Dear Blank, Please Blank

(You can buy these cards from Sapling Press through their Etsy page.)

Is Anyone Up?

Is Anyone Up is a website where people can avenge ex-lovers by submitting sexts they’ve recieved from them, and then founder Hunter Moore will post the pictures for the world to see. The posts start with a screen shot of the person’s Facebook page (so anyone can find them) and sometimes a defaming story about what they’ve done to deserve the submission. Below that are a few pictures of the person fully clothed, but if you keep scrolling… BAM!!!: full nudes, compromising photos and pictures of people you wish would never get naked again.

The whole concept is awful really, not to mention sad – considering the majority of the people on there entrusted these photos with someone they didn’t think would end up sharing them on a site where they will be “put on blast” and judged for every hair out of place or pound they need to lose. But as Moore said in one post, the site was made “so everyone can enjoy these peoples’ mistakes for generations to come.”

Moore and some dude in one of the original reaction photos.

Moore calls himself a “professional life ruiner” and came up with the term ‘gnargoyle’ – which I’ll let you figure out. The site’s slogan is “are you textually active?” and mostly features pictures of hipsters covered in tattoos with the occassional recently divorced, new-to-the-dating-scene mom. Categories include: herps confirmed, today’s band whore, gay or straight?, and would or would not? But you can also browse by girls, guys, band, or city, or you can type in the unlucky person’s name in the search bar.

There’s even a store to buy merch and the site has become such a hit that hipsters everywhere are getting the twitter hashtag for the site, #NBHNC (no butthole, no care), tattooed amongst the plethora of their other random, meaningless tattoos.

But I really can’t hate on it too much because I found myself oddly mesmerized by the site. I discovered it a few weeks ago when some of my friends and I were sitting around my kitchen table, drinking coffee after a Halloween party I’d had the night before. They asked me if I’d ever heard of it and then told me that one of our friends was on it. As we looked him up, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there he was – in all his naked glory. I was shocked, I was blushing and I knew I’d never look him the same way again. And the best part is that he owns it and doesn’t mind being on there at all. It even got him laid, apparently.

We sat there that Sunday morning typing in the names of people we all knew (and then typed in our own to make sure there wasn’t a gnargoyle amongst us.) One of my friends warned us that the first time he found the site he spent hours on it, and that day, after the guys left, my best friend Jessica and I spent another hour on it – cracking up, o0-ing and awing and scrunching our faces in disgust. The site is oddly compelling and somehow leaves you feeling insecure about your body while at the same time wanting to strut what you’ve got.

The best part of the website however, are the reactions under the photos. I found myself scrolling through the nudes just to see what ridiculous photo or GIF would be paired with it. They’re so good that Jessica and I compiled some of our favorite reactions for your viewing pleasure.

Just picture that babe you’ve been lurking on Facebook trying to entice you as she stands in front of a mirror, naked and holding her phone, or picture a gnargoyle you wish had the same insecurity issues you do… Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!