A true rawdogger takes no indulgences

September 8, 2024 12:35 PM

Everyone has their own tricks for staving off boredom on a long-haul flight. Some people load up on podcast episodes, others power through the available in-flight entertainment. But no one simply sits, staring silently at the real-time flight map on the screen in front of them, for the entirety of a trip. Right? Wrong. A small group of hardy men—the gender that brought you frat hazing and Logan Paul—are now doing exactly that, and for a variety of surprisingly solid reasons. from Why Men Are ‘Rawdogging’ Flights [GQ]
posted by chavenet (102 comments total)

A Wildly Obscene Term’s Path to Mainstream Usage
Over the last few months, the slang term, which has historically been used to refer to sexual intercourse without a condom, has been adopted to describe almost any activity accomplished without the assistance of a buffer. Now, you can rawdog the flu by refusing medication; you can rawdog cooking by not using a recipe; you can even rawdog life, by being sober.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:52 PM on September 8 [29 favorites]

When I was a young man, I would make sure that I had all forms of entertainment to get through a long flight - magazines or newspapers or later movies but always music - but these days, I am more than happy to spend ~4 hours closing my eyes and concentrating on listening to a few albums on my phone. It's like a vacation from visual stimulation. I do miss the in-flight magazines.
posted by eschatfische at 12:54 PM on September 8 [11 favorites]

To each their own, I suppose; it sounds silly to me. Although the man who apparently never allows time for self-reflection in any other part of his life was interesting in a sort of "that's utterly unlike my own experience" way.

I fly very seldom, so when I do it feels like an Event to look forward to and enjoy while it happens. Whenever possible I get a window seat not directly over the wing; I can spend a large portion of the time just staring fascinated at the Earth going by from my godlike height. But I do bring noise-canceling earbuds (for which my ears thank me) and a book I'll peruse now and then when there's no interesting scenery, for example a night-time flight, solid cloud cover, or the sun shining directly in the window.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:56 PM on September 8 [21 favorites]

And oh man don't get me started on the thrill of take-off! The incredible rush of speed, the kinetic experience of being pushed back in my seat, the tilt of the plane as it climbs to altitude, the magical beginning of a journey...
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:58 PM on September 8 [33 favorites]

The lengths that dudebros will go to for meditation but not call it meditation is bizarre. And the use of what I'm pretty sure is originally a porn term* is strange as well.

*is it? What's the oldest use of raw dogging?
posted by nestor_makhno at 1:00 PM on September 8 [29 favorites]

asceticism without enlightenment
posted by glonous keming at 1:08 PM on September 8 [78 favorites]

I call this "thinking" or if I am being fanciful "daydreaming".
posted by srboisvert at 1:09 PM on September 8 [22 favorites]

If the practitioners of raw-dogging flights are the cohort of young men who are typically associated with toxic masculinity, then it's probably a good thing. It sounds like it could be simply a form of meditation, and introspection and reflection on toxic behavior is a plus.

Really dumb to not eat or drink, especially drink. I am at my most dehydrated when I fly, and not drinking water could cause problems.
posted by zardoz at 1:10 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

Ian Bogost's take:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/08/rawdogging-flights-meme/679615/
posted by doctornemo at 1:13 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

Raw-dogging metafilter threads by not reading TFAs before commenting (fist bumps 80% of mefites)
posted by phooky at 1:14 PM on September 8 [124 favorites]

I fly a lot for work, and this strikes me as simply hellish.

I can't do most of my work in coach, where I usually am - too cramped to write on laptop, plus aerial WiFi is often a joke - so I set aside a lot of work and non-work reading for each flight. Seats are often awkward enough that this is not the pleasant idyll one might hope for.

I do meditate in the air, although that risks involuntary napping. (My face is long used to CPAP, so the overheat vent triggers a Skinnerian sleep response)
posted by doctornemo at 1:16 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]

This feels like a meme thing that isn't so much of a thing other than the "catchy" name.
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:24 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

Sounds fucking boring.
posted by chasing at 1:26 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

"just thinking"

I'm an old person and a weirdo, and I am fighting the urge to say really mean things about the fact that this type of man needs a whole Manly Project in order to sit still with himself for a few hours. I guess it's like the people who need to play loud music while riding a couple of miles on their bikes lest introspection overwhelm them, or the people who can't handle a few blocks on the bus without making a phone call.
posted by Frowner at 1:28 PM on September 8 [42 favorites]

(Not saying that amusing oneself on a flight is bad! Just saying that sitting around and mulling things over shouldn't be a threat to one's masculinity.)
posted by Frowner at 1:28 PM on September 8 [11 favorites]

"Toxic masculinity is partially based on how men process emotions such as insecurity and anxiety in unhealthy ways that lead to anger, dominance, and alienation. Consider the Stoics and their pursuit of serenity."

"Ok, I'm going to practice serenity by mastering my sense of boredom by staring at an airplane chair back harder than anyone else."

"Guys ..."

tbf, I think rawdogging flights is only one (and the most attention-grabby, clickbaity) form of this meme. NYT did an article on rawdogging in response to this GQ article that also indicated folks using it in the context of attending a concert without alcohol, drugs, or other distractions or just foregoing alcohol at a party. I like that people are rediscovering the virtues of being a little bored and being present. But, you know, trust MRA bros to make it weird.
posted by bl1nk at 1:30 PM on September 8 [17 favorites]

The unfortunate name aside, while I personally think this sounds like a living hell, I think it's significant that these are young people who have never known a life without cell phones and the internet. Those distractions are difficult to opt out of; our friends and families, and often our employers, expect on demand availability from us. A plane is an excuse not to provide that, one that no one questions. How many others do we get? How many others have these people ever even heard of?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:35 PM on September 8 [19 favorites]

There's also the aspect of performing it. You're not really rawdogging if you're not posting about it on the socials. Like, right now I'm just waiting for a train. I'm doing nothing. But now that I've told you that, I'm rawdogging rawdogging, bruh
posted by phooky at 1:36 PM on September 8 [24 favorites]

Nah, I'm good.
posted by pepcorn at 1:36 PM on September 8 [8 favorites]

This is fine.

Weird that people seem interested in making it some kind of contest. But I would not mind being on a plane full of rawdogging men.

Funny how the practitioner touts it as "Everyone else leaves you alone". Yes, these are men constantly being harangued by the world...
posted by 2N2222 at 1:38 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

so is it "raw-dogging" when i write the letters A to Z into the order form in Skymall to get my own customized handwriting font
posted by credulous at 1:40 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

Was the term rawdogging really “wildly obscene?” Not everything that refers to sex has to be obscene.
posted by smelendez at 1:42 PM on September 8 [8 favorites]

The first time I witnessed this was a few years ago on a four hour flight. The guy next to me just sat and stared forward, the whole time. No drinks, snacks nothing. The weirdest part to me was that like halfway in, he suddenly pulled out his phone, opened the calculator app (yes I was nosy), punched in a few numbers, looked at the result, put it away and then went back to staring ahead. Something about that seemed way stranger than if he'd just stayed still the entire flight. I thought "a simple calculation is what breaks your reverie?"
posted by Gorgik at 1:54 PM on September 8 [9 favorites]

Why are magazines dying a slow death?
"Stories" like this one.
posted by pthomas745 at 2:07 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

Wait what are the rules? Are you allowed to look out the window? Talk to your neighbor? Drop six hits of acid before getting on the plane?
posted by aubilenon at 2:09 PM on September 8 [4 favorites]

Oh I just remembered I had to either do this or watch Batman and Robin once, and it wasn’t pleasant but it was an easy choice.
posted by aubilenon at 2:13 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

David Foster Wallace wrote about the importance of accepting boredom. I have no idea whether he was being sensible.

Link
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:18 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

I very seldom leave my screen showing anything but the map view. This encourages me to spend time on the flight "reading papers". By "reading papers" I mean holding some printed papers in my lap while I gaze through the gap between the seats and watch whatever movie that person in front and one seat left/right of me is watching. It's nice if they've turned on captions, but not strictly necessary.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 2:19 PM on September 8 [33 favorites]

My wife and I have, for years, co-opted "Freejacking" (from a terrible Emilio Estevez / Anthony Hopkins / Mick Jagger (!!) movie) for exactly this sort of use as kind of a private joke. Had we thought of "raw dogging," we might have -- no, no, it's Freejacking. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go freejack a bag of potato chips.
posted by Shepherd at 2:29 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

Isn't this just daydreaming as endurance sport?
posted by pipeski at 2:33 PM on September 8 [10 favorites]

...introspection and reflection on toxic behavior is a plus...

I have a sincere doubt that these men are performing any introspection in the form of self-analysis--practicing their total self- absorption, maybe. As far as reflecting on their toxic behavior, I'm sure they're patting themselves on the back for being so much more alpha than the other males aboard by 'raw-dogging' the flight. Of all the stupid things to call it. Anytime that term comes up you just know that there's an element of my biggus dickus going on. Proof is that they're using social media to gain attention.

West says that the women who have commented on his videos are usually doing so to express shock.
I'll bet. "I'm shocked that you could be so stupid as to think this is something to brag about."

It's great if you want to zone out and stare at the flight screen. Horray for you for being quiet and polite, and I hope your flight is a good one and that you arrive refreshed. But the minute you brag about it or make it into some big competition, you're just another dork looking for a gimmick to gain attention.

Teh term defined within Bl1nk's NYT article: ...any activity accomplished without the assistance of a buffer. Now, you can rawdog the flu by refusing medication; you can rawdog cooking by not using a recipe; you can even rawdog life, by being sober.

The first example is just stupid, the second is "meh, women and some men do that frequently", and the third is pathetic, because most people go through life being sober. Doing without a buffer doesn't means you're so tough and original. Not using an umbrella means you just don't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. Is it impressive or life-enhancing if you don't use a seat belt? The minute someone calls it raw-dogging it's just more juvenile 'look at meeeee' BS.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:43 PM on September 8 [9 favorites]

I would not mind being on a plane full of rawdogging men.

That was not a sentence I expected to read today.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:43 PM on September 8 [41 favorites]

a flight is a terrific opportunity to do an extended sitting meditation.

I do wonder if the rawdoggers are simply following the useless thoughts of the inner monologue. It would be a sad waste of time.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:44 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

I don't know about the referenced bros, but in '92 I took off a semester and spent 3 months traveling around Europe by train. After many, many hours spent trying to 'entertain' myself, or fretting about 'are we there yet', I discovered the best way to pass the time on long voyages is to not try to distract myself, but rather just stare out the window, or at nothing, and try to get into the state of mind that this period of time doesn't have any end, it just is.
It's quite calming.
posted by signal at 2:48 PM on September 8 [10 favorites]

For you, maybe. But I need to know how much longer; when will this forced confinement end?

This trend reminds me of story I heard about George W. Bush, who when president had a treadmill installed on Air Force One so he could run, in-flight. As a treadmill runner myself I was interested - did he, like me, listen to music that matches his running rhythm, in order to pass the miles without going nuts? Or maybe his treadmill was positioned in front of a screen, the camera moving through the woods or something? No, nothing, just a treadmill in a dim, featureless cabin - W didn't care for any distractions, he just 'Got in to the fitness.' To me, so weird.
posted by Rash at 3:06 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

I sat next to a lady on an early morning flight. We settled in and I opened up my book, the plane takes off and some time later I glance over at her and she’s sitting straight up holding onto her boarding pass with her arm up out in front of her like she was waiting for someone, like a train conductor, to come and punch it. She was sound asleep. She stayed like that for quite some time. She must have checkout as soon as she sat down and just stayed that way. Does this count as rawdogging or is sleeping negate her perfect posture?
posted by waving at 3:14 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

If someone's staring at the inflight map like it owes them money, I'm gonna work to not step between, too.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 3:18 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

If it's either this or listen to a Jordan Peterson podcast, then they've made a fantastic choice.
posted by straight at 3:22 PM on September 8 [9 favorites]

Did you know you can usually turn the display screen OFF? I usually shut it down as soon as I can. Then I either read or just close my eyes and listen to music while trying to sleep. I mean, transatlantic flight, sure I’ll watch a movie, but it’s nice not having a screen in my face for a few hours.
posted by caution live frogs at 3:45 PM on September 8 [9 favorites]

the plane takes off and some time later I glance over at her and she’s sitting straight up holding onto her boarding pass with her arm up out in front of her like she was waiting for someone, like a train conductor, to come and punch it. She was sound asleep. She stayed like that for quite some time. She must have checkout as soon as she sat down and just stayed that way. Does this count as rawdogging or is sleeping negate her perfect posture?

This is the absolute perfect setup for the comment I was thinking about making, because I have fallen asleep on every airplane flight I’ve ever taken.

On my very first flight I had a window seat on a Denver to SF flight on a clear morning, and I was very excited about seeing the Rockies from the air. I remember getting one glimpse and then boom, I was asleep and the next thing I recall is waking up and seeing ocean waves to the horizon as we were clearly descending rapidly, which was a little disturbing until I woke all the way up and realized no one was freaking out.

I think some people respond to relatively sharply dropping atmospheric pressure by falling asleep, and I seem to be one of them.
posted by jamjam at 3:49 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

I think the only person who describes it as "rawdogging a flight" is Russ Hanneman as he gulps his Tres Comas tequila.
posted by credulous at 3:53 PM on September 8 [5 favorites]

> "Ok, I'm going to practice serenity by mastering my sense of boredom by staring at an airplane chair back harder than anyone else."

> There's also the aspect of performing it. You're not really rawdogging if you're not posting about it on the socials. Like, right now I'm just waiting for a train. I'm doing nothing. But now that I've told you that, I'm rawdogging rawdogging, bruh

Six or seven years ago, I would considered these absurd quotes from something like The Onion's vintage "Monk Gloats Over Yoga Championship" article. Now? It feels more than plausible, it's probable.

> This trend reminds me of story I heard about George W. Bush, who when president had a treadmill installed on Air Force One so he could run, in-flight.

That was probably Dick Cheney's idea to keep his idiot "boss" amused. Dubya was probably enjoying it knowing his GPS-enabled jogging app was logging hours-long bursts of him "running" hundreds of MPH.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 3:58 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

I have not read the article, but I want to say that I, a cis-het woman, love to watch that map.
posted by maggiemaggie at 4:09 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

you can even rawdog life, by being sober.

Good lord. They’ve discovered existing.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 4:09 PM on September 8 [14 favorites]

Was the term rawdogging really “wildly obscene?” Not everything that refers to sex has to be obscene.

I don’t know about “wildly” but it is one of those terms that has a particular combination of syllables and associations such that it just sounds dirty. That’s why people find it funny to apply to non-sexual contexts in the first place.
posted by atoxyl at 4:10 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

Apart from the MANY reasons why I think this is silly, I could never do it simply because those screens make me motion sick. In fact, I’m thinking of bringing some black cloth or paper and some painter’s tape the next time I fly as, last time, the screen turned back on everything the pilot made an announcement and sometimes also just because it wanted to.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 4:20 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

there's a video game you can play if you want to try this at home (full disclosure I played it once without the rawdogging & lasted like ten minutes)
posted by taquito sunrise at 4:34 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]

So, if you do this wearing a condom, are you “cookeddogging?”
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:38 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

If GQ is doing breathless profiles on dudes for just sitting there, mine is way overdue.
posted by Reyturner at 4:41 PM on September 8 [11 favorites]

Winkie agrees. “I don't think men have the same ‘treat culture’ that women do, which is frankly a shame,” he says. “A long flight, for women, is the perfect venue to organize an entire itinerary of treats, and I do think men tend to be more stoic and weird about the spaces in which they allow themselves to receive pleasure.”

That’s interesting. I had not really thought of “treat culture” as being gendered, but I think there is some truth to that. I know how I approach long journeys, no matter the method of travel: I organize my comforts and ensure I’ve got enough of them to spread out over the length of time. I like to read or listen to an audiobook, eat snacks, stay hydrated. Maybe watch a movie if one’s available and there’s anything good.

It’s great if people derive pleasure from just being screen free and meditating or daydreaming or thinking. I do think it’s weird if they’re not actually enjoying it but are simply denying themselves pleasure for the sake of seeming tough or masculine.

The last benefit may be the most significant: Everyone else leaves you alone. West recalls how a man who was seated next to him in a middle aisle opted to squeeze past two people on his other side rather than disturb West. “He must have been like, ‘I do not want to bother him right now,’” West says with a laugh. “‘He's locked into this altitude.’”

Yeah, as a woman, I don’t think anyone has ever thought twice about invading my space or disturbing me, no matter how “locked into this altitude” I might look.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:54 PM on September 8 [16 favorites]

I wonder what they might get out of it if they rawdogged the flight and then told nobody.
posted by whatevernot at 4:55 PM on September 8 [15 favorites]

If “rawdogging” can get rehabilitated for mainstream use, then there is hope for “money shot”.
posted by dr_dank at 4:56 PM on September 8 [4 favorites]

This trend reminds me of story I heard about George W. Bush, who when president had a treadmill installed on Air Force One so he could run, in-flight.

Aha! Thank you for this comment, Rash, because I think it tends to confirm that 'dubya' had a fainting problem that his White House went to some lengths to conceal.

Remember when he lost consciousness and fell while eating pretzels?

The president's resting heart rate already was reported to be extremely low -- 35 to 45 beats per minute. That alone is not any cause of worry, doctors said, and in fact probably signals good health for an active man of his age.

Still, it's considered an unusually slow heart rate even for trained athletes and could make Bush more prone to fainting.

"Having a heart rate that slow to some extent will predispose you to having this kind of vasovagal episode," Hockberger said. "You don't have to slow down that much more to have a problem."

Rokeach also zeroed in on that detail from the president's reported medical situation, adding that in a worst-case scenario, Bush could even be a candidate for a pacemaker.

But so far the outlook appears to be favorable for no further troubles.
[…]

Looks to me like he had a tendency to faint on Air Force 1 that they learned they could counter by getting his heart rate and blood pressure up with exercise.
posted by jamjam at 5:10 PM on September 8 [4 favorites]

...people who need to play loud music while riding a couple of miles on their bikes lest introspection overwhelm them

I don't want to make a thing about it but this could not be farther from my experience. For road cycling and rowing machines both having some music going at an appropriate tempo helps me get in a groove and disassociate from it a little. I do plenty of introspective thinking, meditating, and have a lot of good ideas related to work while I'm riding. I stick to routes with a lot of long straights and gentle curves for that reason.

Now, I also like listening to music while riding my mountain bike on mountain bike park trails. Those trails include features like jumps, high banked turns and switchbacks that take a lot of focus and technique. In that case the music helps me get into a "mushin" or zen like state of "no mind" that helps me flow with the trail. There isn't a lot of room for introspective thought but it's not because I'm trying to keep it at bay. It is nice to focus on something like that to the exclusion of all else though, ngl. :)
posted by VTX at 5:19 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

I think the only person who describes it as "rawdogging a flight" is Russ Hanneman as he gulps his Tres Comas tequila.

But, of course, that would be a transgression of said raw dog.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 5:32 PM on September 8 [1 favorite]

I usually try to sleep, especially if it's a long flight, in hopes of avoiding jet lag.
posted by mike3k at 5:47 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

I think this particular application of the term "rawdogged" comes from this tweet, which passed its way 'round the socials:

nesrin danan
@blackprints

the dude next to me on the plane just absolutely rawdogged this entire flight… he got on a TEN HOUR FLIGHT to europe in jeans, no headphones, no book, no neck pillow, literally just a paper cup of coffee without a lid like sir are you ok

11:05 PM · Jun 21, 2022

And now, two years later, we have online magazine articles about the "trend."
posted by reventlov at 5:48 PM on September 8 [12 favorites]

So, if you do this wearing a condom, are you “cookeddogging?”

I hadn't really thought about it but I think it makes more sense to consider "raw dogging" akin to having a hot dog with no condiments...um...covering the hot dog (or bratwurst in some cases*).

*I'm sorry I made this joke but it was right there.
posted by VTX at 6:30 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

So, if you do this wearing a condom, are you “cookeddogging?”

Perhaps the future meme will be sousviding.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:34 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

Surely, that would be baredogging, not rawdogging….
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:34 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

I don't know if it's so much I "like" to do this, as I just don't need much entertainment. Long flights pretty much go the same for me every time. Look out the window trying to visualize where in the airport we are and what the runway orientation, etc must be. Watch the numbers on the flight data screen while they're still changing and interesting. Once we settle on a steady course, flip through the movies, see nothing interesting. Attempt to listen to music, but I've heard everything on my phone and end up just doing skip, skip, skip until I give up. Try to read a paper book I've brought, get about one chapter before I lose interest. Decide to just close my eyes and think my own thoughts for a while. Never could sleep on an airplane except maybe for a 20-minute nap. It's fine, my internal thoughts are pretty entertaining.

The difference is I don't think that's remarkable enough to mention to anyone much less expect anyone to think it's cool or be impressed.
posted by ctmf at 6:37 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

I do think men tend to be more stoic and weird about the spaces in which they allow themselves to receive pleasure.”

This line really clicked immediately, lately I've been thinking about the weird ways I constantly deprive myself of joy or expression for really no good or even any real reason at all.

Rawdogging a flight seems like hell when I have no trouble simply falling asleep. I hate flying, not scared of it in the slightest, it is just a horrible process beginning to end and I hope to minimize the time I ever spend at an airport or flying. I doubt I will ever see another real continent (America is one big America, like Afuerasia is one big continent pretending to be 3), simply because I cannot fathom tolerating a flight longer than I could possibly sleep through.
posted by GoblinHoney at 6:48 PM on September 8 [4 favorites]

If we ignore them maybe they'll go away.
posted by senor biggles at 7:10 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

, and the third is pathetic, because most people go through life being sober.

I know a lot of people who have used the term for experiencing life unmedicated for a few years now (since before this stupid flight thing) and I don't think the fact that a lot of people go through life without e.g. antidepressants, or ritalin, or heck even weed, makes it pathetic for the people who need them to describe the hell of being without as rawdogging.
posted by Dysk at 7:10 PM on September 8 [5 favorites]

(Evidence for this use of rawdogging predating the current aeroplane trend.)
posted by Dysk at 7:15 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

men will literally rawdog flights instead of going to therapy
posted by numaner at 7:18 PM on September 8 [11 favorites]

i had an experience in my youth where i left the parking brake off while i went inside Smith's to purchase... something. anyway when i got back outside i found that my car had rolled about 50 feet. it was late, the lot was empty, no harm no harm. but for a good while after that i would purposely park on the steepest incline i could find so that if something bad were to happen vis-a-vis the parking brake, i'd know immediately instead of finding out after the fact.

my understanding of human psychology was informed thusly: people (maybe men? mostly?) tend to put themselves in deliberately precarious circumstances as a way of checking in on their mental health. if you walk away from your mitsubishi mirage parked on a 10 degree grade and it doesn't roll, you're good. if you can last 10 hours miami-rome without distraction then everything is 5x5
posted by logicpunk at 7:52 PM on September 8 [9 favorites]

That’s nothing , I’m buttf***ing Amtrak trips! Wait, that’s a sexual thing ?

Also notable that if you’re flying around all over the goddamn place you’re likely to be in an elite class of humans, which makes you automatically not interesting. I’m sorry our culture has done such a poor job teaching people to chill the fuck out though. When I was young you just rode around in the back of cars or on trains with nothing to do and it was alright.
posted by caviar2d2 at 7:55 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

I always think that people who get bored while flying fly too much.

Fly less, and enjoy the magic more.
posted by jb at 8:04 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

You're in the backseat laying down, the windows wrap around
To sound of the travel and the engine
All you hear is time stand still in travel
And they're there for you alone
For you alone
You're raw dogging everything
posted by credulous at 8:11 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

::Wesley Willis voice:: Vegetable lasagna! Vegetable lasagna! Raw over dogging. Rock on Chicago. Wheaties. Breakfast of Champions.
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:22 PM on September 8 [6 favorites]

It’s exactly how I imagine Ron Swanson on a plane.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:25 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

Man, modern slang has really screwed the pooch.
posted by biogeo at 8:40 PM on September 8 [5 favorites]

This is yet another one of those things people have been doing forever, but it's only since some wanker posted it on Instagram that it's become a trend. I don't really care who you are - the ability to sit and just be for a few hours is not something noteworthy, or at least it shouldn't be.

I used to fly an awful lot and, yes, I agree people who are bored by flying fly too much. Back then, I solved flying by simply falling asleep the moment I had my seatbelt on and woke up when the plane started descending. Luckily, I wasn't he pilot. When I stopped flying so much, it took me a while to untrain myself from that. I wanted to stop because, these days, time to myself to simply read a book is a rare and valuable thing. I still do, as I always have, the thing where I turn all devices on flight mode as soon as I can and leave them that way for as long as possible. I don't care if the plane has wifi. This is my time, damnit and I'm taking every minute of it!
posted by dg at 8:54 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

I think this particular application of the term "rawdogged" comes from this tweet, which passed its way 'round the socials:

There we go. I was certain the phrase came from an observational bit, not from some subculture of self-identified airline ascetics, but I couldn’t place the origin exactly.
posted by atoxyl at 8:59 PM on September 8 [3 favorites]

Wait, I couldn't bear to read past the second paragraph.. are these heterosexual men? Bragging about barebacking? Right on. I support this trend. Next they'll be "sucking dick" and "receiving golden showers".. I'm all for this.
posted by latkes at 9:40 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]

Those of you old enough to recall "Seinfeld" may recall that Elaine broke up with Puddy because he was content to rawdog a flight from Europe to New York.
posted by jcworth at 9:41 PM on September 8 [7 favorites]

I like the peace
In the back seat
I don't have to drive
I don't have to speak
posted by Hermione Dies at 12:36 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]

Frowner, as a blaring little speaker cyclist, in my case, it's to warn people from blithely walking out between parked cars into the bike lane. I don't use it outside of commuting though. Also good for runners and other cyclists in the bike lane who wear headphones and can't hear you behind them.

Returning to the article - I think this specific use is coming from the post COVID lockdown terminology of "rawdogging the air" i.e. not wearing a mask. Anecdotally, it seems like rawdogging as a slang term for nonsexual things received a huge boost from that usage.
posted by jellywerker at 3:42 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]

That’s interesting. I had not really thought of “treat culture” as being gendered, but I think there is some truth to that.

shared this with taquito boyfriend & concluded with "see this is why y'all gotta start giving yourselves little treats, it's okay, y'all can have little treats"

him: no we can't, because so often a treat for men is jerkin' it

(cue me losing my entire shit)
posted by taquito sunrise at 3:46 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

No one seems to rawdog their dogs anymore; every person walking their dogs these days seems more interested in their phones.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:13 AM on September 9 [5 favorites]

> That’s interesting. I had not really thought of “treat culture” as being gendered

I have a pet theory that shoe shine places were mostly about getting a little personal care and pseudo touch rather than actually polishing up your shoes. Pretty much the only other acceptable place for that is a barbershop.
posted by lucidium at 5:36 AM on September 9 [7 favorites]

I've been doing that since 2002. Contrary to the Puddiness of the whole thing, the reason it works is I don't have shit for brains. Also, eliminated the persistent issue of figuring out where to put all my shit in flight what with needing to consider compactness, access, stability, etc. Too fidgety; insufficient reward.

In other news, I hate this fucking world. It is inhabited by the morons proud.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 5:44 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

@SoberHighland

Yeah, wtf, is those apparent pod people? I can only interpret it as Complete Obligation. In which case, you don't deserve a dog, you are mistreating it through disinterest as you do with most people in your life, you are ultimately why evil thrives, and you should be nudged out of the gene pool over this really tall cliff over here.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 5:53 AM on September 9 [4 favorites]

Man, I can barely take a shower without the voices in my head getting too loud.
posted by pattern juggler at 6:53 AM on September 9 [8 favorites]

Nobody seems to be rawdogging their rawdogs anymore, everybody cooks their hotdogs before eating them.
posted by signal at 7:35 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]

Asceticism in the absence of other spiritual discipline isn't recommended. No ideas what these guys are doing in their spiritual lives but this seems like an ill-considered choice for "hard mode" without potential benefit.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 7:44 AM on September 9 [4 favorites]

I suppose I raw-dogged on my flight back to the States from South Korea. I'd just finished up my year-long tour there, hence my first year of actual duty in my enlistment, as opposed to training, and I was taking leave for the first time after 18 months of basic and advanced training, airborne school, then that year in Korea.

By the end of that year I was having my first inklings that the whole thing had actually touched me, as opposed to being a way to opt out. At some point around the middle of that year over there I started caring about outcomes, really truly came to grips with the fact that I'd not only enlisted, but sort of doubled down on the whole thing by volunteering for jump school, then stopped saying "the mission" with a sneer or a smirk, because, at least in the context of my year in Korea, I'd started believing in "the mission."

I didn't have many people in my life going in, and they were generally opposed to my whole little project, and their parting words at going away parties and dinners leading up to getting on the bus for basic training were "I know they won't change you."

Headed back to the States, I'd made plans to see a bunch of my friends from college before I reported at Ft. Liberty (then Ft. Bragg) including a stay with my old academic advisor—the chair of the peace studies department at the little Anabaptist college I'd gone to—and some time with a friend who'd begged me not to enlist, and then begged me not to change.

I had changed and now I had to go back and see those people, and I had no idea what they were going to do with me. I had changed in terms of some rearrangement of the moral furniture, and I'd changed outwardly as a matter of just figuring out how to get along in the barracks.

So I stared at the seat back on the hop from Seoul to Narita, then I stared at the seat back from Narita to Seattle because there was a lot to think about. On the Seattle to Fairbanks hop I finally did fall asleep, and woke up under a blanket the flight attendant had put over me. That felt like care, and it lifted some of the sense of burden.

Sometimes I do still "just sit there" on flights, and do use the time to process whatever. For a long time I thought it was productive to think about what was waiting on the ground and game through what I might do depending on this or that. Then I realized that was harmful, so now I tend to spend the time thinking about what's important to me. Sometimes I bring a Nintendo Switch and play the shit out of Super Mario Kart.
posted by mph at 7:49 AM on September 9 [11 favorites]

Asceticism in the absence of other spiritual discipline isn't recommended. No ideas what these guys are doing in their spiritual lives but this seems like an ill-considered choice for "hard mode" without potential benefit.

I support this! It's the difference between having values and just having a vague nebulous sense that "real men" "do hard things". Which usually flows right into "I am SO VERY DISCIPLINED that it is unfair to withhold sex, romance or service and especially unfair to criticize me or push back on my values in any way".

Also, sometimes you want to sit and think (and sometimes you just sit). On long trips, I like to have a book, but I often spend most of the time looking out the window (if available) while thinking and remembering.

When I was about eight or nine, I suddenly realized that long car trips weren't just boring stupid torture but that it was actually fun to have that time to look out the window and think. Also, I stopped being afraid of having trouble falling asleep, which was a big anxiety of mine as a little kid, because I realized that I could lie in bed and think about stuff without interruption. (Obviously as a small child I did not fear being totally exhausted the next day the way one does as an adult). It was like when I reached a certain age, my ability to just think about stuff suddenly came on line.

Sitting impatiently waiting for an uncertain end, like at the doctor's, isn't any fun. Sitting around when you're flying for a funeral or a stressful work event isn't any fun. But just being in transit or waiting in a low stress situation can be a lot of fun, because you can just mull.

Also, no one needs to meditate if they don't want to. You don't need to have a specific goal or spiritual practice to fill up all your spare time with duty and achievement. It's good to just...have time to think. Think about your childhood, think about moral questions that trouble you, think about how you would solve a social problem, think about your favorite novels, think about how to rearrange the kitchen shelves. It doesn't have to be a practice or a whole thing - it can just be thinking about stuff.

One of my Old Person opinions is that it's not actually good for us to have incredibly seductive infinite entertainment available all the time because being able to just sit and think is important and while it's not a skill precisely, it is something you need to grow into a little. Having constant seductive entertainment always to hand is like having a never-empty box of [your favorite processed foods] in the kitchen - what is just fine for a treat is very hard to refuse when it's always there, and tends to replace other important things.
posted by Frowner at 8:06 AM on September 9 [15 favorites]

Phooky: There's also the aspect of performing it.
...so something like 2015's 'minfulnessing' by influencers -- but are they mindfulnessing the rawdoggery or rawdogging the mindfulnessing?
posted by k3ninho at 8:22 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]

Minddogging the rawfulness.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:04 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

Similarly we also have silent walking. (aka "going for a walk without listening to anything on your headphones".)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:38 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

If the practitioners of raw-dogging flights are the cohort of young men who are typically associated with toxic masculinity, then it's probably a good thing.

This is performative, competitive suffering, firmly within the purview of toxic masculinity.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:48 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

Flying is inherently dehydrating; I'm sorry that they aren't rehydrating.

Though I agree that if they grew up with social media, it probably is a novel experience for them, so good for them!

I also wonder, with the "watching the same movies" comment if they are not organized in their lives to plan ahead and pack things to pass the time. Self-care really does take work!
posted by honey badger at 10:25 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

Was the term rawdogging really “wildly obscene?” Not everything that refers to sex has to be obscene.

Has no one here here actually heard or seen this word used in the wild? Jesus fuck. The verb “to rawdog” is a transitive verb, and the direct object of its action is a dehumanized woman: one says, “I rawdogged that *****!!!!”, and not, “Sheila and I enjoy a bit of saucy rawdogging when we’re on vacation”.

The connotation is fully caught up in virgin-whore complex bullshit, and its intended audience is other men. The speaker wants to convey an accomplishment: either he convinced a woman who otherwise would have wanted him to wear a condom to give in, or he is a daredevil for having taken a risk with a woman he is implying is a risk for having STIs precisely because she is the kind of woman who would allow a man to have sex with her without a condom. It’s a bragging verb, a locker-room verb, a power-over verb, a shove-my-way-up-the-toxic-male-hierarchy verb. See also, “I totally raped that math test!”

So - perhaps not obscene in the way you were thinking, but for sure a word that makes *my* day as a woman feel a little bit shittier to see making its way into trend articles in GQ and the NYT.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:49 AM on September 9 [11 favorites]

surely applying the language of toxic masculinity to basically everything, including just.. being on a flight.. must be totally fine and harmless

surely
posted by ginger.beef at 11:00 AM on September 9 [13 favorites]

YouTube rawdog challenge
posted by flabdablet at 11:12 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]

These people aren't flying with children, clearly 😭

The range of films on flights is now so much greater, I like to take advantage and see tons of films I'd never previously heard of and wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to see (the flights I generally take are really long). Especially films that aren't in English! No rawdogging for me, I watch alllllllll the movies I can.
posted by goo at 12:16 PM on September 9 [1 favorite]

Has no one here here actually heard or seen this word used in the wild?

Speaking only for myself, outside of gay circles and figurative usages, no, never.
posted by Dysk at 12:38 PM on September 9 [3 favorites]

I try to get the window seat whenever possible and love looking out the window and referring to the map on the screen to see what I'm flying above. It gets boring once you're crossing an ocean so then I'll turn a movie on but until then I'm more than happy with the window and map. The worst is when the flight attendants ask me to close the window shade because they want everyone in the cabin to sleep. I get that it makes the job easier for them but then I'm forced to prematurely switch to watching movies.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:13 PM on September 9 [2 favorites]

Has no one here here actually heard or seen this word used in the wild?

Speaking only for myself, outside of gay circles and figurative usages, no, never.

I have but I’ve seen it used a lot more online. The figurative use definitely comes from the “daredevil risking an STD” connotation, which definitely has some ugly implications, but it’s been normalized for a while now and you can find e.g. young women using it with reference to risks of unprotected sex as well. As I said upthread it just sounds nasty which makes it appealing to use humorously.
posted by atoxyl at 1:51 PM on September 9 [3 favorites]

Similarly we also have silent walking.

Oh, nice! I'm accidentally trendy!

Can we do radical self-discipline while driving a car next? I try to make it a game to see if it's actually possible to make trips in the car without violating any traffic regulations. I mean, of course it is, but it takes practice and most people don't, and so couldn't even if they wanted to.
posted by ctmf at 4:41 PM on September 9 [4 favorites]