I. Roles

Keyholder

The person who holds the key — literally, and by extension the person who decides when the arrangement pauses or ends. Any gender, in any configuration. The role is defined by the decision-making, not by who is wearing what. See A Guide for Keyholders & Partners.

Wearer also: the kept

The person wearing the device or holding the commitment. “Kept” is the more common term inside the practice; “wearer” is the neutral one, and the one we default to here.

Self-locking also: solo practice

Practising without a keyholder — the wearer holds their own key, or uses a timed or sealed arrangement. Far more common than the keyholder-centred stories suggest, and a legitimate practice in its own right rather than a lesser version of one. See The Case for Practicing Alone.

Coach

In a structured programme, the person who receives the daily check-in and responds to it. Distinct from a keyholder: a coach provides accountability and guidance, not necessarily control of the arrangement.

II. Hardware

Cage

The most common male device format — an enclosure held on by a base ring. Comes in silicone, plastic, resin, printed nylon, steel and titanium, with vented and closed designs. See Device Comparison.

Base ring

The ring that sits behind the anatomy and holds everything in place. The single most important dimension to get right, and the one most often ordered too large.

Belt both systems

A device secured around the hips rather than resting on the anatomy alone. The most reliable format at the top of both the male and female tier systems, and the most demanding to fit.

Shorts / harness female system

A soft, wearable format used as an entry-level physical tier in the female system — no rigid shell, restriction by coverage rather than enclosure.

Clitoral shield female system

A rigid guard secured over the clitoral area, generally anchored by labial piercings. The most restrictive of the five female tiers.

Prince Albert PA

A male genital piercing passing through the underside of the glans and out through the urethra. The most widely used anchor point in this practice, and a decision with permanent consequences — see The Prince Albert Piercing.

Labial piercing female system

A piercing through the labia minora, used as the female anchor point. Frequently and wrongly confused with the Christina piercing, which is ornamental and cannot do this job at all — see A Guide to Labial Piercing.

Security seal

A single-use numbered tag applied across a closure so that opening it cannot go unnoticed. Used in place of, or alongside, a lock. The number is what makes it work: it is checked, not just seen.

Implant grade

A material meeting a named implant standard — ASTM F136 for titanium, ASTM F138 for steel. Worth knowing that “316L” and “surgical steel” are engineering specifications, not implant standards, and that most sellers cannot produce a certificate for either.

III. Fit & Measurement

Ball gap

The vertical clearance between the base ring and the cage. Roughly 8 to 12 mm suits most people, and comfort should decide within that range.

Gauge

The thickness of piercing jewellery, counted backwards — a lower number is thicker. Matters more than usual when a piercing is load-bearing, because thin jewellery under tension concentrates pressure and gradually cuts through tissue.

Stretching

Increasing a piercing’s gauge gradually. Measured in months per size, not weeks. Sharp pain or bleeding means going back down a size, not pushing through.

Downsizing

Swapping to shorter jewellery once initial swelling has gone down. A normal part of healing, not a sign of a problem.

Sizing rings

A set of inexpensive plastic rings worn to find the right base ring size before ordering. The single most useful thing a first-time buyer can do, because custom makers generally do not exchange for a different size.

IV. Practice

Streak

The count of consecutive days a commitment has been kept. A personal indicator rather than a score to defend — a broken streak is information, not a failure.

Daily verification

A photograph of the device in place, submitted each day. Programmes normally require a variable element — a word, a gesture, a date — so that a photograph cannot be reused.

Word of the day

The variable element above: a word published daily that must appear in the verification photograph, proving it was taken that day.

Mental chastity

A commitment kept on one’s word, with no device. The entry tier of the male system — and, importantly, the default mode of the practice for most women rather than a beginner’s step.

Tease and denial T&D

Deliberate arousal without release. Adjacent to chastity and often combined with it, but a distinct practice: it does not require a device.

Ruined orgasm

A release deliberately interrupted so that it is technically completed but not satisfying. A negotiated element in some arrangements, not a default.

Edging

Approaching the point of release and stopping, repeatedly, without going over it.

Infibulation

The historical practice of closing the genitals with rings or clasps through piercings. Mostly of interest as background — see Symbols, Legends & Folklore.

Locktober

A community challenge: a month of continuous wear through October, undertaken collectively. Widely attempted, and widely acknowledged to be too much for a first attempt.

V. Safety

Emergency key

A key, cutter or release the wearer can physically reach without anyone else’s cooperation. Not a failure of commitment — the condition that makes the commitment survivable. Every arrangement described anywhere on this site assumes one exists.

Strangulation clinical term

Circulation restricted by a device that is too tight or cannot be removed. The mechanism is well documented: blocked venous return, then swelling, then compromised arterial flow. The timescale is hours, not days, and the biggest aggravating factor in published cases is delay caused by embarrassment.

Nickel release

What European regulation actually limits — not nickel content. This is why 316L steel, which is twelve to fourteen per cent nickel, remains compliant. If you are genuinely nickel-allergic, compliance does not protect you; only a nickel-free material does.

Saline wound wash

Sterile packaged saline, around 0.9 per cent sodium chloride and nothing else. The current professional aftercare standard for a healing piercing. Homemade salt solutions, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial soap and ointments are all explicitly no longer recommended.

Migration and rejection

A piercing gradually moving through tissue, or being pushed out entirely. The characteristic risk of surface piercings, which is why the Christina is unsuited to anchoring.

Safeword

An agreed word that stops the arrangement immediately, no discussion required. Applies to chastity exactly as it applies anywhere else, and the fact that a device is involved makes it more necessary rather than less.

VI. Community

RACK Risk-Aware Consensual Kink

The framework this guide works within: risks are named honestly, understood by everyone involved, and accepted rather than minimised. Preferred here over “safe, sane and consensual”, because nothing involving a locked device is meaningfully “safe” — it is risk-managed.

Kink-aware professional

A doctor, therapist or lawyer who will not treat this practice as pathology. The NCSF maintains a directory — see Resources.

Aftercare two meanings

In piercing, the cleaning protocol during healing. In kink, the attention given after an intense experience. Both matter here, and context tells you which is meant.

Negotiation

The conversation that establishes what is agreed before anything starts — duration, conditions, what ends it, what is off the table. See Talking to Your Partner About It.