So, It's Come To This: What Is A 'Tumblr Sexyman?'

In its heyday, Tumblr was one of the weirdest place on the internet, where truly anything could become popular through its inscrutable userbase and the traceable building of jokes on top of each other (hence it birthed memes like Domesticated Clowns). As a site, Tumblr was notoriously horny, particularly before its infamous 2018 ban of NSFW content. One of the side effects of a geeky, horny userbase and general Tumblr culture was the rise of one of the most bizarre archetypes on the internet: the Tumblr Sexyman.

There's no simple one-line explanation to give you the gist of the Tumblr Sexyman. The Tumblr Sexyman is a malleable idea. It's a confluence of factors, some of which are vague and others highly specific. However, without fail, every Tumblr Sexyman will make those outside of the "Tumblr Sexyman" ecosystem say, "Really?"

Here, we'll do our best to explain the bizarre phenomenon that has made its way out of Tumblr in recent years.

Where Did The "Tumblr Sexyman" Come From?

The term "Tumblr Sexyman" is actually relatively new, first appearing at the beginning of 2021, but the concept is almost a decade old.

While there is some debate as to who counts as the first Tumblr Sexyman, most scholars* (*loosely defined) agree that that honor belongs to The Once-ler, the villain from the 2012 film The Lorax. An infamous fandom developed around The Once-ler at that time, replete with hitherto-unknown levels of horniness, including the concept of selfcest, in which fans shipped The Once-ler with himself.

The Once-ler laid the template for Tumblr Sexymen of the future — he is white, skinny, cisgender, wears dapper clothing and is vaguely villainous, but not necessarily menacingly so. He also had many role-playing blogs dedicated to him, which also became a key part of the criteria in defining future Tumblr Sexymen.

Of course, over the following decade, future Tumblr Sexymen did not need to adhere to all these characteristics, and candidates for the title grew so disparate in their attributes that the only thing tying them together was that the site agreed they were the new "Tumblr Sexyman."

How Did The Tumblr Sexyman Evolve Over Time?

Greatly. While one might expect Tumblr Sexymen would follow the mold set by The Once-ler, the whims of Tumblr users anointed a wide variety of characters "Tumblr Sexymen." Such odd picks include Sans from Undertale, Wheatley from Portal 2 and the clock from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. This is only a smattering of the anointed Sexymen, as demonstrated by tier list parodies such as these.

In 2021, some Tumblr users argued that Resident Evil: Village's Lady Dimitrescu had become the first Tumblr Sexywoman, as she shared many of the characteristics as the prototypical Tumblr sexyman.

How Can I Identify A Tumblr Sexyman?

Though the definition of a Tumblr Sexyman is undeniably broad, there are some characteristics that can help you predict who might be a Tumblr Sexyman in the future. Observe this alignment chart by Tumblr user pyrlspite.

By viewing characters on a three-pronged axis between "Sans," "Once-ler" and "Clown," we can see there are certain aspects that inform the creation of Tumblr Sexymen. Male characters from indie video games, particularly horror ones, have a decent chance of being Tumblr Sexymen.

Similarly, male characters from three-dimensional children's films, particularly those with a "trickster" vibe, are a good candidate for Tumblr Sexyman-ification. If the character already exists in a fandom that is popular on Tumblr, they could become the next Tumblr Sexyman.

Of course, there's no exact science to determining how the hands of Tumblr will anoint their next object of horniness, but a good look at the data could help us predict how the site will act in the future.

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For more information about Tumblr Sexyman, be sure to read our article on the meme here.