

Pet play and age play

Pet play involves taking on the persona and behaviours of an animal — most commonly a dog, cat, or pony — as part of a scene or ongoing dynamic. The appeal is varied: for some it's the psychological space of the animal role, a break from human responsibility and identity. For others it's the dynamic with a handler or owner. Pup play in particular has its own significant and distinct community.

Age play involves one or both partners adopting a childlike state or persona. Daddy Dom and Mommy Domme dynamics are the most common expression — nurturing, protective dominants in relationship with adults who take on a little persona. The dynamic is about care, safety, and a specific kind of emotional intimacy. It involves adults exclusively, and the community is unequivocal on that point.

Power exchange dynamics: chastity, collaring, and service

Chastity play involves one partner controlling whether the other is permitted to orgasm — or wearing a physical chastity device that enforces this. The psychological dimension — the ongoing awareness of who holds the control, day to day — is often the main event, as much as any physical element.

Collaring is one of the most significant rituals in BDSM relationships. A collar given by a dominant to a submissive signals commitment and belonging within the dynamic. Different levels of collar exist — consideration, training, and formal collaring — each carrying increasing weight.

Service submission centres not on pain or sensation but on acts of care: cooking, cleaning, attending to the dominant's needs and environment. The satisfaction for a service submissive comes from being genuinely useful to someone they respect. The dynamic might look ordinary from the outside; for the people in it, it's anything but.

Orgasm control, financial domination, and master/slave dynamics all sit within this broader power exchange world — each with their own specific character and their own communities of practitioners.

Edge play

Edge play refers to activities that carry more significant risk, require more experience and skill, and demand more thorough preparation than standard BDSM practice. The name reflects the fact that these activities sit closer to the edge of what's recoverable if something goes wrong.

Edge play includes things like breath play, fire play, knife play, and certain forms of electro play. The community is generally cautious about recommending these to newcomers — not because they're forbidden, but because the margin for error is smaller and the consequences of mistakes are more serious. Experience, skill, and thorough negotiation aren't optional here; they're what makes the difference.

Not sure where you fit yet?

Most people who find their way into kink don't arrive knowing exactly what they want. Curiosity comes first. Understanding follows. The important thing is that you're asking the question — which suggests you're exactly the kind of person who takes this seriously.

If you want to figure out where your interests actually lie, our What Is My Kink Quiz is a good starting point. For a broader introduction to getting started safely, the beginner's guide to kink covers the essentials. And if you already have a sense of what you're looking for in a partner, Kink Connex is where that search begins.

Whatever type of kink brought you here — you're in the right place.