"Thirst Traps" What's behind the sexy TikTok clips?
Feeling confident and sexy is probably the reason why many people post "Thirst Traps".
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
In "Thirst Traps", influencers show themselves in a suggestive way in everyday situations - such as cooking.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
Sexy poses can boost your own ego, explains a social pedagogue.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
What is considered sexy on Tiktok is very different: even normal tasks such as cooking or chopping wood can be sexualized.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
The creators of thirst traps sometimes crave attention.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
Feeling confident and sexy is probably the reason why many people post "Thirst Traps".
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
In "Thirst Traps", influencers show themselves in a suggestive way in everyday situations - such as cooking.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
Sexy poses can boost your own ego, explains a social pedagogue.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
What is considered sexy on Tiktok is very different: even normal tasks such as cooking or chopping wood can be sexualized.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
The creators of thirst traps sometimes crave attention.
Image: dpa (Symbolbild)
In their videos, they do something quite ordinary. But the goal of some influencers is different: to get viewers to interact with hot clips. How do the "Thirst Traps" work?
18.03.2026, 23:25
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- "Thirst traps" have been circulating on social media, especially on TikTok, for several years.
- The photos and short videos are supposedly everyday scenes such as housework, but are sometimes highly sexualized.
- In German-speaking countries, for example, the Elevator Boys built up an international reach with their "thirst traps" in elevators.
- According to media educator Rudolf Kammerl, the trick works when "promises of sexual contact are implied but not kept".
A TikTok video initially shows a person doing the dishes - an everyday scene. But in the blink of an eye, the mood changes: suddenly she can only be seen in skimpy lingerie. Such posts are called "thirst traps" (a combination of the English words for "thirst" and "trap"). The term has been circulating for years as a description of a social media phenomenon. It refers to sexualized short videos and photos that are intended to generate attention, as social pedagogue Tessa-Marie Menzel explains.
An example in which an ostensibly harmless cooking video turns into somewhat raunchy content: A man in the kitchen stages himself and the preparation of a rice dish as if he were playing the lead role in "Fifty Shades of Grey". Internet star Cedrik Lorenzen cooks for his followers - and treats food like others treat their partners. Lorenzen now has 7.5 million followers on Tiktok. "Thirst Traps" are really well received.
However, it doesn't seem quite so clear where the trap lies with "Thirst Traps". Social pedagogue Menzel from the Technical University of Dortmund says that users fall into the trap simply by paying attention to the creator of a post - for example through likes or comments.
Media educator Rudolf Kammerl from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg believes that the trick works when "promises of sexual contact are implied but not kept".
More followers through permissiveness
In German-speaking countries, the Elevator Boys, for example, built up an international reach through their "thirst traps" in elevators. The five young men, born between 1999 and 2001, now have 2.7 million followers on TikTok, and their success has earned them contracts as models, boy bands and film actors.
The well-known advertising industry saying "sex sells" has taken on a new meaning in the social media age and also thanks to "Thirst Traps". "Sexy" posts get "an inordinate number of likes and comments", says Menzel. For influencers, this has the advantage of strengthening their own brand and visibility. "You can see such images and videos as a marketing strategy."
For influencers, this often also means a financial gain. Social media stars "often live from the fact that they get a lot of likes and thus either generate money directly or through advertisers whose products they incorporate," explains media education professor Kammerl.
A self-experiment by German YouTuber Annikazion from 2023 shows how 'thirst traps' attract attention: The influencer posted one such video on TikTok every day for a week - and gained around 30,000 followers during this period, according to her own account.
Between self-empowerment and beauty ideals
But it's not just well-known influencers who are revealing themselves. Private individuals also want to appear self-confident and erotic on social media. Some experts assume that "thirst traps" are also shared to boost one's own ego or to combat increasing loneliness.
According to Kammerl, the reasons can be very different. In addition to the desire for attention, people may also want to arouse the sexual interest of viewers, says the scientist. It could therefore be an attempt to flirt or to show an ex-partner what they are missing after a break-up.
Sexy clips could also be a way of self-empowerment - especially for people who do not conform to the usual ideals of beauty, says Menzel. "Empowerment and norm pressure simply exist at the same time."
The pressure to conform to a certain ideal is reinforced by "thirst traps", says Menzel. For women, it is often about slimness, for men about fitness. The sociologist considers this feeling of having to constantly compare oneself with others to be problematic. "At the same time, there is also an objectification and sexualization of bodies, which of course has to be viewed very critically, especially for women."
"Thirst traps" also get to the wrong people
The problem is that children and young people can also come across "thirst traps" on TikTok, Instagram and the like - and thus be confronted with content that is not suitable for them. Social media providers should therefore ensure that the age restrictions on their platforms are adhered to, says media educator Kammerl. He believes parents have a duty to monitor what content their children are consuming. However, "thirst traps" are usually not so serious that they have to be blocked by the platforms due to youth endangerment, says Kammerl.
