Sexed up refers to making something appear more attractive than it really is by selective presentation; a modern update to the phrase "hyped up". Variants include "sex it up". The implication is that no actual lying is taking place, but that spin is being placed on certain parts of the message.

The phrase gained currency in the United Kingdom when the BBC, and other media, alleged that British intelligence reports on Iraq had been "sexed up". That is, that hedges or limitations on scope were removed, and theoretical possibilities based on mathematical speculation were rephrased as current possibilities. This issue was a key part of the Hutton Inquiry. The term has been also used in Australian discussion of its decision to go to war in the coalition with America.

Examples included:

• "After the lifting of sanctions, we assess that Iraq would need at least five years to produce a weapon. Progress would be much quicker if Iraq were able to buy fissile material." which became "Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon in between one and two years."
• The title of the drafts changed from "Iraq's Programme for WMD" to "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction".

It is presumably based on the older phrase "sex sells", which means that, for example, the more beautiful the people in advertisements, the more likely people will purchase the product. It was probably coined in the 1980s or 1990s in Britain or the US, although Pat Benatar used the variation "sex s.o. up" as early as the 1980s.

It is also the name of a song by Robbie Williams.

Sources

• http://www.macmillandictionary.com/New-Words/031107-sex-up.htm
• http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1050931,00.html