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. 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.”

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.

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.