David, a 25-year-old from Guanajuato, Mexico, was bottoming blissfully until his hookup looked down to find a thin layer of watery poop on his penis. Embarrassed, David ran to the bathroom to wipe up. His date followed him in, turned on the shower and invited David to join him. David felt the guy try to arouse him again by fingering him, and he enjoyed it — until he realized there were two hands, not one, on his upper body.
What was in his butt? A bar of soap, which his date had shoved inside him.
“I felt angry,” David tells me. “It was really an insensitive move, like if I was just a sex doll you just clean without being careful.”
Squeaky-clean buttholes is the latest cause for uprising in the ongoing bottom-rights revolution — an attempt to even out the sexual power dynamics. First there was the bottoming emoji debate. Then we celebrated Tall Bottom Thotumn. Now, friends, I give you Shit Dick Summer. While the season might be over, its spirit lives on this Cocktober.
The term, derived from Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer, was coined by porn star and writer Ty Mitchell. For the month of August, he called for a crusade against anal douching — to protest “poop-shaming tops.”
we as bottoms are protesting poop-shaming tops by not douching through the whole month of august that’s right mary get ready for Shit Dick Summer
— ty mitchell (@TyMitchellXXX) July 12, 2019
we got to raise the bar ladies: if a man wants to top you, make HIM douche first!!!! no dirty hole tops allowed!!!! #shitdicksummer
— ty mitchell (@TyMitchellXXX) July 12, 2019
“It was about creating levity and openness around something many bottoms feel intense shame and insecurity about: shit happening during anal sex,” Mitchell says. “I’m not certain it worked, but it was certainly worth a try.”
Bottoming can be expensive and painful. And that’s before you have a dick shoved up your butt.
Bottoms have long been encouraged to vigorously clean their insides before sex — either through douching with a saline enema like Fleet, or arduous hosing with a perfectly angled shower head. Some opt to starve themselves before a date, considering food like dairy can cause bowel movements. The routine of shaving, cleaning and showering, just to cater to unappreciative tops who can’t be bothered to do the same? That’s the opposite of gay rights. Why should we be forced to present a clean, sanitary and false version of ourselves?
This is what Shit Dick Summer aims to correct. It’s about autonomy and a bottom’s right to prepare their ass — and entire body — as they wish.
“Shit Dick Summer was the start of a revolution. We’re not going anywhere,” says Mama Celeste, an Oakland drag performer, who uses they/them pronouns. They have one goal when it comes to their future hookups: “I’m tryna be the Bob Ross of dick painting.” (“Painting,” in this sense, doesn’t require a brush.)
Brazilian porn star Apolo Sanchez puts it more bluntly: “If the guy is up to fuck your ass, he has to be down with anything.”
Y’all in my DMs saying eating ass is nasty WHEN YALL TOPS DONT EVEN CLEAN YOUR DICKS RIGHT.
YOU’RE DICK AINT THAT BIG, THATS NOT WHY WE TEAR UP. WE TEARING UP CUZ YOUR DICK TASTES LIKE A FUCKING FISH MARKET LMAO
BOTTOMS DOUCHE AND STAY HELLA CLEAN
CLEAN YOUR DICKS YO
— Patryk ??? (@DaddoDepresso) November 13, 2018
The adult industry, of course, has different standards. Generally, any personal preference for painting stops when filming begins. It’s standard practice for performers in both queer and straight sex scenes to douche ahead of time. Even Shit Dick Summer creator Ty Mitchell has a spotless record of bottoming on camera.
Visible poop in porn is still largely seen as a fetish, no matter how common it actually is. “When your target audience isn’t into seeing that stuff, you are going to do what’s necessary to appease that,” OnlyFans star @AStevensXXX tells MEL.
And some guys truly get into the prep, making it an arousing part of their warmup. OnlyFans star DamagedBttm says douching helps him mentally prepare for his serious job of taking dick. “It’s nice to have a pre-sex ritual,” he says. “It’s like warming up before a workout, or pregaming before going out to bars.”
Yea, especially if I have the need to be plowed good
— Anthony Stevens (@AStevensXXX) October 6, 2019
In the end, Shit Dick Summer is all about setting expectations. If you’re going to a sex party where you might take multiple dicks, or embarking on a romantic first date, a clean asshole means you’ve prevented at least one potential hiccup. At the same time, if you’re not feeling like douching, the choice is yours. As David learned, there’s no point in feeling embarrassed of your own body.
Joseph Longo
Joseph Longo is a culture and entertainment journalist whose work has appeared in The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly and more. He's still trying to understand what it means to be a Gemini Rising.
