About

Jelqing is a slang term for the name of an exercise that is said to stretch the skin of the penis, creating “micro-tears” that supposedly cause the penis to look larger after healing. While there is no scientific basis behind jelqing, it spread as a men's health tip for many years, appearing online as early as 1990. It began to gain more viral interest in 2019 with numerous health websites posting about the term and social media users discussing the bizarre act. Users frequently reference the hazards behind it, similar to the treatment of controversial looksmaxxing techniques.

Origin

It is unknown how long "jelqing" has been a known technique, but it's estimated by some to have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. One popular theory dates the practice back to ancient Sudanese tribes in the Middle East, though according to Gold Journal,^[3] these claims have not been substantiated.

Though jelqing spread as a well-known exercise for many years prior to the establishment of the internet, the earliest online mention of jelqing comes from an NSFW men’s health blog called Bathmatedirect.com,^[1] which posted a how-to guide to jelqing on December 5th, 1990.

On April 16th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[2] user rkilgore submitted a definition for the term and a description of the exercise. The definition (seen below) received over 780 likes in roughly 19 years.

An exercise to increase penis size naturally. First a warm rag is use to stimulate blood flow and put the wang into a semi-erect state. Then lubrication is used on the hands and the mumbo jumbo in question. Use a thumb and index finger positioned in an "OK" grip on the base of the schlong. Slide your hand up to the head then take your other hand and grip the base. Release the grip of your first hand and return it to the base to repeat the motion while the second hand is sliding to the head of the penis.

The goal here is to force more blood flow within the cellular walls of the one eyed weasel. The result out of consistent exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, 3 to 5 days a week is a gain in 2+ inches in length and girth from 6 months to over a year. Mostly fails to work due to a lack in effort.

I got carpal tunnel from jelqing and had to go to the hospital. There's a catheter in poofy penis and now the guy who brings me the jell-o is winking at me.

Spread

Prior to 2019, "jelqing" was a topic of discussion and a slang term used both offline and online. In 2019 and the early 2020s, jelqing was covered by numerous news outlets and health advice blogs, including Healthline^[4] and Rolling Stone.^[5]

Discussions of jelqing began to appear in memes and TikTok videos around the same time, and the term consistently spread throughout the early 2020s. One of the earliest examples of a meme about jelqing dates back to this era, posted to Imgflip^[6] in 2019 by user Memearemyfriend, which gained nearly 3,000 views in five years (seen below).

Jelqing gained interest on TikTok in the 2020s as users uploaded videos discussing the alleged health benefits and comparing them with the potential dangers of jelqing. For instance, on June 17th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @realdavidboydmd posted a video discussing jelqing from a doctor's perspective, which earned over 1.5 million views and 41,900 likes in under a year (seen below, left).

On June 20th, a clip surfaced of British vlogger Joe Weller discussing jelqing on a podcast. The video was uploaded to TikTok^[8] by @global.impacttv, where it earned over 961,000 views and 13,900 likes in under a year (seen below, right).

On February 11th, 2024, YouTuber^[9] penguinz0 uploaded a video about jelqing, arguing that it was a harmful form of looksmaxxing that spreads due to unreasonable body standards pushed on many young men in the modern era. The video amassed over 2.5 million views and 137,000 likes in six weeks (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References