Switch
🖤 BDSMSomeone who takes both sides — sometimes the top, sometimes the bottom; sometimes dominant, sometimes submissive. It describes a person rather than a single scene, and says nothing about which role they will take on a given night.
Reading it requires two pairs of words that are often collapsed into one. Top and bottom are about giving and receiving — who applies the sensation, who takes it — and not about who is physically on top. Dominant and submissive are about authority: who holds control in a power exchange.
They come apart in practice. A top is not necessarily a dominant, and a bottom is not necessarily submissive: a masochist can agree to be spanked without any exchange of power at all. Someone who switches may switch on one axis, the other, or both.
The word belongs to BDSM. In gay sexual vocabulary the equivalent third term is versatile.
Frequently asked questions
Is a switch the same as versatile?
They occupy the same position in different vocabularies. Switch is the BDSM term; in the context of gay sex the set is top, bottom and versatile.
Does top mean dominant?
Not necessarily. A top applies sensation within a scene; a dominant holds control in a power exchange. One person can be either without being the other.
Does someone announce which they are on the night?
That is what negotiation is for. Which role a switch takes is settled in advance along with the limits and the safeword, not assumed from the label.