The secret slang used by Kenyan youth to send each other sexual content messages

 A young lady sending a text         Photo:Courtesy

It is Friday evening. A group of college boys has just left the lecture hall. They get their phones out and start flirting with girls, a general habit they commonly do to kick in the weekend mood. “Sally,” one writes. “Go to WhatsApp.”

“I like your profile picture, can I see more? I want one of you showing more skin...A little more flesh,” he texts, kicking in a sensual discussion as his boys cheers on.

Within a matter of seconds, the girl on the other end sends in a photo. She is semi-nude, her sexy lips giving a sensual pout to demonstrate sexual desire. The naughty boys are getting turned on. It is getting hot in this hostel room.

“Can you do a photo of you now and forward it. I want a bathroom scene. Damn, you are so sexy,” the guy seductively goes on and following his lead, the lass goes ahead to post a series of even more suggestive photos.

In another minute, he asks her to be his date for the night, ready for some “Fifty Shades of Grey’ action.

“I am with my boys so come with your girls. But first, let us see their photos to sample them. The boys then sample the girl’s photos, each picking his preferred match. Numbers are exchanged, calls are made and in another hour, they all hit the club, party hard as they binge drink before retiring back to the hostel, the entire group. And this is where it all happens.

Sexting, also referred as dirty texting, is becoming a norm among pulsers and pulsaters in this digital era where everything is accessible at the click of the button.

Many youth are getting addicted to sex texting with surveys showing that youngsters spend more than three hours a day with their significant other – their smartphone.

A college going guy does an average of 70 texts a day, half of which have to do with sensual issues with different hook-up partners.

Two out of five teens have sent a sexually suggestive message and two out of ten have sent nude or partially nude pictures of themselves to others.

It is even shocking that a number have admitted taking this throes of passion further to even relieving themselves during phone sext fantasy conversations. The pee-pees and vee-vees photo exchange is a real phenomenon.

In fact, for the shy ones, new phone technologies have now incorporated the use of smileys that do help one pass the message through a suggestive way without necessarily using seductive worlds. It is a thin line between drips of sex innuendo and arrant raunchiness.

Pulsers are also making use of tech savvy slang as well as acronyms to make sexting sound urban cool something that even makes it more difficult to follow up their teens lest they are being investigated.

For example, IWSN stands for ‘I want sex now’, GNOC means ‘get naked on camera’ while PIR means ‘parent in room’.

53X means ‘sex’, CU46 means ‘see you for sex’, KOTL stands for ‘kiss on the lips’, LH6 for ‘let’s have sex’, 8 is ‘oral sex’, WTTP stands for ‘want to trade pictures’ while SUGARPIC is a request to get an erotic photo.

The list is endless. GYPO stands for ‘get your pants off’, KPC for ‘keeping parents clueless’, TDTM is ‘talk dirty to me’, 9 stands for ‘parent watching’ while 99 means ‘parent gone’. CD9 means ‘parents around’ and IPN means ‘I’m posting or posing naked’. How on earth can a parent keep up with these Da Vinci Code-like sexting acronyms!

“I meet most of my girls online and as we get to know each other better, I usually ask them to post nude photos so I can sample them. It is important to see the real thing before you meet physically so I ask the girls to do me nude selfies,” says Maurice, a 26-year-old Nairobi entrepreneur.

“There is nothing to be shy about. I have tens and tens of nude pictures from the different girls with whom I sexted. Some are too private, what someone would term as a bit gross as I ask them to even allow me see ‘it all’,” he reveals.

“On several occasions during sexting, I have even gone ahead to ask guys to show me photos of their private parts. It is not just a matter of being curious. Size matters,” says Anita, a 22-year-old university student who also says that sexting can be addictive.

“I even have dirty videos from guys with whom I flirt. Who wants to watch pornography when you can get the real thing, live,” she charges.

 Not my real boyfriend

“I don’t think sexting is ideal for guys who are mere acquaintances. Why should I take photos of me showing my thong and curves to someone who is not my real boyfriend? Isn’t that a bit gross?” Patricia, a peer counsellor poses.

“I think the youth are taking sex so casually that the real meaning of it is getting lost. What happened to morals? Do parents know that their teens are involved in such things and if so what are they doing about it? We need counsellors to talk to the youth about these things. If we ever needed sex education in our schools, then the time is now,” she challenges.

Well, if you think your teen is not as bad as your neighbour’s, who you believe this story addresses, you might be mistaken.

The young person sexting is not that alcohol-drinking, drug-using, school-skipping fellow. It is your church going daughter and that son who has probably never hit the club.

According to a story published by CNN in January, two recent studies suggest that sexting is more common than many parents might realise or want to admit.

The story had it that more than half the undergraduate students who took part in an anonymous online survey said they sexted when they were teenagers.

And it is not only the youth who are sexting. Besides the common man, prominent people such as politicians and businessmen are heavily involved in this practice, which sometimes ends up backfiring and getting them in trouble with the law.

However, despite all the negatives that surround sexting, modern-day urban couples are said to be using this practice to enhance their relationships.

It is said that sexting is good therapy that is often used to enhance sexual satisfaction in a romantic partnership.