Top (BDSM)

This article is about the erotic activity. For other uses of the term, see Top (disambiguation).

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In BDSM, a top is a partner who takes the role of giver in such acts as bondage, flogging, humiliation, or servitude. The top performs acts such as these upon the bottom.

A top is not necessarily dominant, and vice versa. The top is sometimes the partner who is following instructions, i.e., he tops when, and in the manner, requested by the bottom. A person who applies sensation or control to a bottom, but does so to the bottom's explicit instruction is a service top. Contrast the service top with the pure dominant, who might give orders to a submissive, or otherwise employ physical or psychological techniques of control, but might instruct the submissive to perform the act on him.

Also, a top in BDSM need not be a top (i.e. insertive sex partner); for example, a female dominant may command her submissive to penetrate her.

In order to explore BDSM sex, it is essential for a top to be responsive to the needs, feelings, and limits of his or her bottom. Otherwise the scene can be ruined, being simply painful rather than erotic.

Note that in BDSM sex, it is commonplace for two partners to switch roles from one encounter to the other, or even during a single encounter, depending on mood and preference. See switch.

In Japanese bondage and sexually-themed anime and manga (especially yaoi), a top is referred to as seme, a term from Martial Arts.

See also

• Bottom (BDSM)

References and further reading

• Dossie Easton, Janet W. Hardy. The New Topping Book. Greenery Press, 2003. ISBN 1890159360.