Toothing
Toothing was originally a hoax claim that Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones or PDAs were being used to arrange random sexual encounters, perpetrated as a prank on the media who reported it.
[1] The hoax was created by Ste Curran, then Editor at Large at the gaming magazine Edge, and ex-journalist Simon Byron.
[2] The hoax concept of toothing started around March 2004 in the form of a forum designed by Ste Curran, then Editor at Large at games magazine Edge, and ex-journalist Simon Byron.
Byron said he and Curran were "idly messaging about the Stan Collymore dogging scandal, and how this stupid sexual buzzword had (apparently) come from nowhere," when they came up with the concept.
"[2] They agreed to do an interview with The Daily Telegraph and "many papers read that and followed up, broadsheet and tabloid, regional, national, all over the planet.
"[5] One of the hoaxers made an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live, and a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom reportedly declared his interest in toothing as a way of meeting women.
The couple also received offers to license official toothing merchandise such as sex lines, websites, and mobile-phone software.
Since that day Jon - who claims to have had Toothing success five times - has set up a website dedicated to the practice but he admits it takes a degree of perseverance.
The couple said: "It's like going into a crowded nightclub, throwing a brick at the dance floor with a love letter attached, and hoping that the person it hits will agree to sleep with you.
"[5] Shanna Petersen, a sexologist, disagreed with the hoaxers' statement that no-one has ever toothed: "It's simple, doesn't take a lot of guts and rejection is nowhere as personal.
"[22] Sue Peters of the Terrence Higgins Trust worried that anonymous sex made possible by toothing would cause an increase of sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia in the United Kingdom.
It was described as an "anonymous casual sexual activity with any partner arranged over Bluetooth radio technology enabled mobile phones.
[24] Toothing was referenced in an episode of the American television series CSI: Miami, called "Killer Date", that aired in the United States on April 18, 2005.
