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What Does Pit Pig Mean?

If you've landed here after googling “what is a pit pig?”, there are probably a couple of possibilities.

Someone called themselves one and you had absolutely no idea what they meant.

Or you've discovered that you really, really like armpits and you're wondering whether there's a name for that.

Good news.

There is.

In gay kink, a pit pig is a guy who's particularly into armpits: hairy, sweaty, musky, stinky pits, and preferably getting his face right into them.

The “pit” part is fairly self-explanatory.

But the pig part matters.

Because the name is pretty literal.

Think about how we describe someone eating like a pig: greedy, messy, insatiable, getting stuck in and always wanting more.

Gay kink took that idea and ran with it.

A pig is someone who embraces that appetite. There's a raunchiness and hedonism to it. Less standing back politely admiring what turns you on, more wanting to get amongst it.

For a pit pig, that appetite is focused squarely on armpits.

A bloke puts his arm up and you're not admiring his pit from across the room. You want your face in there. You want the hair, the sweat, the smell and the musk.

And when you've had enough, you probably haven't.

That's the pig part.

Why Are Guys Into Pits?

Because men smell like men.

That's probably the shortest answer.

There's the hair first.

A thick patch of pit hair disappearing under the sleeve of a T-shirt or sticking out from the side of a singlet can be enough to get some guys looking.

Then the arm goes up.

Now you've got the whole thing.

Hair. Warm skin. Dampness. Sweat. That musky smell that's unmistakably him.

And the longer he's been wearing that shirt, dancing, working, training or sweating his arse off at a leather night, the more horny that pit can become.

Because for a pit pig, body odour is pretty damn hot.

The smell is part of the sexy bloke.

Put Your Arm Up

If you've spent time around bears, leather guys or kink spaces, you've probably seen some version of this happen.

Two guys see each other.

One puts his arm up.

The other sticks his head straight into his armpit.

Big sniff.

Maybe a lick.

Then they carry on with their night.

Hello.

There's something wonderfully direct about it.

No clinical terminology. No ten-minute discussion about whether armpit attraction technically qualifies as a fetish.

Put your arm up. I want to smell you.

And if you're a proper pit pig, one sniff probably isn't going to do it.

You want your nose buried in the hair. Your face against the warm skin. Maybe your tongue in there tasting the sweat.

You want another sniff.

Then another.

That's where the pig part starts showing itself again.

Greedy. Insatiable. More.

Hair, Sweat, Musk and Stink

Pits hit a whole collection of things that already have a strong place in gay male kink.

Body hair. The visual masculinity of it, the texture of it, the way it holds sweat and scent.

Sweat. Warm, salty, damp and very horny.

Musk. That natural smell of another bloke.

And yes, stink.

For some pit pigs, the stronger the better.

It's the opposite of the sanitised version of male sexuality we're normally sold.

Shower. Shave. Spray. Deodorise. Make sure nobody can tell your body has been doing body things.

A pit pig can look at all of that and think:

Why the fuck would I wash off the best part?

Because the sweat isn't a problem to get past.

The musk isn't something to cover up.

That ripe smell after a few hours in a crowded bar isn't necessarily a sign that it's time to head for the shower.

It might be an invitation to put your arm up.

Pits Are All Over Your Feed Too

You don't exactly have to go hunting for pit content anymore.

Instagram keeps shoving it in my face.

Gym guys. Tradies. Fitness accounts. Blokes stretching. Blokes lying in bed. Men apparently incapable of taking a selfie without putting one arm behind their head.

And then there are the accounts where we're all supposed to pretend they don't know exactly what they're doing.

Mate.

Your arm has been above your head for fourteen consecutive posts.

We know.

As we talked about in Am I Gay?, social media has created this weird grey area between mainstream thirst trap and kink content.

An armpit isn't inherently sexual.

But make it hairy, add a bit of sweat, stick it on an attractive bloke with his arm behind his head and put it directly in front of someone who's into pits?

Well, now you've got his attention.

And once the algorithm figures that out, good luck.

Does Liking Pits Make You a Pit Pig?

Not necessarily.

You can think hairy pits are hot without being a pit pig.

The pit tells you what you're into.

The pig is how you go about enjoying it.

Greedy. Enthusiastic. Horny. Maybe a little messy. The sort of bloke who gets offered a pit and doesn't need to be asked twice.

It's appetite.

And that's really where the difference sits.

There's noticing the hairy pit sticking out of a bloke's singlet.

There's wanting to get closer and smell it.

And then there's the pit pig who wants as much of that bloke's sweat, musk and scent as he can get.

More.

If you want the bigger story of what being a pig means in gay kink, we've covered that in Am I a Pig? It's Probably Not What You Think.

For now, we've got our face full of pit.

Pits Got a Hanky Colour Too

Of course they did.

The modern hanky code emerged through gay leather and cruising culture in the early 1970s as a way for men to signal what they were into.

Different coloured hankies represented different interests, while the pocket you wore one in could give a pretty useful indication of what you wanted to do with that interest.

There was never one official, universal list. Different bars, leather shops, cities and publications circulated different versions, and the code became increasingly specific as it grew.

In widely circulated versions of the expanded hanky code, magenta became associated with pits and armpits.

Broadly speaking, one side could signal that you wanted your pits appreciated. The other could signal that you'd quite like to get your face into someone else's.

Simple. Useful. Horny.

If you want the full history, colours and left-versus-right business, we've already written a guide to the Hanky Code.

So That's Why Our Pit Pig Is Magenta

When Darren created our Happy Little Pig series, the colours weren't chosen at random.

Each little pig plays with colours and signals from gay kink and hanky-code culture.

Which meant our Happy Little Pit Pig had to be magenta.

If you know, you see the colour and get the joke.

If you don't, it's just a ridiculously happy little pig.

Meanwhile the bloke wearing it might be thinking about burying his face in a sweaty armpit.

We enjoy that contrast.

You can find him, along with the rest of the increasingly questionable family, in our Happy Little Pig gear.

So, Are You a Pit Pig?

Maybe.

If the sight of thick pit hair gets your attention, we're off to a reasonable start.

If a bloke puts his arm up and your instinct is to get closer rather than move away, we're getting warmer.

If he's been sweating for a few hours and that somehow makes the situation better?

Warmer again.

If one sniff isn't enough and you're already going back for more?

Now we're getting into pig territory.

And if you're imagining your face buried in there, breathing him in, nose in the hair, tasting the sweat and wanting every bit of that musk you can get...

Well.

You probably didn't need Google to answer the question.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pit Pigs

What Does Pit Pig Mean?

In gay kink, a pit pig is a guy with a particular appetite for armpits, especially the hair, sweat, smell and musk that comes with them.

The “pig” part brings that greedy, insatiable energy to it. It's not just thinking pits look hot. A pit pig wants to get in there, sniff, lick, taste and enjoy as much of it as he can.

What Is Pit Pig Kink?

Pit pig kink centres around the attraction to men's armpits and everything that comes with them: body hair, sweat, smell, musk, warmth, licking, sniffing and close physical contact.

For a pit pig, a sweaty or strongly scented pit isn't something that needs fixing.

That's exactly what he's there for.

Why Do Some Guys Like Stinky Armpits?

Because scent can be an incredibly powerful part of attraction.

A sweaty armpit combines natural body smell, warmth, damp skin and hair into something that smells very specifically like the bloke it belongs to.

For some guys, that's primal as fuck.

The smell is the sexy bit.

Are Hairy Armpits Part of Pit Kink?

They certainly can be.

For plenty of pit guys, the hair is a huge part of the appeal: how it looks under a raised arm, how it feels against your face, and how it holds onto sweat and scent.

There's a reason a bloke in a singlet with a bit of pit hair showing can attract considerably more attention than he probably realises.

Although, judging by Instagram, quite a few of them know exactly what they're doing.

What Does a Magenta Hanky Mean?

In widely circulated versions of the expanded gay hanky code, magenta represents an interest in pits or armpits.

Exact meanings and left-right interpretations have varied between different hanky-code lists and eras, but the pits connection is well established in expanded versions of the code.

Does Liking Pits Make Me a Pit Pig?

Only if “pit pig” feels like a good description of what you're into.

There isn't a membership card.

But if your ideal greeting involves a bloke putting his arm up so you can stick your face straight into his warm, hairy, sweaty armpit, take a huge sniff and then immediately go back for another...

Yeah. I'd say you are.