Everybody's Horny and Thirst Trapping Like There's No Tomorrow Because of the Coronavirus Pandemic

A wise man named Jaboukie Young-White once said, “i have zero tolerance for any ‘omg i wanna text him but i assfdjsjd’ type sh*t anymore it’s the damn apocalypse snap him a titty.” While it might not be full-on armageddon (yet), living during the coronavirus pandemic sure feels like it: Anxieties are at an all-time high, those who can are cooped up at home, and reading grim headline after headline is a lot to take in.

The pent-up sexual frustration only continues to grow, and numbers show this. According to data from PornHub, visits to the site rose steadily at the end of February and early March. Then, traffic jumped to 11.6% more than an average day on March 17 — just about the time that U.S. cities began getting more strict about social distancing and urging people to stay at home. Now those hots are going beyond sexting and enjoying porn: People are getting horny on main. Titties have been snapped. Nips have been slipped. Bulges, divulged. Twitter and Instagram have become minefields of thirst traps.

“It used to be that if I were browsing Twitter throughout the day I wouldn’t come across any thotty pics — or at least they’d be relatively SFW — but when I was browsing at night these traps would be much more common,” Patrick Doyle, a social and personality psychology Ph.D. student living in Athens, Georgia, tells Teen Vogue. “But now, because I guess people with higher libidos than I are also working on less of a schedule, it’s a weird nudes roulette every time I pick up my phone.”

Patrick admits that after encountering more and more thirst traps, he thought he might as well join in. The people interviewed for this story all shared several key motivations for posting thotty photos of themselves or being thirstier than ever in comments. Some are joining the trend of everyone else doing it, while others find a sense of control by posting a thirst trap. Moreover, there’s the incentive of getting attention from people during this time of decreased interaction due to social distancing and/or sheer boredom.

(Also, a quick reminder that you should only be sharing or posting thirst traps on your own terms. Once it's online, there's no telling where it might end up, whether it's retweeted or screenshot and then sent over text. Furthermore, if you’re under a certain age, some thirst traps that dip into nudity can count as distributing child pornography, and could even be considered a felony in some states.)

Sex educator and relationships therapist Yana Tallon-Hicks validates these catalysts for all the scantily clad photos we’ve seen plastered on the Insta feed and Twitter timeline. Especially when it comes to horny people finding solace in sharing sexually charged content during this time of responsible celibacy.

“Expressing our sexuality, flirting, sexting, sending nudes, and even inviting people to your Zoom-cast live orgy are, at the end of the day, all creative ways that adults can connect to one another in this time of social isolation,” she tells Teen Vogue over email. “Sharing a sexy photo and the well-studied endorphins that can hit our systems as we receive social media likes on those photos might be a good-for-now virtual stand-in for the ‘real deal’ sexual contact, which also sends happy-making chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine coursing through our systems.”

Piece of Art

If you’re going to post a thotty photo, it better stand out, right? Not only have people been posting thirst traps at increased regularity, but some people have used the spare time on their hands to be as extra as possible. As Boston-based social media manager and writer Capri Pearl explains, she’s been “so bored,” and her apartment gets great natural light, so it feels wrong not to take good photos of herself.

“Depending on the time of day and the weather, I will set up my camera on self-timer in a few different areas in my apartment. My two go-to spots are one corner of my bedroom and our screened-in porch,” she says. “I’ve set up my phone on stacks of books, in the pot of my bonsai tree, and on top of a mini-fridge, just to name a few. I’ve dragged my beloved roommate into it a few times, but this is usually a burden I prefer to bear alone. I am the captain of my own ship.”

Capri had recently quit her job and had some travel planned, but as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, she decided to cancel. Preferring to inject some humor into her thirst traps, she decided to merge the fact that she had bought some goods for her now-canceled trip with her trapping.

“I had gotten a new bathing suit and wanted to post pictures of myself in it even if I wasn’t by a lake or on a beach or in a pool, so I took some thotty-ish selfies in my room,” she says. “Then I asked my best friend, who is a very talented graphic designer and artist, to crudely illustrate a vacation-esque background on the picture. I specifically requested that the sun have sunglasses, and I also requested that it be kind of bad.”

She’s even found herself online shopping for things that will photograph well, including headbands, leotards, and more bathing suits. Capri’s not the only person to have taken advantage of recent purchases to up their thirst trapping as they dedicate themselves to the craft.

“I ordered some Savage x Fenty and Solstice Intimates looks — social distancing started around my birthday, so I justified it — and to take my pics, I’m using a red film light and/or a violet film light,” says Yesi, who works in PR for an NGO and lives in San Diego (her last name has been omitted from this article for privacy). “I take them all myself, but one set usually takes me a couple hours, between doing my hair, makeup, and working the angles. Honestly the ritual itself is the best part, it’s so calming and affirming.”

On the other end of the spectrum are people who are used to their thirst trapping being based on party looks but are now confined to the walls of their apartment. While some are still dressing up in ensembles fit for the club or picking up potential hookups, there’s the added fun of turning your work-from-home wardrobe into something to be thirsted over.

“I love taking pictures all the time. More so outfit pics, and when I’m going out I also get a good mirror moment,” Taylor Arnold, a PR associate in Brooklyn, says. “So I have just been instead taking sexy pictures of me in my WFH fit which has been Hanes briefs and little cropped sweaters and tees.”

Yesi adds, “I literally have NEVER been horny on main, until the ‘rona, and suddenly I've opened my DMs, posted ass, and definitely been horny-posting. I think it's anxiety-driven, personally.”

Horny on Main and Everywhere Else

Back in 2017, Senator Ted Cruz was horny representation for everyone when he liked an NSFW tweet on his public Twitter and catapulted the phrase “horny on main” into the mainstream. The coronavirus pandemic appears to have brought that behavior out into the open, beyond the general increase of porn viewing. Some people have been less about posting thirst traps and just generally being thirsty for other people.

“I'm not a big thirst trapper, but USUALLY, if I see someone I think is cute, I'll just text my friend and be like ‘Take a look at these gams!’ But now I'm just saying that to the person. We're all bored and horny. It feels healthy to me. And liberating,” Brooklyn-based writer and actor Conor Gallagher says. “I think the main motivation is an energy we all wish we could bring to everyday life more often, and that energy is ‘F*ck it.’ Like, shoot your shot. The world is ending. Also, there's a levity to it?”

For some, shooting their shot has simply just helped them open up conversations, ones that quickly move beyond fawning over a thirst trap or flirtation.

“I’m definitely following and connecting with more hot guys on Twitter so I’d count that as a win! Not just from a thirsty perspective; it’s just nice to connect with people,” Patrick adds. “And my Tinder conversations are better than they’ve been in months, though not necessarily hornier. Though if one more person uses a pickup line about how they wish they ‘could break self-quarantine’ I’m gonna go full-on celibate and delete everything.”

“I love getting DMs and then it opens up convo and now you are having social interaction. I think it just creates conversation and it usually will quickly move on from the OG plan of hitting on someone to genuine conversation and flirtation ... it’s dating in the pandemic age,” Taylor says. “It’s a little sexier too because there is no possibility of realistically meeting up right now. It’s like all what-if and thinking about what we could do or eventually can do with or to each other.”

Yana postulates that people are normally this horny, but being home is just channeling those urges into our phones and screens. Sex has always been part of the human condition, whether it’s pre-, mid-, or post-pandemic.

“It’s highly possible that there actually aren’t more thirst traps circulating on your feeds,” she explains. “But just that we are seeking, both as receivers of thirst traps as well as creators of thirst traps, the kind of distraction, connection, and thank-god-a-topic-that-isn’t-coronavirus-related content that our brains crave to give us a balancing break from the gravity of what we are reading on the news. “

Booby Trapped

Anyone who has seen an Indiana Jones action film knows that whatever sacred temple or ancient tomb the adventurer enters is stocked with meticulously placed booby traps. Step on a certain stone and suddenly the walls are caving in. Finally grab the treasure at the end of your quest and a huge boulder is released to crush you into a pulp. Thirst trappers have built their own methods of literal butt, bulge, and booby traps, each an architect of their personal temples of thottery.

For example, Taylor has never been one to shy away from sharing anything and everything on main, so her Instagram grid and story have been chock-full of thirst trap imagery. However, an ex did hit her up last week, and she’s been documenting that experience for her list of about 60 "close friends" on Instagram. Then there’s someone like Capri, who has an entire tiered system, which she admits is excessive.

“I have my main feed and stories, on which I post the basic thirst traps. Then I have "close friends," where I’ll maybe post a couple of thirstier outtakes that I deem too much for my feed/public story. I probably have about 30 people on that list. For the most part they’re all my good friends, but I have a few people on there who I definitely want to see what I’m posting. It’s just easier to comb through the viewers that way,” she explains. “Lastly, I have a completely different finsta account for my nearest and dearest; a few of my crushes have access, because most of my crushes happen to be my good friends. Yes, I do exhaust myself. I pepper the thirstiest content into that feed and into those stories. But I also post other unhinged/weird content there as well.”

She adds, “I’ve worked as a social media manager for the past five years, so it’s just in my nature.” A meticulous Virgo would not pass judgment on this level of organization, but there are others who would likely deem this scrupulous system as overkill.

“Close friends is trash. I hate it. I don't use it but do feel good when I see that lil' green circle,” Conor says. “Put your sauce pics on main or just send the person you want to see your ass an ass pic. It feels half-assed to me. Just send the nudes while you're still hot.”

No Regrets

For the most part, everyone interviewed didn’t think they’d regret their thirsty behavior once the pandemic calms down. Some believe that it’ll just be like a blip in time, a no-harm, no-foul situation, with thirst trapping going down to normal rates as people transition back into their daily lives of going to work and spending time outside of the house. Others hope that this “f*ck it” behavior continues even as we gain back some sense of normalcy.

“It’d be cool if the norms didn’t shift back to where they were pre-pandemic, but I think they’ll definitely at least move back there sooner rather than later,” Patrick says. “It still almost feels like a vacation, and I think people just can’t sustain these new patterns of behavior while the rest of their lives catch up to whatever public health policies we’ll be following for the next few months.”

Yana is quick to point out that we’ve seen a number of shifts in culture due to the current climate, everything from seeing how important getting some fresh air is to realizing how interconnected we are as a human species across borders. There’s some good that can come from the spike in thirst traps.

“If one of the positives of this thirst trap trend is that we give ourselves more social and personal permission to embrace our sexualities, I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Yana says. “If people are sliding into a panicked or manic ‘screw it all!’ mentality and making sexual decisions — virtual or IRL — that they may regret later when life goes back to normal, that might be a drawback to consider now.”

Apart from the sexual implications of sharing a steamy pic or commenting something thirsty as a result of being horny, tapering anxieties, or killing boredom, there’s the contemplation that these thirst traps are radical expressions of self-love and affirmation. In Yesi’s case, getting a bit of love was restorative.

“I had a baby in October, and since then I’ve been really struggling to find my body attractive and feel good about myself, especially as a nonbinary person who is often erased as a woman due to parenthood,” she shares. “Having the time to go through the process of making myself up and doing the ritual of care for my external form was extremely affirming, which led to me sharing my selfies.… It’s helping me feel like me again, which is really needed in a time of chaos.”

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