Gender & Sexuality dictionary

femdom

What does femdom mean?

Femdom refers to a woman who is a dominant partner in BDSM sexual activities. The term can also describe the activities themselves.

Where does femdom come from?

Femdom is short for female dominance. It originates in the BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism) community, where a dominant describes a partner who takes charge during consensual sex acts involving power, pain, or humiliation. The term femdom dates back to at least 1986, when it was being used in pornography.

Examples of femdom

“Is being fed by a femdom extra embarrassing? Have you ever eaten lunch in bondage?”
BondageLand Allstardoms (April 5, 2017)
“Women need a space in which to explore the lifestyle so those kinds of shindigs are especially empowering, useful and necessary for women who are just beginning to explore femdom.”
AliceInBondageLand Reddit (March 27, 2017)
“So what better way to pay tribute to her legacy than to encourage some good ol’ fashioned femdom where Coit herself is now remembered?”
Jeremy Lessnau, “How to Have Coitus at Coit Tower,” The Bold Italic (March 10, 2017)
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Who uses femdom?

Terms related to femdom are dominatrix and domme. Broadly speaking, a dominatrix is a female dominant who is typically paid for her services. Dominatrices are sometimes called pro-dommes. Dommes, much like femdoms, can be any woman who takes a dominant role in BDSM activities. Another BDSM term similar to femdom is mistress. This is a feminine form of master, and describes a woman in a position of power in a BDSM scene, much like femdom. Femdom is often associated with black latex, fishnet tights, and stiletto heels.

A woman can be called a femdom, or an activity can be referred to or described as femdom. For instance, “My partner and I were thinking about trying femdom” or “Did you see the femdom video everyone was talking about?”

Femdom can also refer to “female supremacy,” which is the belief that women are superior to men. Most sexual femdoms, however, don’t hold these beliefs, and are just aroused by sexual domination and its associated power.

Femdom, often used as the hashtag #femdom on social media and as a genre in erotica and power, has inspired an offshoot, findom, or financial domination, used by women who exert power by spending male partners’ money. Findom sometimes has a sexual component and thus overlaps with femdom.

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of femdom like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of femdom that will help our users expand their word mastery.