Wedgie

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title: "Wedgie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["harassment-and-bullying", "undergarments", "practical-jokes"] description: "Forcibly pulling a person's underpants" topic_path: "general/harassment-and-bullying" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedgie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Forcibly pulling a person's underpants ::

::callout[type=note] the wardrobe malfunction ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Wedgie1.jpg" caption="A male being giving a wedgie by another person"] ::

A wedgie is the act of forcibly pulling a person's underpants upwards from the back, thus forcing the fabric into the intergluteal cleft uncomfortably. 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.

The same term can also refer to the situation wherein any clothing worn over the buttocks randomly becomes wedged between them.

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

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Girl_Wedgied.jpg" caption="A female receiving a regular wedgie."] ::

There are various versions of the traditional wedgie that can be used as pranks or a form of bullying. It is impractical to list every variant, as the names and processes can be rather subjective; however, below 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.
• The atomic wedgie entails hoisting the waistband of the receiver's underwear up and over their head, which on at least one occasion has been lethal.
• The hanging wedgie is where the victim is hung by their underpants, elevated above the ground.
• The ripping wedgie involves the tearing of the victim's underpants, sometimes ripping off a portion of them (such as the waistband), or forcibly removing the garment entirely.

References

References

1. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wedgie Wedgie.] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-11-18 ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2007 via Dictionary.com.)
2. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNSWgL02c6QC&dq=wedgie+bully&pg=PP4 ''No More Bullies''], School Counselor Resources.
3. [https://www.wordreference.com/definition/wedgie Wedgie], WordReference.com Dictionary of English
4. (2004-12-02). "Emergency operation after school prank". Yorkshire Post.
5. 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.". [[SFGate]].
6. Stilwell, Blake. (5 May 2023). "A Marine Veteran Was Sentenced to 30 Years for Killing His Stepfather with an Atomic Wedgie".
7. Stuever, Hank. (2 September 2002). "At School, a Most Uncomfortable Subject". The Washington Post.
8. Harper, Shaun R.. (2010). "College Men and Masculinities Theory, Research, and Implications for Practice". Wiley.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::