This article contains explicit content.
Porn and memes have been inextricably linked throughout the internet’s history: They’re both the kind of thing that’s freely shared by edgy teens to score points on semi-illicit message boards like 4chan‘s /b/. So, it makes sense that porn memes are a thing—they just don’t often make it out of meme teens’ darkened bedrooms because some of the biggest meme transport vectors, like Facebook, don’t allow nudity. Occasionally, though, a “safe for work” porn meme breaks through, like this week’s amusing screengrab of porn star Riley Reid saying “Oh fuck, put it back in!”
The meme only shows Reid’s face; the sexual context is entirely implied. And, in fact, that’s the whole joke. This meme is all about using “oh fuck, put it back in” in completely mundane situations.
https://twitter.com/juuulzsantana/status/883538454306447360
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV-vGhZAEm3/
On the subreddit r/blackpeopletwitter, which co-opts jokes and trends from black Twitter users, one popular thread turned into a game of listing scenarios where “put it back in!” would be appropriate:
- When you take your hot pocket out of the microwave but it’s still cold in the middle.
- When you take your clothes out of the dryer but they’re still wet
- When put your soda in the fridge and the can is cold after a while and after you open it you realize “oh noodles” it’s still lukewarm
- when you put your soda in the freezer to make it cold quicker and when you try to open it it explodes all over your face
- When your soup explodes in the microwave but it’s still cold
- When your headphones catch on a doorknob and pop outta your ears
- When you’re about to poop but notice there’s no toilet paper
None of these scenarios are that funny on their own, but they’re pretty amusing when paired with a scene from “Naughty Bookworms 43.”
Memers have also taken the image in different directions by erasing part of the caption. For example, “Fuck, put it back in” becomes “fuck Putin”:
We last saw this caption-editing tactic in the “I see you’re a man of culture as well” meme, and it can really extend the life of a joke. “Oh fuck, put it back in,” isn’t as long a caption as “I see you’re a man of culture as well,” though, so the Riley Reid meme may not get as much mileage from these edits.
Reid isn’t the first porn star to feature in a relatively safe-for-work meme. “Put it back in” is a descendent of other notable porn memes like “It’s so fucking big” (featuring porn actress Tori Black):
Or “what you see vs. what she sees,” starring Elsa Jean, who has performed with Riley Reid in the past.
Because porn memes like these have to eschew nudity to have a chance of spreading, they compensate in other ways, namely by showing the viewer something they don’t expect to see. Sometimes they switch up the context to something humorously non-porny (in the case of “put it back in” and “it’s so fucking big”), and other times, they just insert a funny, non-pornographic image (like with “what you see”). There’s also a whole genre of memes that paints over the nudity in porn scenes with animals or household objects (see Reddit’s SFWporn subreddit for tons of examples).
The porn world tends to be pretty meme-savvy, too. A few years ago, production studio Woodrocket released a series of meme-themed porn scenes called “Memes I’d like to fuck,” drawing on classics like “Charlie Bit Me” and the Harlem Shake.
Both porn and memes account for huge chunks of wasted time and internet traffic. Together, they’re an irresistible combination.
