If you’re into sweet and loving femdom, you might be familiar with both the terms gentle femdom and role reversal. You might think these are the same things. Isn’t femdom a role reversal by definition in a world where we still tend to see men as sexual aggressors and leaders and women as less sexually driven followers? The answer is yes. In some ways, gentle femdom is automatically a role reversal of stereotypes about men and women.

However, role reversal as a specific relationship dynamic is its own creation. Both have some similarities but there are also differences. While some kinky folks might be into both, many see them as separate desires.

Gentle Femdom

Gentle femdom is femdom that is…well…gentle. There isn’t one set definition about what is and what isn’t gentle femdom. I’ve been a party to some heated Reddit discussions about why gentle femdom can or can’t include any forms of sadism or humiliation, and people have some strong ideas on the matter.

But regardless of what activities you consider to be gentle or not, the attitude of a gentle domme is almost always one of loving affection. A gentle femdom tends to use praise more than punishments, and funishments more than actual punishments.

Gentle dommes are often, although not always, girly and feminine, and there can be some crossover with mommy dommes, dommes who are very nurturing, caring, mother like figures to their subs. (This can also cross over into age play.)

If male subs in gentle femdom relationships are into cross-dressing or being feminine, this is usually looked at as being cute and pretty instead of embarrassing or dirty, and male subs in the gentle femdom community often display at least a little androgyny.

Gentle femdom is probably influenced at least somewhat by Japanese hentai and Yaoi, anime and manga about relationships between young gay men that is typically created by women and targeted at a straight, female audience. I say that because, as opposed to “harsher” femdom, a lot of gentle femdom porn consists of manga style comics that are very….cute! (Secret….I actually love them.)

Role Reversal

Role reversal is different from gentle femdom in several ways.

First, although gentle dommes are figures who hold loving power over their submissives, they generally retain feminine qualities and attributes. A gentle domme is often portrayed as shorter than her male submissive, in the same way that most women are shorter than men.

And while a domme would probably be very upset if someone hurt her partner, she wouldn’t necessarily be seen as a white knight figure who would defend him or his honor. Gentle femdom is also still femdom. At its heart, there is usually play involving some kinds of tease and denial, sadism, service, embarrassment, etc…

Unlike gentle femdom, role reversal doesn’t need to be kinky.

In fact, some people who are into role reversal say it’s not kinky at all, and they like purely vanilla sex. What people into role reversal do like is the idea that women will have more typically masculine attributes and roles.

This doesn’t mean that men into role reversal are looking for women with beards or without breasts. But they like the idea of the women being the stronger, taller and/or bigger person in the relationship.

There also tends to be a focus on the woman as protector figure. Whereas typically men are seen as defenders of women, men who like role reversal like the idea that a woman will protect them.

Typically, men are expected to be the ones who ask a woman out, and this can be true in gentle femdom as well. But people who enjoy role reversal enjoy it if the woman is the pursuer and woos the man.

Some people into role reversal are also into gentle femdom, and the reverse is true. But they are separate desires. Some people into role reversal might not even label what they like as a kink, but instead just a preference.

Overlap Between the Communities

Personally, I see a large overlap between the two communities. Both tend to value softness in men, and both are very romantic versions of kink. There is much more petting, loving, caressing, cute name calling in both gentle femdom and role reversal than you see in stereotypical femdom. Both communities display a lot of artwork and artistic depictions of relationships between dommes and subs and men and women instead of graphic sexual photography.

If you want to learn more about role reversal, I recommend r/RoleReversal on Reddit. While I know a fair amount about role reversal, I’m not an expert. There you can learn more about how people describe and define this relationship dynamic.  Do you have any experience with role reversal? Feel free to share your opinions about how you think it differs from or is similar to gentle femdom.

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