## Definition
A booty call is a summons — usually a late-night phone call, text, or message — for the purpose of casual sex. The term gained widespread usage in the 1990s, was immortalized by the 1997 film *Booty Call* starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Davidson, and became a permanent part of dating vocabulary. The concept is straightforward: two people who aren’t in a committed relationship arrange to meet for sex, typically with minimal conversation, no date, and no expectation of romance. The booty call is transactional, efficient, and (in theory) mutually understood.
## Why It Matters
The booty call represents a specific moment in sexual culture: the normalization of casual sex without the pretense of dating. Before the booty call, there were one-night stands (spontaneous, alcohol-fueled) and affairs (deceptive, committed-adjacent). The booty call carved out a new category: planned, recurring, honest about its intentions. It required communication technology — the mobile phone made it possible to summon someone at midnight without calling their landline and waking their parents. The booty call was made for the cell phone era, and it evolved with texting, then apps, then dating platforms. It’s the ancestor of “Netflix and chill” and the situationship.
## Example
The 1997 film *Booty Call* treated the concept with comic absurdity: Jamie Foxx’s character spends the entire movie trying to procure condoms and navigate sexual politics, only to fail repeatedly. The film’s comedy came from the gap between the characters’ horniness and their incompetence. In real life, booty calls are less cinematic: a “u up?” text at 1 AM, a casual exchange of location pins, a brief encounter, and a departure that may or may not involve staying the night. The etiquette is variable: some booty calls involve post-coital cuddling; others are strictly hit-and-run. The only constant is the lack of romantic expectation.
## Internet Angle
The booty call has been fully digitized. Dating apps (Tinder, Grindr) are essentially booty call infrastructure — platforms designed to facilitate exactly this kind of encounter. The phrase itself has evolved: “u up?” is the modern booty call, delivered via text or Snapchat. The concept has also been critiqued: feminist writers have examined the gender dynamics (who initiates, who travels, who leaves), and the phrase “booty call” has been criticized for reducing people to body parts. But the practice persists, because it fills a need: physical intimacy without emotional labor. The internet didn’t invent the booty call; it just made it more efficient.
## Related Terms
– **Friends with benefits**: The ongoing version of a booty call
– **One-night stand**: The spontaneous, non-recurring equivalent
– **Situationship**: The modern, undefined relationship that often includes booty calls
– **Netflix and chill**: The euphemism that replaced “booty call” for younger generations
– **Hookup culture**: The broader social phenomenon booty calls belong to
– **U up?**: The minimalist modern booty call
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