I remember long ago, in the Analog Era, meeting up in physical meatspace and having to explain who I was through words, gestures and clothing choices.
Dark blue for anal sex, light blue for oral, teal blue for genitorture! But there was a time there, at least from, say, towhen gay guys had to use old-fashioned words and speech to convey how we felt or what we wanted.
Gay men used a hanky code in the s to signal their sexual appetites, placing them in the right or left back pocket to signal top or bottom. I worry that by making our desires cartoonish, we will all befuddle ourselves and actually seek out eggplant shaped genitalia and will only want to sleep with someone in a bunk bed. Language does shape the imagination, however, and emoji language is no exception. Who knows, by next month your heterosexual husband may be texting you an emoji of a blindfolded and ball-gagged head. Disco, beards, vogueing, hooking up through the internet-we were there first! Time will tell whether the Gaymoji stick around and reach a larger public. But truth be told, we are often the first to create culture. We gays are frequently accused of bringing about moral decline and a breakdown of civilization.
There has already been some blowback excuse the pun from the media about all this. He said he had been messaged by someone offering “parTy favours” and said apps were “making it easier for people” to buy drugs.Instead of just your basic eggplant penis or peach assyou can select a pierced eggplant and a peach on a dinner plate! Condoning drug use-that was unwise. Phil McCabe, a social worker and president of the National Association of LGBT Addiction Professionals, told NBC he believed the situation had escalated in recent years. Some Grindr users feature the capital letter T in their profiles, which refers to the street name for meth, Tina. The diamond emoji is used to refer to crystal meth and the snowflake symbol is used to attract the attention of people wanting to buy cocaine. To conceal the selling or buying of drugs, some people use code words, symbols and emojis. It is also referred to as chemsex, a trend in which people take drugs that enhance sex and make them feel uninhibited, usually involves crystal methamphetamine, mephedrone, cocaine, ketamine or other amphetamines. Code words and symbols are used to refer to drugs on the app (Leon Neal/Getty) PNP is an acronym for “Party and Play” – a term used to describe engaging in sexual activity while under the influence of illegal drugs. One dealer, identified only as Mike, said he used Grindr as it gave him “more clientele” than he “would normally get on the street” and that using the app was safer as he didn’t have to worry about bumping into other dealers.Īnother app user, Travis Scott, said he frequently received messages from people asking if he was “into PNP.” Speaking to men who had been involved in selling or buying illegal substances on the app, NBC News uncovered a world of secret languages and codes used to conceal the activity. Grindr, the world’s largest gay dating app, is being increasingly used for the sale of illicit drugs, according to a new report.