Role reversal

Photograph of a boy spanking a man, held by a girl. French postcard, about 1900.

Role reversal is when the roles in the scene have reversed the normal or traditional power dynamic. In role reversal, the person who normally has the lower status takes a dominant approach and the person who normally has the higher status takes a submissive approach. This is not the same thing as switching unless the play partners usually have clearly defined D/s roles.

Examples

(The slash notation means "dominates", e.g. "punishes" or "spanks":)

• Younger sibling/older sibling
• Child/adult (particularly parent)
• Employee/boss

In a traditional setting, the man has higher authority than the woman, and therefore all F/M has an element of role reversal attached to it, but less so in more modern relationships.

See also

• Power exchange

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