Call me old fashioned, but I have no time for dick pics.
Do we know what these are?
They’re pictures “sexted” of male genitalia from a man to an unassuming person, and if said person is actually anticipating a dick pic– it’s still weird. Dick pics are just one feature of the 21st Century phenomenon called “sexting”, which according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary (because that word is actually in the dictionary now), is the sending of sexually explicit photos, images, text messages, or emails by using a cell phone or other mobile device. I am only now taking issue with sexting because, well, I was sexted the other day – and I couldn’t stop laughing. I was laughing half from the humor of such a pathetic attempt at trying to get my attention and half from this weird uncomfortable sense of feeling digitally violated.
You see, sexting is meant to arouse the receiver. One might argue that this kind of communication deepens a bond between two people, but I just call it lazy and kind of gross. I’ll admit, we humans are beautiful, but let’s be honest, our genitalia are rather earthy, aren’t they? Moreover, sex is extremely beautiful– but it doesn’t only consist of genitalia, does it? I want sex with a person, not pieces of a person. This is beginning to sound like a very erotic Tim Burton film.
Unfortunately, the conversation continued, and the sender attempted to be, well, “more poetic” (I was egging him on), and the cheap dribble sent made me feel, well, pretty cheap. Maybe, I was in a conversation with a horrific sexter, and I simply didn’t know it. Maybe, however, I was never going to get Shakespeare in an iMessage.
I began to boil down what made sexting so unappealing to me. Clearly, other people really dig it, and after all, texting on a hand-held keyboard is more or less the same as typing on a computer, typewriter or, god-forbid, hand-writing a letter, but then it hit me, like an unassuming dick pic– they’re not the same! They’re not the same, because it takes a lot more time, motivation and inspiration to send a well-written, typed or handwritten letter than it does to send a 140 character or less sext. Granted, love does not have to be the topic of a love letter. If you want to spend a day or two and write me something wonderfully erotic, go right ahead. I don’t care if it’s even a single phrase– just go ahead and think about me a little longer, and then let me know you’ve been thinking about me awhile. If you get tired of thinking about me after a couple hours, then I’m probably not worth your time– and that’s totally fine. There are many other fish in the sea, and I’m worth more than a 2-second sext– so is every woman.
Sexting might be considered digital foreplay. Women might find it liberating to send pictures of the breasts and only their breasts to their significant or insignificant others, and men might want women or other men to know exactly what’s going on down there with a quick dick pic or Snapchat. To each his/her own– all I know is that texting may be quick and convenient, but sexting is quick, convenient and terribly dangerous, and explicit images and the provocative words that accompany them also have the capacity to do a lot of harm in the wrong hands. Luckily, many states have laws surrounding the sending of sexually explicit material among the youth– but the nature of digital material is that it never goes away nor is it restricted to the democracies of western countries. Sexting has the potential to promote human trafficking and sex-slavery all around the world– and that’s a real cock-block, if you ask me.
If you think love letters are out-dated or that I’m old fashioned, I don’t blame you– but I do challenge you. I know that I am speaking out against many sexters all around the world, but the love letter is not dead, nor is it cheesy. It’s time-consuming, that’s all.
Just as a book is time-consuming to write, just as the best kisses are never just a peck.
Still don’t believe me? Then, I challenge you to update the love letter– and, no, sexting is not the update. Go on, there’s a Shakespeare in there somewhere.
Be empowered to say no to sexting, and be empowered to demand more– whatever that may be.
