31 year old Sage Azurewood knew they was different after returning to in-person meetings of the Portland Ink and Stationery Show for the first time since Covid forced a pause.

“I didn’t realize just how much people wet shame these days! Like, all sorts of dry gaze and microaggressions and hate speech!” Azurewood, a founder of the Wet Acceptance League, has been victimized in every public outing since they started going outside again this February.

One of the more surprising consequences of covid has been a rise in wet shaming. Over 38% of Americans, according to a recent poll conducted by Depends Marketing, have experienced wet shaming in the last 6 months, and a whopping 17% have been victims of wetscrimination. This is doubly concerning given the substantial 44% increase in people identifying as “wet” or “wetrosexual” .

Wet shaming is a new term gaining traction, but it describes a much older phenomenon.

“Wet shaming, like, isn’t the first choice I had for what to call it. Like, I wanted to call it piss shaming, but my grandma googled it and started telling me stories about her summer backpacking across Europe, ” Azurewood overshared.

Grandma Azurewood, in a voicemail, responded with unfortunate bigotry, “I haven’t seen Sagey in weeks, but if you’ve seen [deadpronoun], tell [deadpronoun] that [deadpronoun] owes me eight hundred fifty bucks for getting the [wet shaming] smell out of the upholstery! Oh, and [deadpronoun] owes me two grand for last month’s rent!”

The wet acceptance movement has gained steam on social media under the #iAmMoreThanMyWetSpot, #transToilet and #PissPositive hashtags, garnering dozens of high profile supporters. Some have even gone so far as supporting free peeing, the natural and admirable practice of urinating wherever and whenever one feels the need.

Some hateful opponents to the wet acceptance movement have seeped out into the public. These wetphobes use their white supremacist language to make bigoted statements about odor and bathrooms. Azurewood is undeterred, though.

“With any great cause, there are always haters. Like, Hitler and Donald Trump probably never peed their pants. It’ll take time, like maybe even weeks, before everybody realizes how wet phobic they are.”

Ultimately, it is unclear whether Azurewood will prevail in conquering wetphobia. Their success depends on many factors. However, if given a chance, they will pullup this critical issue into the general consciousness. At the very least, they and their wet spot will continue to be a fixture at the Portland Ink and Stationery Show.