When Reels Get Risqué

In today’s attention economy, where videos are consumed in mere seconds and algorithms decide what we see next, social media platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have become cultural powerhouses. While they began as tools of creativity and communication, they have increasingly turned into spaces where desire is staged, packaged and circulated in subtle ways. A growing genre of content flirts not with explicit sexuality, but with something more suggestive, more layered—what we might call subtle sexuality.

It’s not pornography. No rules are being broken. No community guidelines are technically being violated. And yet, the undertones are unmistakable. Through gestures, framing, humour, and innuendo, many creators perform content that invites desire without naming it.

The Language of Suggestion

Take the now-ubiquitous “Get Ready With Me” videos. They often begin with creators in their undergarments, walking viewers through the ritual of dressing up. The lighting, the angles, the pauses—nothing is accidental. While the narrative is about clothes or skincare, the visual focus often lingers elsewhere. A sway of the hips, a coy smile, a casual lean into the camera: all these become tools in the subtle choreography of seduction.

Then there are food review videos, where the product seems secondary to the performance. Using layered vocal tones, expressions and language filled with sexual innuendo, creators turn a simple product tasting into a visual double entendre. Viewers know what’s happening. The performance isn’t overtly sexual, but the implication is loud. And it works. These videos garner millions of views. Many such creators have paid memberships, with subscription fees that bring in large sums each month. Again, nothing illegal or explicit—just a carefully maintained dance around the margins of desire.

Comedy as Cover

Humour is another potent vehicle for subtle sexuality. Sketches based on sexual innuendos drawn from daily life—be it ordering food, taking a cab or going to the gym—form a massive part of social media’s entertainment ecosystem. The jokes often rely on wordplay or exaggerated body language, leaving the viewer to complete the punchline. The line is rarely crossed; instead, it’s tiptoed around with precision. This isn’t just comedy—it’s a soft invitation to read between the lines.

These types of content thrive not just because they’re funny or clever, but because they play on a shared cultural understanding. You get the joke, you feel included, you engage—and the algorithm rewards that engagement.

Theory in the Feed: Butler and the Performativity of Desire

To understand this phenomenon, we can turn to Judith Butler’s idea of performativity. According to Butler, gender is not something we are, but something we do—it is a performance that becomes real through repetition. On social media, this extends to sexuality as well. What we see is not raw identity, but curated and repeated expressions designed to signal attraction, desirability and popularity.

In this space, performance is everything. Creators—whether consciously or not—learn to perform what draws engagement. Sometimes it’s softness, sometimes sass, sometimes ambiguity. And often, it’s subtle sexuality. These are not just personal choices; they are strategic acts shaped by what the platform rewards.

Algorithms Don’t Care, But They Decide

Instagram and YouTube’s guidelines strictly prohibit nudity and explicit sexual acts. But what counts as “explicit” is often subjective. As long as creators stay on the right side of that line, they remain safe—and visible. Algorithms, after all, don’t judge. They promote what holds attention, what gets clicks and what brings people back.

This is what scholars call algorithmic governance: platforms outsource moderation to machines, which don’t understand context or cultural nuance. If a suggestive video keeps viewers engaged for more than three seconds, it rises in the feed. In this system, subtle sexuality becomes a clever, often profitable, strategy.

What Young Viewers See

The challenge is that these videos are not only watched by adults. Teenagers and even younger children encounter them daily. The algorithm is not designed to protect them—it’s designed to hook them. A seemingly harmless Reel can quickly spiral into a feed full of innuendo-laced content, especially if the viewer hesitates, likes or shares.

Young minds may not yet be equipped to read these performances for what they are: deliberate strategies to court attention. Instead, they may internalise these visuals as normal, or even aspirational. Beauty becomes defined by suggestive poses, humour by innuendo and attention by how well one performs desirability.

This Isn’t Just About Women

While women remain the most visible participants in this space—often navigating impossible standards of beauty and gaze—men and queer creators are also adapting to the same digital language. Shirtless selfies with “thirst trap” captions, ambiguous flirting or androgynous fashion styles are all part of this economy of desire. These performances, too, use subtle sexuality to gain traction—not because these identities are inherently sexualised, but because the system rewards anything that hints at attraction.

It is crucial to say this: no identity or community is to blame here. These performances reflect a larger media structure where visibility and engagement are the ultimate currencies. Creators of all genders are simply navigating a digital landscape that’s wired to respond to seduction—no matter who the subject is.

Not Just Entertainment, But a Cultural Signal

So what does this say about us as a society? That we crave attention? That we are becoming more comfortable with sensuality? That we are blurring the lines between public and private selves? Perhaps all of the above.

But also, perhaps this is a moment to reflect—not to shame or regulate or moralise, but to question. Why do we pause on certain videos? What draws our attention, and why? What are we rewarding when we double-tap or leave a cheeky comment?

Subtle sexuality isn’t just a trend—it’s a signal. It tells us something about how we see intimacy, humour and power in the digital age.

A Different Kind of Ending

This isn’t about what’s wrong or right. It’s about what’s happening.

In a world where scrolling is instinctive and algorithms know us better than we know ourselves, every pause becomes a vote. Every watch, every click, every view trains the machine a little more. And in return, the machine shapes what we see next.

There are no easy answers. No one is to blame. But we do need to ask: are we watching what we want to watch—or what we’ve been taught to desire?

The internet is not a neutral space. It’s a curated theatre of attention. And sometimes, when the lights dim and the screen glows, it flirts with us—not with words, but with a look, a pause, a pose.

The question is: do we know when we’re being seduced?

Disha is a Ph.D. Scholar & Senior Research Fellow at Dr. K. R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7124-9438)