Dictionary

healslut en · NOUN

Etymology

From heal + slut.

Meanings

1. (slang, vulgar) A person who plays a healer-class character in a multiplayer video game as part of a BDSM dynamic in which they assume the submissive role and provide healing to a dominant tank.
   • The healslut community, in essence, performs an overall action of what J.L Barnes (2015) deems “imaginative resistance” that exists within fandoms, particularly when there appears to be a schism between what characters are claimed to be and what they actually do in the text (79). […] Here, avenues like Reddit, Twitter, and—until very recently—Tumblr allow for healsluts to connect, commiserate, and adopt practices that allow for in-game communication. 2019 November 6, Kyle Bohunicky, Jordan Youngblood, “The Pro Strats of Healsluts: Overwatch, Sexuality, and Perverting the Mechanics of Play”, in Wider Screen, volume 22, numbers 1-2, archived from the original on 17 May 2026, page 5:
   • LeviathanLust, the moderator running r/healsluts subreddit says, "As a healslut, you'd have your duties to serve your tank or DPS. Add in some punishments like your vibrator intensity turning up as you play and trying your best to concentrate despite that can be a real thrill" (Winkie). 2025, Agata Waszkiewicz, Víctor Navarro-Remesal, “Digital Submission: Playfulness and Performance in BDSM and VR Game Dominatrix Simulator”, in Matthew Wysocki, Steffi Shook, editors, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sex and Sexuality in Game Studies, page 108:
   • Overwatch provides the player with numerous "emotes"–dances, gestures, graffitilike stamps to apply to walls and floors–that allow them to interact in nonviolent ways with other players (indeed, there is a small but passionate BDSM community that has repurposed avatars and emotes so they can "get their dom off" while playing a "healslut"). 2022, Michael Mark Chemers, Mike Sell, Systemic Dramaturgy A Handbook for the Digital Age, page 171:

Forms