Smash or pass?

Last updated

Smash or pass? is a game in which players evaluate the sexual desirability of an individual and declare whether they would hypothetically want to "smash" them (have sex with them) or "pass" (choose not to). The subject of discussion may be a celebrity, a fictional character, or an individual known personally to the players.

Contents

The game has seen spikes of popularity on the Internet, including on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. It has also been used as a form of sexual harassment, including through the uploading of photographs of people without their consent.

The name comes from a slang meaning of smash meaning "have casual sex", which is attested from the early 2000s. [1] The game's terminology is also used metaphorically to evaluate things outside the sexual sphere, like food or festival performances. [1]

History

Smash or pass? originated as a party game, but has become popular on the Internet; [2] it has been described as an internet fad. [3] Vice News reported that the game "has mysterious origins" and speculated that it may have originated from other risqué games played by adolescents, including spin the bottle, truth or dare?, and fuck, marry, kill. [4] The game appeared on internet forums in mid-2010, the same year in which the phrase smash or pass was first defined on Urban Dictionary . [1]

In one version of the game, reported in 2011, teenagers uploaded photographs of themselves to Facebook so that others could evaluate their looks. [5] [6] In some cases, photographs were uploaded for the game without their subjects' knowledge or consent. [7] Digital security specialists Theresa Payton and Tshaka Armstrong said the game was risky and urged parents to monitor their children's activity online. Payton called the game "sexploitation" and said that the photographs might be viewed by sexual predators. [5] Missy Wall of Teen Contact expressed concern about how the game could affect teenagers' mental health: "When a teenager gets 'passed' that could be very detrimental to emotional health. The teen may try to get noticed and may become more risque. It is a form of cyber-bullying." [7]

In 2014, Task & Purpose reported that "smash or pass" photographs of women in the United States military were being uploaded to Facebook without their consent, as part of a pattern of sexual harassment. [8] [9] The photographs sometimes attracted jokes about raping the women depicted. [10]

Based on Google Trends data, interest in the game was low until around 2016, when searches spiked, coinciding with a rise in the game's popularity on YouTube. [4] PewDiePie made a Smash or Pass video in 2017 which got 13 million views. [4]

In two cases, the game was linked to specific incidents of online sexual harassment in American high schools. A 2017 qualitative study by information scientists Denise E Agosto and June Abbas reported a "Smash or Pass" Twitter account on which students at one school evaluated other students' appearances. [11] The Twitter account was widely viewed among the student body and included "increasingly cruel" comments. [11] When school administrators discovered the account, they had it shut down, expelled the student responsible, and prohibited students from talking about the incident. [11] In 2019, two male high school students in DeWitt, New York, changed schools after posting a video in which they rated the sexual desirability of girls in the local area; one of their parents said that the two boys were asked to leave their school or face expulsion. [3]

Starting in January 2022, the game became part of a trend on TikTok in which users decide whether to "smash or pass" fictional characters from TikTok character generators. [2] [4] Popular characters have included Marvel Universe characters, Disney characters, and cartoon parents. [2] [4]

The game's popularity among German speakers has led to the verb smash entering the German lexicon as smashen; in 2022 it was chosen as youth word of the year in a Langenscheidt poll. [12]

Reception

Dictionary.com called the game "the sleepover game of the internet age". [1] Steph Panecasio of CNET said of the TikTok trend: "There's no untoward behavior, this is all in the name of good fun." [2]

American security scholar Joan Johnson-Freese cited the game, along with Hot or Not, as examples of the objectification of women prevalent in Western society. [13] American communication researchers Nathian Shae Rodriguez and Terri Hernandez also cited the phrase "smash or pass" as an example of objectification of women related to hegemonic masculinity. [14]

Arielle Richards of Vice News said that "the real beauty of smash or pass is in its simplicity", but acknowledged that it "can be, and has been, misused in harmful ways". [4] Richards compared the game to FaceMash, a predecessor to Facebook, in which users rated the appearance of female Harvard students. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Upskirting or upskirt photography is the practice of taking photographs or videos under a person's skirt or kilt, capturing an image or video of the crotch area, showing underwear such as panties, and sometimes genitalia. An "upskirt" is a photograph, video, or illustration which incorporates such an image, although the term may also be used to refer to the area of the body inside a skirt, usually from below and while being worn.

Video clips refer to mostly short videos, which are usually silly jokes and funny clips, often from movies or entertainment videos such as those on YouTube. Short videos on TikTok and YouTube often influence popular culture and internet trends. Such clips are usually taken out of context and have many gags in them. Sometimes they can be used to attract the public to the user's other accounts or their long-form videos. The term is also used more loosely to mean any video program, including a full program, uploaded onto a website or other medium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual objectification</span> Treating a person primarily as a sexual object

Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire. Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity. Objectification is most commonly examined at the level of a society (sociology), but can also refer to the behavior of individuals (psychology), and is a type of dehumanization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex-positive movement</span> Ideology supporting healthy sexual norms

The sex-positive movement is a social and philosophical movement that seeks to change cultural attitudes and norms around sexuality, promoting the recognition of sexuality as a natural and healthy part of the human experience and emphasizing the importance of personal sovereignty, safer sex practices, and consensual sex. It covers every aspect of sexual identity including gender expression, orientation, relationship to the body, relationship-style choice, and reproductive rights. Sex-positivity is "an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, encouraging sexual pleasure and experimentation." It challenges societal taboos and aims to promote healthy and consensual sexual activities. The sex-positive movement also advocates for comprehensive sex education and safe sex as part of its campaign. The movement generally makes no moral distinctions among types of sexual activities, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viral video</span> Video that becomes popular via Internet sharing

Viral videos are videos that become popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on the social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet celebrity</span> Person who has become famous through their use of the Internet

An internet celebrity, also referred to as an internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large, global audience, and internet celebrities are commonly present on large online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which primarily rely on user-generated content. Some internet celebrities are also social media influencers, known simply as influencers, due to their social influence online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexuality in music videos</span>

Sexuality in music videos has been evident since the 1980s. Sexuality refers to how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings. Music videos have been an integral part of popular culture and media consumption. From the early days of music on television in the 1980s, to the rise of social media in the 2010s to the present, music videos have used methods to explore sexuality. The concept of objectification vs reclamation of sexuality in music videos reflects tension between exploitation and empowerment, specifically for women and black individuals.

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Since the 2000s, it has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased use of social media. Related issues include online harassment and trolling. In 2015, according to cyberbullying statistics from the i–Safe Foundation, over half of adolescents and teens had been bullied online, and about the same number had engaged in cyberbullying. Both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, and the intensity, duration, and frequency of bullying are three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.

<i>Megan Is Missing</i> 2011 American found footage psychological horror film

Megan Is Missing is a 2011 American found footage psychological horror film written, directed, edited, and co-produced by Michael Goi. The film revolves around the days leading up to the disappearance of Megan Stewart, a popular high school student in North Hollywood who decided to meet up with a boy she was interacting with online, and the subsequent investigation launched by her best friend Amy Herman. Goi based the film on a series of real-life cases of child abduction. Marc Klaas, the founder of KlaasKids Foundation, notably endorsed the film.

Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material may have been made by an ex-partner from an intimate relationship with the knowledge and consent of the subject at the time, or it may have been made without their knowledge. The subject may have experienced sexual violence during the recording of the material, in some cases facilitated by psychoactive chemicals such as date rape drugs which also cause a reduced sense of pain and involvement in the sexual act, dissociative effects and amnesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex symbol</span> Person or character widely regarded as sexually attractive

A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive and often synonymous with sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Pepper</span> English media personality (born 1989)

Samuel Nicholas Pepper is an English internet personality and reality TV contestant. Pepper appeared as a contestant on the 11th season of Big Brother in 2010. Later that same year, he started a YouTube channel, where he initially posted extreme pranks. These pranks often received backlash for featuring assault and cruelty. In 2016 Pepper shifted to vlogging and then again in 2019 shifted to comedy videos, starting a TikTok channel in 2020. In 2021, Pepper worked with FaZe Clan to promote the Save the Kids token pump-and-dump scheme as an independent contractor. Pepper also began streaming from Kick in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belle Delphine</span> British internet personality, pornographic actress, model and YouTuber (born 1999)

Mary-Belle Kirschner, better known as Belle Delphine, is a South African-born British media personality, pornographic actress, model, and YouTuber. Her social media accounts feature erotic and cosplay modelling, sometimes blending the two. Her online persona began in 2018 through her cosplay modeling on Instagram. Her posts on the platform were often influenced by popular memes and trends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TikTok</span> Video-focused social media platform

TikTok, whose mainland Chinese and Hong Kong counterpart is Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed with a smart phone app or the web.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mia Khalifa (song)</span> 2018 single by iLoveFriday

"Mia Khalifa" (originally titled "Mia Khalifa (Diss)", also known as "Hit or Miss", and sometimes stylized as "MiA KHALiFA") is a song by American hip hop group iLoveFriday (stylized as iLOVEFRiDAY). The duo of Atlanta-based rappers Aqsa Malik (also known as Smoke Hijabi) and Xeno Carr self-released the song on February 12, 2018, which was later re-released by Records Co and Columbia Records on December 14, 2018. It was included on their second EP, Mood (2019). The song was produced by Carr. The song is a diss track targeting Mia Khalifa, a Lebanese-American Internet celebrity and former pornographic actress. The decision to write a song dissing Khalifa arose over a misunderstanding. A faked screenshot, intended as a joke, seemed to show Khalifa, who once appeared in a pornographic film wearing a hijab, criticizing Malik for smoking while wearing a hijab in a music video. iLoveFriday thought the screenshot was legitimate.

Simp is an internet slang term describing someone who shows excessive sympathy and attention toward another person, typically to someone who does not reciprocate the same feelings, in pursuit of affection or a sexual relationship. This behavior, known as simping, is carried out toward a variety of targets, including celebrities, politicians, e-girls, and e-boys. The term had sporadic usage until gaining traction on social media in 2019.

Algorithmic radicalization is the concept that recommender algorithms on popular social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook drive users toward progressively more extreme content over time, leading to them developing radicalized extremist political views. Algorithms record user interactions, from likes/dislikes to amount of time spent on posts, to generate endless media aimed to keep users engaged. Through echo chamber channels, the consumer is driven to be more polarized through preferences in media and self-confirmation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devious lick</span> 2021 TikTok trend promoting vandalism and theft

A devious lick was a challenge in which North American middle school and high school students posted videos of themselves stealing, vandalizing, or showing off one or more items they stole in their school, typically from a bathroom. The trend went viral on TikTok in 2021 and has resulted in the arrests of many students as well as various warnings being issued by police departments. It also allegedly spread to some schools in Latin America, England, Germany, Australia and Latvia.

"Spooky, Scary Skeletons" is a Halloween song by American musician Andrew Gold, first released on his 1996 album Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libs of TikTok</span> Far-right and anti-LGBT Twitter account

Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has over 3.5 million followers as of September 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Smash or Pass Meaning & Origin". Dictionary.com. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Panecasio, Steph (1 March 2022). "TikTok Is Playing 'Smash or Pass' With Disney Filters". CNET. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 "2 CBA students leave school after making video rating girls". syracuse. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "'Smash or Pass' and the Eternal Appeal of Online Thirst". Vice. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 Mack, Brigida (5 August 2011). "New Facebook sex game "Smash or Pass" gaining popularity". WBTV. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "Smash or Pass: A WAFF 48 News Special Report". WAFF. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  7. 1 2 Tongish, Dawn (27 September 2011). "Teenage sex game on Facebook, 'Smash or Pass' explodes, draws younger children". galeapps.gale.com. KDAF – TV. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "The Sexist Facebook Movement The Marine Corps Can't Stop". Task & Purpose . 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Robinson, Patricia Ryan (2014–2015). "The Silent War: Free Speech and the Right to Information in the Context of Military Sexual Assault". First Amendment Law Review. 13: 498.
  10. ↑ Svyantek, Daniel J. (1 January 2021). Organizations Behaving Badly: Destructive Behavior and Corrective Responses. IAP. p. 32. ISBN   978-1-64802-356-9 . Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Agosto, Denise E; Abbas, June (March 2017). "'Don't be dumb—that's the rule I try to live by': A closer look at older teens' online privacy and safety attitudes". New Media & Society. 19 (3): 347–365. doi:10.1177/1461444815606121. S2CID   30615820.
  12. ↑ "Jugendwort des Jahres 2022: "Smash" vor "Macher und "bodenlos"". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  13. ↑ Johnson-Freese, Joan (2019). "Introduction". Women, peace and security: an introduction (First ed.). London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   978-1138344051.
  14. ↑ Rodriguez, Nathian Shae; Hernandez, Terri (January 2018). "Dibs on that Sexy Piece of Ass: Hegemonic Masculinity on TFM Girls Instagram Account". Social Media + Society. 4 (1): 205630511876080. doi: 10.1177/2056305118760809 . ISSN   2056-3051. S2CID   148793187.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.