160 articles
Diaper fetishism
Diaper fetishism (diaperism), part of the ABDL community, is erotic arousal focused on diapers, historically called paraphilic infantilism or adult baby syndrome; no longer a DSM-5 or ICD paraphilia, distinct from pedophilia.
Discipline (BDSM)
Discipline in BDSM is the consensual system of rules, expectations, and corrective consequences within a dominance/submission dynamic, the "D" of bondage and discipline, distinguished from abuse by negotiated, withdrawable consent and safewords.
Doggy style
Doggy style (doggie style) is a rear-entry sex position with the penetrated partner on all fours. Covers etymology (1940s "dog style", 1970s term), survey popularity, comfort adjustments, and penile fracture risk data.
Dominatrix
Dominatrix (plural dominatrices, also pro-domme): a woman taking the dominant role in BDSM, often paid; works in dungeons, uses SSC/RACK consent frameworks, faces layered sex-work and kink stigma, and mostly does not have sex with clients.
Double penetration
Double penetration (DP) is simultaneous penetration of one person in two orifices, usually vaginal and anal. Appears in 17-22% of some pornography samples; requires a new condom per act, ample water- or silicone-based lube, and never two condoms at once.
Down-low (sexual slang)
Down-low (DL) is 1990s African American slang for secrecy, later meaning men who present as heterosexual while secretly having sex with men; research finds no link to elevated HIV risk.
Effects of pornography on young people
Effects of pornography on young people: research on childhood and adolescent exposure to sexually explicit material, covering prevalence, age of first exposure, associations with sexual behavior, attitudes, and wellbeing, and why causal conclusions remain limited.
Ephebophilia
Ephebophilia: adult sexual attraction to postpubescent adolescents, typically ages 15-19; a chronophilia category between hebephilia and teleiophilia, not a DSM-5 or ICD-11 diagnosis.
Erogenous zone
Erogenous zone: body area producing sexual arousal when touched. Also called erotogenic zone (Freud, 1905). Mapping studies show whole-body sensitivity with hotspots at genitals, breasts, and anus, similar distributions in men and women, and a self-partner "Erogenous Mirror".
Erotic humiliation
Erotic humiliation, also called humiliation kink or degradation play, is a consensual BDSM practice using shame, embarrassment, or diminished status for arousal, distinguished from abuse by explicit consent, negotiation, safewords, and aftercare.
Erotic hypnosis
Erotic hypnosis, also called hypnofetishism, is a kink practice gaining erotic pleasure from hypnosis, mind control, or hypnotic suggestion; distinct from clinical sex hypnotherapy; studied mainly through Hughes's 83-participant 2023 dissertation and a 20,000-member FetLife community.
Erotic lactation
Erotic lactation is sexual arousal connected to lactation, usually via adult nursing by a partner. Key facts: prolactin and oxytocin physiology, conditioned let-down reflex, relactation and galactagogues, adult milk safety limits.
Erotic massage
Erotic massage, also called sensual or sexual massage, is consensual touch in a sexual context, practiced privately between partners or commercially, and legally distinguished from licensed therapeutic massage.
Erotic photography
Erotic photography: camera images intended to inspire sexual feelings, distinguished from pornography and the academic nude by a contested spectrum. Began with 1839 daguerreotypes in Paris, censored from 1850, mass-market from Playboy 1953; modern law centers on consent and AI deepfakes.
Erotic spanking
Erotic spanking, also called flagellation play or impact play, is consensual striking of the buttocks for sexual arousal. Surveys report roughly 17-32% lifetime US prevalence; it appears in ancient erotic texts and Victorian erotica.
Exhibitionistic disorder
Exhibitionistic disorder (ICD-11 6D30; DSM-5 302.4) is a paraphilic disorder marked by recurrent intense arousal from exposing genitals to unsuspecting, nonconsenting people, causing distress, impairment, or harm.
Facial (sexual act)
Facial, a sexual act of ejaculating onto a partner's face (also called facial ejaculation or cum shot), is common in heterosexual pornography (30% of DVD scenes) and reported by 32.3% of US women surveyed, with oral-sex STI risks and consent requirements.
Fat fetishism
Fat fetishism, or fat admiration (adipophilia), is sexual attraction to fat or obese bodies; its subculture feederism eroticizes feeding and weight gain, with feeders and feedees, and is not itself a DSM-5 paraphilic disorder.
Female Homosexuality
Female homosexuality, also called lesbianism (MeSH: Homosexuality, Female), is sexual attraction or relationships between females. Distinguished from male homosexuality by greater measured fluidity, gender-nonspecific arousal in androphilic women, and a sparser historical record; depathologized in the 1973 DSM-II decision.
Female sex tourism
Female sex tourism, also called romance tourism, is travel by women to developing countries such as the Caribbean, Gambia, and Kenya for sex or romance with local men, distinguished by informal payment, contested labeling versus male sex tourism, and documented STI and exploitation concerns.
Female sexual arousal dysfunction
Female sexual arousal dysfunction (ICD-11 HA01.0) is reduced genital, non-genital, or subjective sexual arousal in women despite desire and adequate stimulation, causing distress; ISSWSH splits it into cognitive and genital subtypes, while DSM-5 merges it with low desire into FSIAD.
Financial domination
Financial domination, or findom, is a consensual BDSM kink in which a submissive (pay pig, finsub) pays tributes to a findomme, with financial surrender itself the erotic power exchange, distinct from financial abuse and studied as online sex work.
Fingering (sexual act)
Fingering: manual stimulation of a partner's clitoris or vagina with fingers or hand. Low-risk, safer sex; skin-to-skin STIs (warts, herpes, scabies) can pass, chlamydia and gonorrhea cannot; pregnancy risk extremely low.
Fisting
Fisting is a sexual practice of inserting a whole hand, sometimes to the wrist or forearm, into the vagina or rectum; it can be partnered or autoerotic.
Flirty Fishing
Flirty Fishing (FFing) was a 1974–1987 evangelism practice of David Berg's Children of God, in which female members used romantic and sexual attraction, including sex, to recruit male converts and supporters; banned in 1987.
Folsom Street Fair
Folsom Street Fair is an annual adult leather, kink, and fetish street festival in San Francisco's SoMa, held the last Sunday of September since 1984, when it was founded as Megahood by Kathleen Connell and Michael Valerio as an anti-gentrification organizing tool; it is the world's largest leather event.
Foot fetishism
Foot fetishism, also called foot worship or podophilia, is a sexual interest focused on feet, one of the most common fetishes directed at a non-genital body part.
Fornication
Fornication, also called premarital sex, is sexual intercourse between unmarried people. Distinguished from adultery; rooted in Latin fornix and Greek porneia; unenforceable in US law after Lawrence v. Texas (2003).
Foursome (group sex)
Foursome: a four-person group sex encounter, positioned between a threesome and larger group sex or orgy; commonly two couples in swinging (soft swap or full swap), with US lifetime prevalence of about 11.5% of men and 6.3% of women.
Gang bang
Gang bang (gangbang) is English slang for group sex with one person and several partners, or for street-gang activity; attested 1953 from gang + bang, earlier gang-shag (1927), with gang-fight and gang-rape senses.