What is a Experimentalist?
You'd rather try it and find out than read about it for another year.
Broad curiosity rather than a fixed interest. You want to try the rope class and the impact night and the discussion group, and you'll work out what sticks afterwards.
This is a good way to arrive. The people who end up most settled in a community are usually the ones who spent their first year going to everything.
What's near you
One dropdown. We don't ask for your email, your age, your gender or your orientation, and there's nothing to sign up for.
Hear what's on near you
A short note when something worth knowing about is happening in your city. No account, a few emails a month at most, and one click to stop.
Commonly confused with
Am I a switch or just new to this?
A switch moves between leading and following and keeps doing it. Someone new is still finding out which one fits, and may well settle.
What if nothing on the test scored very high?
That's a real result and a common one. Roughly a fifth of people who take a test like this out of curiosity come out mostly vanilla, which just means ordinary rather than boring.
Read next
What is a munch?
A munch is a casual, clothes-on social meetup for people interested in kink, held in a public place. Here's what happens at one and how to find yours.
Your first munch: what to expect and what to wear
Practical answers for first-timers: what to wear, what to say, whether to use your real name, and how to leave gracefully.
Negotiation and consent: the basics every community teaches
How people in kink communities talk through interests and limits beforehand, what a safeword is for, and why aftercare matters.
Related terms
Common questions
What is an experimentalist?
Broad curiosity rather than a fixed interest. You want to try the rope class and the impact night and the discussion group, and you'll work out what sticks afterwards.
What is an experimentalist not?
Being curious about everything isn't the same as having no limits. The people who try the most tend to be the most careful negotiators.
Which roles pair with an experimentalist?
There is no single partner role for an experimentalist, because it describes what you are drawn to rather than which side of an exchange you take. People pair it with almost any other role, including the same one.
How do I know if I'm an experimentalist?
You'd rather try it and find out than read about it for another year. If that reads as familiar, the free BDSM test scores it in thirty-two plain questions, in your browser, with nothing sent to us. After that, the best place to find out for real is in person: classes are the cheapest, safest way to try something once and find out.
This is a plain-language guide, not a psychological assessment, and no term here is better than another. People describe themselves with several of these at once, and what fits changes over time.