What Is
Edge Play?
By SparklyBulbasaur
The purpose of this writing is to provide the reader a guide to the common meaning and understanding of the term ‘edge play’. It is intended to provide the reader a general overview of the nature and kinds of activities which are typically considered to be edge play.
Typically, edge play is seen as play which has an inherent degree of risk over and above that of other kinds of play, and which has a reasonable to high possibility of long term or permanent damage/impact even when performed in the most responsible and risk aware way. Whilst all BDSM play carries with it some level of inherent risk, there are activities which carry a greater potential level of harm, either emotional, physical, or both.
Some common activities which are considered edge play include:
Cutting/ blood play.
Consensual Non Consent (CNC)/ Rape Play.
Intense emotional sadomasochism/ Fear Play.
Knife Play.
Breath Play.
Total power exchange (TPE) relationships and 24/7 power exchange relationships.
Financial control.
Facial impact.
Permanent scars/ brands/ marks.
Waterboarding/Drowning Play.
Fire Play.
The above list is not at all comprehensive, but it gives an idea of the wide range of activities that fall within this general umbrella. All these styles of play are inherently higher risk activities.
Sometimes the risk is heightened because it requires a lot of specific skill, knowledge and dexterity, such as in cutting. Sometimes, because the consequence to it going wrong could easily be death, such as in breath play or in drowning play. Some of this play is engaging with genuinely negative emotions, like fear or sadness, and when emotional scenes go badly, stopping the scene is often not enough to undo the damage caused.
Edge play may at times seek to create a form of consensual trauma, which for some people is deeply erotic, but is not something that can be taken back once achieved. A commonality to all of these is that there is a higher risk of permanent physical or psychological injury than in other kinds of play.
This is not a word which has a dictionary definition, and of course reasonable minds may differ as to what they think constitutes edge play. There is a lot of debate and discourse amongst the community around this term, and the ways that people have chosen to define it.
This writing is not designed to engage with this broader discussion, although that discourse is valuable and often insightful. Rather, it aims to give a broad outline of what people typically mean when they use the term edge play, so that you can decide whether this is a style of BDSM which you are interested in engaging with.
Ready to take the next step?
Our 6-part series of educational workshops on Edge Play is now taking applications.