About

Sexting, a portmanteau of the words "sex" and "texting," refers to the practice of sending sexually suggestive, enticing or explicit messages using SMS, IM or other messaging services.

Origin

In July 2005, the term "sexting" was coined in an article titled "The one and only" in the Australian Sunday Telegraph Magazine, where it was used in the context of sexually explicit text messages sent during an extramarital affair.^[1]

Spread

In December 2009, the Pew Research Center^[2] released a study titled "Teens and Sexting," which found that increases in sexting among teenagers correlated with advances in mobile phone technology and adoption rates. On March 13th, 2009, YouTuber Hot For Nutrition uploaded a video in which she provides several opinions regarding the practice of sexting (shown below, left). Within seven years, the video garnered upwards of 10.8 million views and 4,300 comments. On December 23rd, 2010, the /r/sexting^[3] subreddit was launched, describing itself as "a safe and welcoming environment for people to buy and sell Kik and Snapchat services." On October 10th, 2011, the Howcast YouTube channel posted an instructional video on properly sending sext messages (shown below, left). In five years, the video gained over one million views and 330 comments.

On March 1st, 2013, the Smosh YouTube channel uploaded a comedy sketch titled "Sexting Gone Wrong," in which a couple threatens to release explicit photos of each other during a break up (shown below, left). Within three years, the video accumulated upwards of 15 million views and 27,600 comments. On August 12th, 2014, the BuzzFeedYellow YouTube channel posted a video titled "Everything You Need to Know About Sexting," which received more than 1.9 million views and 1,100 comments in two years (shown below, right).

On July 31st, 2015, the Comedy Central YouTube channel uploaded a Key & Peele sketch regarding a political sexting scandal (shown below, left). Over the next year, the video gathered over 2.8 million views and 530 comments. On February 10th, 2016, YouTuber The School of Life uploaded a video about the practice titled "The Joy of Sexting" (shown below, right).

Weinergate

On May 27th, 2011, former New York Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner's Twitter account mistakenly posted a link to a photo of a boxer brief clad man with a visible erection. The tweet was directed to a journalism student at a Washington State community college, who has since deleted both her Twitter and Facebook accounts.^[1] The controversy surrounding the tweet was subsequently referred to as Wienergate.

Related Memes

Bae Come Over

"Bae Come Over" is an expression typically used by teenage couples to invite one’s significant other (“bae”) over to his or her home, especially in the absence of parental supervision. On Tumblr, such call for intimacy, or more commonly referred to as “the booty call,” is most often parodied in the form of fictional dialogues in which the boyfriend undertakes a perilous journey to his girlfriend’s place upon being informed that her parents aren’t home.

Straight White Boys Texting

Straight White Boys Texting is a single topic blog featuring screen shots of unsolicited texts and instant messages sent from men that are aggressively sexual even in the face of an obviously uninterested recipient. In June 2014, the popularity of the blog rose dramatically after a series of feminist hashtags on the topic of harassment surfaced on Twitter.

Pennis and Also Dicke and Balls

Pennis and Also Dicke and Balls is a satirical sext message which is often considered a form of “shitposting” when used as a nonsensical retort on image boards, discussion forums and comment sections.

Search Interest

External References