A wink, a smile, a second glance from her eyes, spurs just enough excitement to rouge your face with a light blush. This is the ancient art of flirting at its roots. Throughout time people have gone from exchanging written secret letters and romantic telegraphs to affectionate telephone calls and stimulating texts with their significant others, all the while entertaining the future promise of a sexual encounter.
The process by which these intimate messages are exchanged has changed. What used to be relayed by horseback directly to her mademoiselle’s house is now digitally transmitted by a larger carrier network. The message’s contents and the anticipation upon opening it are essentially the same. Each text leaves the other’s imagination to ponder how to respond to these risqué advances. What hurt could come of such flirtation? In earlier times courtship was only deemed appropriate through these means. Romance was done through a letter at the hand of someone who knowingly sought you. With the modern-day text, however, this delicate art of enticement has turned charlatan by nature and revolves around the instantly gratifying booty pic and is less focused on the foreplay of love.
Since the invention of texting as a modem of communication, its use has accelerated to unprecedented levels, with an estimated person sending an average of 2,000 texts per month. It is no surprise then that the primary use of these texts has been out of convenience. A text is born from the notion that a message is too short for a call but too important to wait. It allows for a less intrusive and less intimate way of approaching someone. A person can choose how to respond to a text whenever it seems most convenient. This fact opens the floodgates of casual communication. The cute guy or girl you met at the club last night seems more approachable when you can text him/her a quick hello rather than barrage him/her with a telephone conversation.
I’ve taken advantage of texting as a way to innocently toy with hopes of a repeat encounter indicative of chemistry in the making. Many fruitful conversations can be had from spelling mishaps and random questions of random interests. The art of texting as a romantic tool was in full swing when it gave birth to sexting. With no end in sight, it was seen as the preferred method of flirting. It wasn’t until the camera became a fixture of mobile phones that sexting took a turn for the dirty and dangerously embarrassing.
The worst part of sexting is the horrid mishaps that occur by having a quick touch screen. Personally, I once wondered how exactly people took pictures of themselves like that. I thought of how awkward it would be to stand in front of the mirror completely exposed to the lens of a camera. How could someone do something so risqué and taboo? So, I went ahead and tried it. Thinking that humor could lighten the mood I decided to wear a funny fedora… and nothing else. I took pictures until I found the perfect one and sent it to my significant other expecting a “LOL” reply. To my surprise I received a “WTF?” in response. Upon careful observation, I realized I had sent it to a friend of mine. But not just any friend. Oh no, I sent it to the friend that has no problem showing embarrassing photos to all of my other friends. To this day, I’m called “Fedoro.”
To put it simply, sexting should be kept in perspective. Just because texting is a less personal way of communicating, you shouldn’t feel more open to whore yourself over some pictures – unless maybe if you’re wearing a fedora. If a picture says a 1,000 words that would mean that every picture you send is basically sending thousands of texts saying something about the way you value yourself. This is not to say that I condemn the use of pictures as a way to provocatively lure someone in, but just remember that the greatest part of courting someone is in the chase, not the catch. ttyl.
