Glossary
This glossary offers brief, plain-language explanations of terms used throughout the book. Meanings can vary slightly by country, city, and community.
BLUF
Short for Breeches and Leather Uniform Fanclub. An international club and style centred on formal leather uniforms, often including leather breeches, tall boots, and jackets.
Bootblacking
The craft and service of cleaning, conditioning, and polishing boots ( 46, and sometimes other leather gear) for others. Often considered an act of service, intimacy, and community care.
CBT ( 46, Cock and ball torture)
In BDSM, CBT refers to applying controlled pain, pressure, or constriction to the penis and testicles for erotic sensation, always with strong consent, limits, and safety.
Collar / Collaring
A symbol of commitment or ownership in kink and leather relationships, similar in meaning to a ring in non-kink relationships. Meanings range from casual play collars to long-term commitments.
Dungeon / Play space
A dedicated space—sometimes in a club, private home, or event—set up for BDSM, fetish, or kink activities. Often contains equipment such as slings, benches, crosses, and restraint points.
Fetish
A strong erotic focus on a specific material, object, style, or body part ( 46, for example leather, boots, rubber, uniforms). Not everyone in leather culture experiences leather as a fetish.
Fisting
A sexual practice in which a person inserts their entire hand, and sometimes part of the forearm, into another person’s anus for erotic pleasure.
Flagging / Hanky Code
A visual code using coloured handkerchiefs, armbands, keys, or other items to signal interests and roles ( 46, for example top/bottom or specific practices). Meanings vary by region and era.
Folsom / Folsom Street Fair / Folsom Europe
Large public kink and leather street fairs held annually in cities such as San Francisco and Berlin. Known for visibility, fundraising, and community celebration.
Gear
A general term for fetish clothing and equipment ( 46, for example leather jackets, chaps, harnesses, rubber suits, boots, restraints).
Kink
An umbrella term for consensual erotic interests and practices outside conventional or “vanilla” sex. Includes BDSM, leather, roleplay, impact play, and many fetishes.
Leather bar
A bar or venue that caters primarily to leathermen and fetish communities, often associated with specific dress codes, nights, or events.
Leather title / Titleholder
A person who has won a leather, kink, or fetish contest ( 46, for example Mr Leather, Mr Rubber, pup titles) and often spends a year doing community service, travel, and visibility work.
Leatherman / Leatherwoman
Someone who identifies with the leather subculture through clothing, values, erotic interests, or community involvement. For some it is a fetish; for others it is identity, culture, or family.
Muir cap
A style of peaked leather cap associated with classic leatherman imagery and uniforms.
Pride ( 46, Leather Pride)
Events, marches, and gatherings celebrating LGBTQIA+ and leather/kink communities, often including dedicated leather contingents or leather-specific Pride events.
Pup / Handler
In pup play, a pup role-plays as a puppy ( 46, often playful or obedient); a handler is the person who looks after, trains, or plays with the pup. Meanings and intensity vary.
RACK ( 46, Risk-Aware Consensual Kink)
A consent framework emphasising that kink involves risk, and that all participants should be informed, aware, and freely consenting to that risk.
Safe word
A pre-agreed word or signal used to slow down, pause, or stop a scene. A key tool for consent and safety in BDSM and kink play.
SSC (Safe, Sane, Consensual)
A widely known kink principle stating that activities should be as safe as possible, mentally sound, and fully consensual for all involved.
Top / Bottom / Switch
Common role terms in kink:
• Top: gives stimulation or takes the more active/dominant role.
• Bottom: receives stimulation or takes the more receptive/submissive role.
• Switch: comfortable in both roles at different times or with different partners.
Tribe
A term used here to describe a sense of chosen family, identity, and belonging within the leather and kink community. Not intended to replace Indigenous uses of the word.
Vanilla
An informal term for sex and relationships that do not involve kink or fetish elements, or for people who are not interested in kink.
Wax play
A form of temperature and sensation play in which melted candle wax is dripped onto a consenting partner’s skin for erotic or mildly painful stimulation. Intensity depends on wax type, temperature, and pour height, so lower-melting-point candles are typically used, along with negotiation and spot-testing to avoid burns.