un acceptable real adult torture?

[mch5]

Tied to a chair, she was sweaty and blushed so deeply as if she was fried in oil, struggling to restore her breath. Her strategically torn dress was stained with the mix of her makeup, tears, and saliva.
"Tell us the codes!" said the man, "Tell us the code to the Safe!"
"Please don't, I can't!" she begged, trying to stall, just a few more minutes for her team to arrive.
The man went behind her, "Yes you can." he whispered in her ear.
"No more! Please, I can't breathe! Please..." She cried, but before she could beg any more, his hands
tickled her sides again.
Too weak to scream, she succumbed to silent laughter...

Now,
If I or some other member here see this in a serious movie, we'll probably get aroused or... at least may enjoy it in some way, it is our fetish. but, the rest of the "world"?.. will find this stupid? Silly maybe?
That is not the question, my question is: Why?

There are quite a few articles/historical documentation out there, saying that:
1. It is real torture [we surely know that. they don't?]
2. It WAS used as torture throughout history.

So,
Why don't we see it in movies?
Why is it only showing up in cartoons and comics (which is mostly considered as something that is just for kids)?
And if we go darkly, why aren't there psychopath ticklers? (not that I want them to exist)
I can easily imagine someone dying from a heart attack from the stress.

In essence, my question is: Why the world doesn't take tickling seriously?

 

[SoleMates]

...because there are more effective methods to get the job done.

For example, in an old Punisher comic, Frank needed the bad guy to talk, and talk now. He said "you have one chance to give me what I need." The dude told him to eff off. Cut to Frank's allies hearing a scream from off-camera, then Frank comes into the room and announces that the dude told them everything.

One of Frank's allies asked him, how did he get the guy, an ex-CIA operative trained in all the holdout techniques, to break so quickly? Frank simply answered, "I removed one of his eyes."

People who want you to talk don't fuck around with shit like tickling. They remove body parts or hook you up to a car battery.

We don't see it in movies because tickling was (mostly) used in weardown situations, to break you down over time, to destroy your morale, or just because the guards were being dicks. Those kinds of things don't really work in a Hollywood context. There are far better ways to show that Our Hero(ine) is holding out against being brutalized, visually speaking.

Not to mention that it's just plain unreliable as a torture technique. I know MMA fighters who've told me that adrenaline basically shuts it off during a fight, and not everybody is ticklish to begin with.

Finally, how often are women captured in such situations in film? Rarely, if ever. If you ever do get your tickling interrogation scene, odds are it's gonna be M/M. Do you want that?

 

[mch5]

People who want you to talk don't fuck around with shit like tickling. They remove body parts or hook you up to a car battery.
...

But... if it can be used as a torture, why is it considered "fucking around"?

We don't see it in movies because tickling was (mostly) used in weardown situations, to break you down over time, to destroy your morale, or just because the guards were being dicks. Those kinds of things don't really work in a Hollywood context. There are far better ways to show that Our Hero(ine) is holding out against being brutalized, visually speaking.

I understand, I have seen movies with exactly that concept in mind... "to break" the individual, mental destruction, etc...

Finally, how often are women captured in such situations in film? Rarely, if ever. If you ever do get your tickling interrogation scene, odds are it's gonna be M/M. Do you want that?

Personally, of course not, but that is only because I happen to be straight. I'm sure there are plenty here who'd love to see Thor being tortured like that just as much as I'd enjoy watching Wonderwoman being tickle tortured to insanity...

But here is another point:
Everyone who knows me knows that I find women being abused in movies very hard to watch. I am quite weak in this matter and literally look away.
Yet, I'm not sure I'd look away if it was a (seriously intended) Tickle Torture.
Is that because it's a fetish of mine, or because I, like you, live in a culture that doesn't take tickling seriously?

I guess it's more of a philosophical issue.

 

[MikeMenace]

Do you know how long does it take to break someone just with tickle torture in a life-or-death scenario?

Tomasz Rostworowski in his book "Szerzyc Krolestwo" brings up a story of an anonymous woman getting tickle tortured by the Polish communist secret police in 1951 (basically the worst Stalinist scum). Reportedly, the torture lasted almost non-stop, day and night, for an entire week. The other prisoners who had to listen to it actually broke before the woman and, during one cell inspection, they started pleading for the torture to stop.

In other reported torture cases I saw it was either used as part of sleep deprivation or combined with beating and other forms of abuse. In the latter cases the desired effect was usually to cause the victim to repeatedly pass out.

Now... Do you really want to see either of that in a movie? Personally, I don't.

 

[SoleMates]

But... if it can be used as a torture, why is it considered "fucking around"?

I already told you why.

...because there are more effective methods to get the job done.

Is that because it's a fetish of mine,

I guarantee it's because it's a fetish of yours. You mentioned women twice in your posts, and then went "oh yeah that too" when I mentioned odds were that if it did happen, it wouldn't be for your particular orientation. And in real life, barring the rare examples like the one Mike mentioned, female captives aren't getting tickled. They're getting beaten and raped. Sexy, huh?

 

[MikeMenace]

And in real life, barring the rare examples like the one Mike mentioned, female captives aren't getting tickled. They're getting beaten and raped. Sexy, huh?

And these rare cases are absolutely grueling, ugly and disturbing because it's actual, real life torture.

I get that our fetish is built on the torture scenario, but let's separate a sexual fantasy from, and I can't stress this enough, actual, real life torture.

So, IMHO, it's actually a good thing that we mainly see tickle torture in cartoons, comedies, and the pulpiest of pulp stories. Let's hope it keeps its cheesy, playful tone in the mainstream. Do we really need more of the "Tickled" kind of reputation?

 

[Wrestledom]

Personally I'm grateful my fetish doesn't involve someone suffering actual pain. The fun part about tickling is that I can be extremely dominant, get someone to submit to me, especially sexually, no one gets hurt, and everyone, ler and lee, has a good time. Which means I can do it again! Kind of the point of it all.

 

[hoppahulle]

Do you know how long does it take to break someone just with tickle torture in a life-or-death scenario?

Tomasz Rostworowski in his book "Szerzyc Krolestwo" brings up a story of an anonymous woman getting tickle tortured by the Polish communist secret police in 1951 (basically the worst Stalinist scum). Reportedly, the torture lasted almost non-stop, day and night, for an entire week. The other prisoners who had to listen to it actually broke before the woman and, during one cell inspection, they started pleading for the torture to stop.

In other reported torture cases I saw it was either used as part of sleep deprivation or combined with beating and other forms of abuse. In the latter cases the desired effect was usually to cause the victim to repeatedly pass out.

Now... Do you really want to see either of that in a movie? Personally, I don't.

But those scenarios are also a power play in order to humiliate the prisoner so much they break down. It's not torture interrogation, it's just for the fun of the captors, and what they do after that is very much not pleasant to think about. Like previously mentioned, there are much more effective and quick methods if you want to get information out of a prisoner - and if you're going with "enhanced interrogation" anyway, there's kinda no reason to stick with tickling beause it doesn't leave marks, you might as well just bust teeth and give electric shocks.

 

[MikeMenace]

But those scenarios are also a power play in order to humiliate the prisoner so much they break down. It's not torture interrogation, it's just for the fun of the captors, and what they do after that is very much not pleasant to think about.

Yes, that's pretty much what torture was used for throughout history - to break the victim down and, optionally, to force them to confess to a crime or two.

Torture wasn't really used to extract information because the information it extracted wasn't very accurate (i.e. people say the darndest things just to get the flogging to stop).

Yes, the Stalinist secret police would torture their political prisoners to get names of other "traitors", but they were not trying to get accurate information. The higher ups wanted dead traitors so they they were going to get dead traitors, truth be damned.

 

[mch5]

I guarantee it's because it's a fetish of yours. You mentioned women twice in your posts, and then went "oh yeah that too" when I mentioned odds were that if it did happen, it wouldn't be for your particular orientation. And in real life, barring the rare examples like the one Mike mentioned, female captives aren't getting tickled. They're getting beaten and raped. Sexy, huh?

ok, no need to get angry

 

[JohnTK]

Considering the frustrating amount of friends, girlfriends and escorts that I have tried to tickle and they weren't ticklish at all, it makes sense for me that it will never be taken seriously as a form of torture. And btw I am very sceptical about the historical documentation - yes I believe that it has been used on mistresses or prisoners by people in power (who probably had this fetish) but for me it would have been situational at best.

 

[MikeMenace]

And btw I am very sceptical about the historical documentation - yes I believe that it has been used on mistresses or prisoners by people in power (who probably had this fetish) but for me it would have been situational at best.

This. It wasn't an "official" torture. It was random, opportunistic sadism. Find out your prisoner is ticklish? Use that to keep them awake. Or gang tickle them til they pass out so you can then kick the crap out of them for falling asleep.

There were cases of people getting tickled in the pillory because the villagers ran out of rotten vegetables to throw. Or it was used against people who were on hunger strike to shove a tube in their mouth and force feed them.

Hell, the week-long torture case I brought up was as much sleep deprivation as it was tickling. Plus, it had an added effect of demoralizing the other prisoners. Making the torture loud was a common trick Stalin-era communist police used, especially if they got to work on prisoners who were married or family. If tickling didn't work they would be happy to gang rape the poor woman, if they hadn't done so already.

If actual tickle dungeons were ever mentioned in historical writing they were mentioned for two reasons:
1. Someone was really kinky
2. Someone was writing a pulp story

And I don't think 1 and 2 are separate reasons.

 

[Frasolletico93]

The only case which tickling has been used as a "torture" Is probably a sadistic and abusive husband with this kink in the very past where women were property so they had no right to refuse. The other scenarios are Just fantasy IMO

 

[DebonairDavid]

One of the reasons why we enjoy tickling as a fetish is because the lee has openly consented to being tickled, and that includes being restrained through the use of stocks or bondage, or even being gagged. When its not consensual, the lee isn't enjoying it, and therefore literally being tortured. This is why I don't watch forced laughter videos. Another reason why tickling can be a turn-off IRL instances is if the lee doesn't like being tickled or doesn't like being touched in general, and feels they've been physically or sexually harassed, and this is more true when everyone can feel this creepy vibe coming from the ler. I've inadvertently done this as a ler, and although I've regretted it, I've at least learned from it.

In all seriousness though, there's some examples of tickle torture that can still be hot to watch if the tone is meant to be serious. For those of you who have watched the Arrowverse on CW, if the Joker and Harley Quinn became recurring villains in that universe, I could see a situation where Amanda Waller (played by the lovely Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is abducted, tied to two chairs where her feet are sticking out of the back of the other one, and they're tickling her to extract certain information from her. Because Waller is known for being tough and feisty, it would be interesting to see them manage to break through that and finally show us her softer, playful side. Knowing her, she'd be resistant to it at first, but would eventually become a giggling mess if she's secretly that ticklish.

 

[MikeMenace]

In all seriousness though, there's some examples of tickle torture that can still be hot to watch if the tone is meant to be serious. For those of you who have watched the Arrowverse on CW, if the Joker and Harley Quinn became recurring villains in that universe, I could see a situation where Amanda Waller (played by the lovely Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is abducted, tied to two chairs where her feet are sticking out of the back of the other one, and they're tickling her to extract certain information from her. Because Waller is known for being tough and feisty, it would be interesting to see them manage to break through that and finally show us her softer, playful side. Knowing her, she'd be resistant to it at first, but would eventually become a giggling mess if she's secretly that ticklish.

It depends on the tone of the show. It could work in "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (which is essentially Adam West Batman with Justice League-style animation) but it would be completely out of place in, say, "Gotham".

The only way you could sneak in a tickle in this scenario in a serious DC show is by having Harley give her a quick poke to the ribs after tying her up. But I would expect a violent jerk against the ropes rather than laughter. But then the torture would have to move on to beatings, blades and, this being the Joker, drugs.

 

[DebonairDavid]

The only way you could sneak in a tickle in this scenario in a serious DC show is by having Harley give her a quick poke to the ribs after tying her up

That I'd like to see