Wedgie Explained

A wedgie is the act of forcibly pulling a person's underpants upwards from the back. The act is often performed as a school prank or a form of bullying.

Wedgies are commonly featured in popular works, either as a form of low comedy or as a behaviour representative of bullying. In such works, briefs are usually the type of underpants that are worn by the victim.^{[1] [2]}

A wedgie can also occur in artistic gymnastics, particularly females who wear leotards. Retired American gymnast Nastia Luikin said “You’re not allowed to [pick a wedgie] or else you get deducted. So a lot of people use like sticky spray [called TuffSkin] for your butt so your leotard doesn’t move. I’ve never used it and I know most of the girls don’t really use it, though we use it for our wrists before we put tape on underneath our grips because we’re sweaty and it’s a little extra stick. But if you have a fall and your leotard goes up your butt, you don’t want to fix it in the middle of your routine. Off to the side, it’s totally fine.”^[3]

Dangers

Wedgies, especially when performed on males, can be dangerous, potentially causing testicular or scrotal damage. An incident in 2004 involving a ten-year-old boy required reattachment of a testicle to the scrotum.^[4]

Variations

As a prank or form of bullying, there are a number of variants to the normal, or traditional wedgie. It is impractical to list every variant, as the names and processes can be rather subjective; however, there are a few better-known variants of the wedgie.

• The melvin is a variant where the victim's underpants are pulled up from the front, to cause injury, or, at least, severe pain to the victim's genitals.^[5]
• The atomic wedgie entails hoisting the waistband of the receiver's underwear up and over their head.
• The hanging wedgie is a variant in which the victim is hung by their underpants, elevated above the ground.^[6]
• The ripping wedgie involves the tearing of the victim's underpants, sometimes ripping off a portion (such as the waistband) of them, or forcibly removing the garment entirely.^[7]

See also

• List of practical joke topics
  • Indian burn
• Wedgies, a 2008 mini series-focused block on Cartoon Network

Notes and References

1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wedgie Wedgie.
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNSWgL02c6QC&dq=wedgie+bully&pg=PP4 No More Bullies
3. https://people.com/style/rio-olympics-2016-gymnastics-rules-nastia-liukin/
4. Web site: Emergency operation after school prank . Yorkshire Post . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140110171539/http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/local-stories/emergency-operation-after-school-prank-1-2552073 . 2004-12-02 . 2014-01-10 . 2021-03-15.
5. News: Curran . David . 4 January 2007 . Gwyneth And 'The Atomic Wedgie' / The attempt to prove the actress wrong after she slams American dinner party chatter is beyond a disaster. . . 7 July 2009.
6. News: Stuever . Hank . 2 September 2002 . At School, a Most Uncomfortable Subject . The Washington Post . 7 July 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100413063907/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/158159441.html?dids=158159441:158159441&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=SEP+02%2C+2002&author=Hank+Stuever&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=At+School%2C+a+Most+Uncomfortable+Subject&pqatl=google . 13 April 2010.
7. Book: Harper, Shaun R.. 2010. College Men and Masculinities Theory, Research, and Implications for Practice. Wiley. 270. 9780470448427.