Sir

Sir is a title of respect used within BDSM, leather, and kink communities to mark a dominant or authority-holding role. A submissive partner may use it to address their Dominant, and it also functions as a rank or title inside leather protocol and house structures. Although the word carries traditionally masculine connotations, in practice it is claimed by and offered to people of any gender. In lesbian and queer women's kink spaces it is frequently used by butch, masculine-of-center, and dominant women. Like much kink vocabulary, Sir reflects how these communities build their own systems of respect, consent, and negotiated protocol rather than borrowing wholesale from mainstream etiquette.