Let’s Talk About Sexting: A Roundtable

Sexting can be a great way to flirt, build communication in a low-pressure environment, talk about sex when you might not be able to otherwise, stay close in your long-distance relationship and, obviously, get someone off. Everyone is sexting more than ever.

In a discussion of sexting as a whole different form of sex — rather than a poor imitation of it — Sand Avidar-Walzer writes:

“The opposition between physical sex and virtual sex is not an opposition between real and fake, between a true world and its pale imitation. It’s an opposition between being able to do something — to fantasize, to direct one’s own desires — and being unable to do something — having one’s desires limited and constrained by external factors. The pleasure of fantasy, its psychic value, is its promise of a space in which desire is unconstrained by reality. At its core, the difference between fantasy and materiality is not the kind of desire involved but its direction: ‘real’ desire is directed outward; fantasy is directed inward. […] Sexting isn’t a failure to locate a willing partner; there’s someone exchanging message with you, right? Rather, it’s an opportunity to get feedback on your desire; it’s a way of talking about yourself using naked pictures.”

Below, Autostraddle team members share our thoughts about when we sext, why we sext and what sexting means for us.


All About Innuendo

I guess the truth is that for me sexting isn’t really a separate act from texting. Like I’m not sure where to draw the line or if it’s even a big deal. I might be texting someone about dinner we’re going to have later and then throw in, “Did I mention how excited I am for dessert :p” For me it’s just more natural that way.

I mean, yes, I have definitely had those nights where a “what are you doing right now?” turns into a “what would you do to me if I were there with you?” turns into a “I am so wet right now. I can’t wait to see you and fuck you.” But in the reality I’m much more likely to leave frequent sexy afterthoughts than spend a long period of time all at once playing out a text-based fantasy.

In some ways I think the recurrent sexy afterthoughts are more fun because they’re more similar to the way we flirt in person. I don’t usually call someone up in the middle of the day to tell them how hot they would look covered in chocolate syrup while I tie them up and fuck them in the ass. I just don’t. But I might offhandedly wink or slip in some innuendo.


Some Sexts Feel More Real Than Others

I have a confusing relationship with sexting.

I didn’t grow up with it. I first heard about it in college. I was at a holiday party thrown by a group of people one of my best friends really loved, so I was really only tangentially included from the start. Someone, who knows who, said, “Have you heard about this thing the kids are doing? It’s called sexting.” And some had heard of it. I hadn’t. I was kind of used to being the last one in on things, especially with these people where I was an awkward turtle to their — I dunno — suave swans. And once they explained, we all thought it was HILARIOUS. So we all whipped out our Very Cool flip phones and started sexting each other. Not for serious. You know, silly stuff. Stuff we thought was as hilarious as sexting itself. And I pulled out my phone and sent something to the effect of “I would lick you one thousand times.” Which I thought was, you guessed it, hilarious. But the girl I sent it to turned bright red. And everyone ragged on me because mine was “real.”

“What are you talking about? I just treated a woman like a tootsie pop. How many licks does it take to get to the center of—” but it was kinda no use. They weren’t really laughing with me, just at me. And in my awkward turtle phase this was the norm, so I just shrugged it off. I didn’t understand how mine was real when I would have cracked the hell up if my boyfriend had sent it to me. I wouldn’t have ever been able to truly look him in the eye again, let alone find it sexy.

About two years later, I fell in love with my first girl. Sexting was something we definitely did, for real — she had graduated already and lived an hour away, our primary form of communication was getting each other off verbally. In those moments, I looked back and understood why mine might have seemed more “real” than everyone else’s.


A Better Way To Say Goodbye

Sexting is brilliant. Assuming you’re not being harassed by unwanted sexts or being a creepy sender of such, they are a fun and flirty way of communicating your affection or just pure lust. Getting a naughty message from someone about where they wish their hands were can add a welcome bit of excitement to many a banal situation, at the very least it produces a smile.

One particular sexting episode encapsulates the cathartic, awkward and madly frustrating sides of this form of foreplay for me. I was leaving one country for another and this meant saying goodbye to a girl I was seeing. We weren’t entirely sure when we would see each other next and had stayed up the whole night talking and fucking in an attempt to maximize our limited remaining time together. Saying goodbye at the airport was agonizing as we both just felt like making out, but couldn’t as we were in a very conservative country where being gay is still taboo. We hugged tightly for as long as we could while a bunch of men stared. While checking in and going through security, we began to express some of that sexual tension through text. Focusing on the immediate desire somehow made the whole separation less sad; it was a great distraction.

By the time I had reached departures I was excruciatingly turned on and, deciding to take matters into hand, headed for the washroom, still sexting away. My flight was in pre-boarding, but I felt certain this wouldn’t take long. Unfortunately, there was a line up and a very attentive washroom attendant. Any stall would have worked for getting off, but she insisted I wait for the sole westernized one with the toilette. My flight began to board and by the time my stall was free they were doing last call; I had run out of time. I boarded my plane very frustrated indeed, and continued to exchanging salacious texts right until takeoff. I bolted to the bathroom with my cell as soon as the seatbelt sign was off.


Cross-Country Sexting

My person lives across the country, so sexting has definitely become an important part of the way we communicate, an easy way to reaffirm our attraction to each other while living so far apart. We’re both writers, so we both feel strangely challenged to come up with new ideas and descriptors each time to keep things interesting. There’s something really charming about imagining the other person laboriously planning out their phrasing…? Maybe that’s just us.

The thing about sexting, though, is that you both have to be in the same mental state; a friend recently told me a hilarious horror story wherein she wrote her girlfriend a very salacious text message, which said girlfriend did not read before responding to ask if she wanted her to bring home a burrito from Chipotle. You’re putting yourself out there in a pretty major way, and there’s little more nerve-wracking than that hovering “…” as your partner crafts their response.

Done right though, the whole thing can have the pleasant effect of making me feel much closer to my person, as well as having the intended results.


via metro

via metro

I Would Sext Her In The Rain, I Would Sext Her On A Train

I sext because it combines three of my favorite activities — talking to my main person, talking about sex, and having sex.

She and I sexted intensely before we were even dating, both because we were too far away to have all the in-person sex we wanted and because sexting felt like part of a constant, on-going series of love letters. Also because we are both really good at it.

We sexted our way up and down a yes/no/maybe list and then we sexted through all the things we’d both always wanted to try but never really talked about with anyone before, and then we sexted out what those things might feel like, how they might happen, how hard they might make one or both of us come.

We sext when we’re in the same room but we can’t reasonably escape to have sex, and we sext when we’re near each other but might not want to have sex, and we sext when we’re far apart, all the time.

For me, sexting feels like something between a private smile across a crowded table and the best conversation and full-on banging. It makes me feel closer to my person, keeps the sexual tension high, is more tailored than any published erotica ever could be and lets us both come because of each other no matter how far apart we are.


What do you think about sexting? How do you sext? Would you sext on a plane, on a train, in the rain? Tell us in the comments!

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Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates was the NSFW Editor (2013–2018) and Literary Editor for Autostraddle.com, with bylines in Nylon, Refinery29, The Toast, Bitch, The Daily Beast, Jezebel, and elsewhere. They live in Los Angeles and also on twitter and instagram.

Ryan has written 1142 articles for us.

40 Comments

  1. I cannot sext. I cannot stay serious. I would rather wait it out. I am not a sexy text person. I am a bad millenial lesbian!

    • A friend I consider my sister sexts in computer code because phones don’t have italics. I think sexting would be easier with italics.

    • Oh god me neither. A girl I’m talking to/just starting to date is an extremely sexual person so she’s always trying to sext me and EVERY TIME I get one I always spend like ten minutes staring at the screen, blushing, before typing out some vague and obvious redirect.

      She does this extremely often – multiple times a day. You’d think I would have learned by now.

      Is there like a Hallmark card that says “YO I am super attracted to you and wanna bang you hardcore I just can’t sext sorry for being such an awkward person”? Cause if there isn’t, there should be one.

  2. You’d think that the creative writing degree would make me a bamf sexter. But not so much.

  3. Half way into my thirties, I was never a sexting person. I felt silly..and then I met this girl. “that” girl. The one you know you will never be with for reasons out of your control. I had never been so turned on by someone with only a glance. I found myself sending these texts that I would have never imagined coming from my phone! When I read back over them, I would squirm and think “did I just say that?!” The more we exchanged these messages, the hotter it got. And when we did see each other, it was on! For me, sexting only happened when I met someone I was comfortable with and immensely attracted to all at once. I still don’t do sexting with just anyone, it takes someone special. It’s not as matter of fact as some people think, it feels pretty intimate to me!

  4. I <3 sexting. It's a good way to gage sexual chemistry because you can talk about the things you're into (or not). I sexted a lot in a past long distance relationship, and I feel like it made our in-person sexual experiences that much hotter.

  5. I enjoy that sort of thing but can really only maintain momentum early in r’ships or in long distance types of things. I once upon a time had a long distance honey who was bad at texting back, and I was not above sending a sexy text to be like HEY. HEY. IF YOU CAN’T SAY GOOD MORNING BACK AT LEAST THIS WILL GET YOUR ATTENTION.

  6. I am a repeat offender in the art of dropping the ball through the floor. If I receive some sexy ass shit, my reflex is to try to look casual and smoothe. Except I have a hard time rocking that bawss attitude.

    “Haha, I’d totally do you right now ;)”
    “Lol thanks, you’re a cool person too you know.”

    • “Lol thanks, you’re a cool person too you know.”

      haha…this made me giggle.

  7. Errrrr, nope. It wouldn’t work for me. I’m not exactly “techno friendly”. My phone does two things: makes calls and sends texts. Am I a slow typing elderly woman with a fear of apps and tactile screens? Yes. On the inside, very much so.

  8. My initial response was “Oh, I totally don’t sext” then I remembered that my girlfriend recently accused me of being a smut writer on the slide after I’d sent her a long winded fantasy. So I guess I sext without thinking of it as that.

  9. I’m a fan. We don’t say anything particularly complicated or crafty, but my boyfriend and I sext nearly every day. It’s entertaining, sexy, and an easy way to bring up things we want to try. Sometimes it almost feels like a form of foreplay, since we usually sext to talk about what we want to do later in the day once we’re together.

    I’m in my 20’s so I feasibly could have grown up doing it but I didn’t really start until the last year or so.

  10. Does anyone else find that sexting can be triggering? I have a complicated history with sexting (did some dumb online shit when I was in that low self esteem, trying to convince myself I was straight phase), so when I was casually seeing this girl a few months back, and she sent me a sext out of the blue, it put an immediate end to me wanting to pursue anything else with her. And I know it’s not her fault. It just triggered alot of my past self esteem issues and I just couldn’t do it. I’m sure that if I get into a serious relationship with someone that I trust I could probably sext them eventually, but as of right now, I just can’t.

    • oh hey, i thought it was just me! doesn’t matter how much i like the person, but the second the ‘what are you wearing’ text pops up it’s impossible to not visualise them as a creepy dude on the internet.

      • I’ve had only one person try to sext me, but once I got that I felt immediately suspicious because I had been thinking of that person only as a friend. Maybe it was just creepy in that situation but it also made me wonder about how I would feel if other people sexted me. I would have to be in a relationship to feel ok about it I think. I also have a bad history with people using very personal things from a long term relationship to hurt me after a breakup…like very intimate photos. I would worry about the possibilities of sexts being used similarly in the future.

  11. I’m definitely a fan. I think especially if you’re a reader or a writer — meaning you have a pretty visual mind when you read — sexting can be the way to go. I also concur that it is a great way to break up the monotony or put a smile on your face when you’re far away from your person. However, I also agree that for me, it has to be someone special. Sexts from people I don’t know well make my skin crawl…it’s just too intimate!

    P.S. I loved the airport story…what a hilarious conundrum.

  12. My asbergers girlfriend just doesn’t understand or get sexting. After much asking we did try one night, until it got too much and she tapped out. It was fun while it lasted. Maybe with more practice she will understand eventually… I hope?!

  13. This was a funny article to read on my lunch break, surrounded my flyers warning teenagers about the dangers of sexting (I work at a sexual and domestic violence advocacy organization). Between consenting adults, I love sexting. It can be really fun. It only really struck me a week or so ago that I actually sext. Working with teenagers has made me hyper aware of the dangers of sending sexually explicit messages to people, so I thought sexting was a pretty major thing. Then I realized I’d been doing it for years!

    • I’m Jacob McAndrew I’m 22 year old I live With my Brother and my mum I’m looking for a Girl to talk to

  14. Seeing as I go to one of those small liberal arts colleges that everyone says is a ‘lesbian mecca’ but I still can’t get laid in the physical world, all the sex I have goes on via sext… why must all the girls I am in mutual like with live so far away?

  15. I once sexted my partner, and seconds later, a notification of a text message from my boss popped up on my phone.

    This was during my first-ever weekend shift working alone in my new tech job for Parliament of Canada; my manager had given me their phone number in case of emergency.

    It turns out there was a defect in operating system on the phone and that text message notifications where showing as being from the most-recent phone number added to the contacts. I did end up sexting my partner and it was actually her replying.

    You can imagine how much my heart, stomach, and kidneys sunk when I saw a notification of a text message from my boss. My mind was racing, trying to think of a way of recovering from this one. “Deny everything.” “Go for the earnest approach.” “Don’t say anything.” “Pretend to be funny, say you’re just messing with them!” “CRAP!!!”

    I’ve never had a worst cold/hot sweat in my entire life.

    • I once was texting my best guy friend while I was also sexting another guy. Yep, sent a very explicit sext to my friend by accident. I still haven’t lived that one down.

  16. The only even vaguely sexual thing I’ve ever done has been sexting, and that only happened a couple times. I’m sure it would have been better if the girl I was sexting wasn’t so rude and dismissive to me whenever we weren’t sexting. So, fan in theory but my experience with it pisses me off in retrospect.

  17. I enjoy texting but sometimes get too distracted by it, which is likely a common problem. I briefly dated someone who also loved sexting and would sext me stuff while I was at work. I wasn’t expecting it to be a sext and starting reading it while on my way to a meeting and walked smack into a big column in the middle of the hallway. To my credit(??) I did manage to do a presentation to a group of 10-12 people at the meeting while keeping the sexting going.

  18. Sexting in a hurry PROTIP:
    Text #1: Tell me what you’d do to me…
    Text #2 (after they’ve replied): And then?
    Text #3: And then?
    Text #4: And then?

    “And then?” will save to your Smartphone’s library so fast, you’ll have extra time to fold your laundry for when they come over.

  19. i do it to tease my girlfriend when she cant get to me works well building momentum >:3 *horns pop out*

  20. The first woman I ever dated was extremely sexual and would sext me all the time. I never really knew what do reply. Thankfully she found my dorky, lame ass replies cute enough to continue to sleep with me anyway. At least that’s what I made myself believe.

  21. SOOOO LATE FOR THIS BUT. I feel so bad I didn’t go to this at camp because my perfect human is 7000 miles away, IDK I guess it was something that never came up but now it feels like it should. OMG.

  22. YES, yes, yessss. Sexting done right is one of the best turn ons ever. Writing those is super sexy and fun.

  23. I had a girl text something like “Lemme see that quivering pussy.”

    I panicked and sent back a picture of Grumpy Cat.

    (No, I don’t wonder why I’m single.)

  24. Me and my girlfriend sext all the time. We live an hour away from each other and we have only been having sex for like a month. Its amazing and we are both craving each other all the time (she’s 17, I’m 18) and it makes us even closer to sext. We snap chat eachother sexy pics and imagine sexual situations with our conversations. Its awesome and doesn’t feel awkward or unnatural for us at all. Maybe thats bc back when we were just friends we wrote erotic fan fiction together. Anyway its one of my favorite things we do.

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