How "strange" is a tickle fetish considered?

[person1]

I am just curious to know how other people consider it or how you think our society as a whole considers it. I would think it is one of the more normal fetishes since it is related to feet, which may be the most common of all.

I am also worried that if I really fall in love with someone someday, I will eventually have to admit this to her one way or another. I wouldn't want her to freak out over it.

 

[ZerbertTickler]

society as a whole is scared of things that aren't normal with what they see around them everyday. This should not be the case with tickling however but sad enough to say that it is still with (some) people. They still see tickling as this odd and weird thing to do with anyone... prob either because one of theses two main factors

A. they were tortured with tickling as a child/pre-teen/teen so there scared of tickling now as an Adult and there scared to open up again

B. they've known in real life or talked to people online with tickling fetishes over and over so they see that whole (fetish) statue as weird to began with no matter how much explaining you try to have with them about it. Because they possbile could not see for the life of them how anybody could see tickling as a sexual turn on for anybody


But really in reality when it comes right down to it. tickling is no more weirder and stranger then piercings or tattoos that amercians have been a custom to now a days in our society. so for ever person or group of people that sees tickling as wrong or weird or they just hate tickling ingeneral will be people in life that enjoy tickling on the flip side of that 🙂

so just be you and have fun with life and have fun with tickling! just like the old saying goes but it really holds true '' whatever floats your boat ''

and as far as the whole girlfriend or wife issue in dealing with tickling. let God sort that out in do time if its his plan for you to find a wife or girlfriend in your life that loves tickling just like you do person then he will bless you with one :happy:

 

[Currahee1974]

very very well put Zerbert. I know myself, have the exact same struggle...as I have posted in the past many times. Recently, a few have known about my having a foot fetish, and slowly, I have become more comfortable...now, I am not saying that when I speak to a girl, I open right up and say that..but, it has come to the surface, and a few friends know, and feel it neccessary to tell others...but, yes, it did pay off some.

So, PERSON..there are others that may feel restrained, or almost in like in a mental sort of prison..on the other hand, I do see new names alot in here, so slowly we are growing and growing, and yeah, there IS strength in numbers. Well, brother..that's all I have for now...good luck to you...
Currahee

 

[mitchell]

Having a tickling fetish is weird. Getting sexually aroused by tickling is by definition weird. If anyone disagrees you're in denial.

 

[ZerbertTickler]

Having a tickling fetish is weird. Getting sexually aroused by tickling is by definition weird. If anyone disagrees you're in denial.

i assume that Mitchell guy is NOT into tickling. if your not into tickling then Mitchell then why did you join the Tickletheater? and why do you also have 14 posts to your name?

:wooha:

 

[mitchell]

I'm not an outsider. Check my post history.

But don't be an idiot. Getting aroused by tickling is weird. It's a weird thing. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's weird.

 

[Kalamos]

I would rephrase that: "weird" is not the best fitting word. "Uncommon" might be.
And I suspect the whole "fetish" concept should be reconsidered.

Why?

A fetish is what psychology calls an uncommon sexual catalyst: something - be it an object, an outfit, a role, or a whole scene - that is arousing to the subject.

Anything that isn't classified as traditional genitalia or "vanilla" sex usually qualifies as a fetish.

Occurence and acceptability are the key here - and they vary a lot depending on the involved parties.

For example, sadomasochism/bondage is more widely accepted as a fetish than tickling.
It requires ropes and tools, it has a dress code, and involves uncommon practices and pain - so in theory, it should be less common. Even shunned because of the submission thing.

It is not: people proudly bear SMBD symbols and come out about it more freely. Tickle fetishists are shy, instead.

As it's been already said, tickling is usually seen as childish or mischievous, so its sexual appeal is not immediately apparent.

It doesn't require - nor has, yet - a complex conduct code that formalizes it into a full blown underground culture: tickling requires a ticklish person and a willing tickler. No latex involved. Just laughter. 😉

Also, tickling often overlaps with more widely known and established fetishes: foot fetish comes to mind.

Finally, light tickling can be incorporated into sexual intercourse without even giving away its nature: if the partner liked it, he/she might not even realize tickling is a fetish at all. It just felt good.
Try being discreet about a "golden shower" fetish. 🙂

Since tickling isn't as flashy and widely known as SMBD, many fail to see it as something originally alternative, and just consider it mundanely weird. 😉

On the whole tickling might be considered a "demi-fetish" - but I realize it is just another big word that will only scare people away.
My humble opinion is we care too much, and tickle too little.

Just keep in mind: everybody needs a sexual catalyst, and ours is not something to be laughed at lightly. 😉 😉 😉

Reg's.

 

[GEORGIATKLER]

If Tt Is Ever Admitted To The U.n., I Vote For K To Be Our Ambassador. I May Be Wierd,(*sotto Voice* I Have A Raging Tickle/foot Fetish) But Duh! That's How I'm Wired. Excellent, Intelligent Post As Usual, Ambassador K!

 

[ZerbertTickler]

I would rephrase that: "weird" is not the best fitting word. "Uncommon" might be.
And I suspect the whole "fetish" concept should be reconsidered.

Why?

A fetish is what psychology calls an uncommon sexual catalyst: something - be it an object, an outfit, a role, or a whole scene - that is arousing to the subject.

Anything that isn't classified as traditional genitalia or "vanilla" sex usually qualifies as a fetish.

Occurence and acceptability are the key here - and they vary a lot depending on the involved parties.

For example, sadomasochism/bondage is more widely accepted as a fetish than tickling.
It requires ropes and tools, it has a dress code, and involves uncommon practices and pain - so in theory, it should be less common. Even shunned because of the submission thing.

It is not: people proudly bear SMBD symbols and come out about it more freely. Tickle fetishists are shy, instead.

As it's been already said, tickling is usually seen as childish or mischievous, so its sexual appeal is not immediately apparent.

It doesn't require - nor has, yet - a complex conduct code that formalizes it into a full blown underground culture: tickling requires a ticklish person and a willing tickler. No latex involved. Just laughter. 😉

Also, tickling often overlaps with more widely known and established fetishes: foot fetish comes to mind.

Finally, light tickling can be incorporated into sexual intercourse without even giving away its nature: if the partner liked it, he/she might not even realize tickling is a fetish at all. It just felt good.
Try being discreet about a "golden shower" fetish. 🙂

Since tickling isn't as flashy and widely known as SMBD, many fail to see it as something originally alternative, and just consider it mundanely weird. 😉

On the whole tickling might be considered a "demi-fetish" - but I realize it is just another big word that will only scare people away.
My humble opinion is we care too much, and tickle too little.

Just keep in mind: everybody needs a sexual catalyst, and ours is not something to be laughed at lightly. 😉 😉 😉

Reg's.

Amen. well said kalamos

 

[ZerbertTickler]

and also let me point out as well. that none of us are '' born '' with Fetishes i personally don't believe so anyways that we are!. some might disagree with me on that statement though. But i don't feel that were born with fetishes weather it be tickling or other fetishes that are out there...... all of us grow into a certain fetish or fetishes over time through our lifes.

kalamos made a good point about tickling be not that uncommon. But why is tickling still seen as uncommon? people tickle each other all the time everyday infact. so i still don't see how some people can say that tickling is uncommon when tickling happens everyday in America. God created it

all that confuses me a bit

 

[GuldenVleugel]

They even call it a dysfunction at ConsumptionJunction, as some may remember some great tickling clips you could download from them. Actually were they aimed towards people who think it's isn't sexy at all to tickle a woman to her limits, but rather bizar. Nonetheless don't I really believe people with view it as sick as pee sex or so though. 😛

It probably is just viewed as some form of SM, which it actually is as well. And as you know, is SM generally respected. Even though, because female feet seem to often pay a huge roll in the tickling concept, it's not rarely the feet fetish with the tickling combines. I can imagine that some tickling video's would please the full time feet fetichists as well.

 

[Kalamos]

-> Georgia T

🙂


-> Zebert T

I think the catch is "when" tickling is common. Tickling isn't recognized as a sexual activity, since it is *also* considered a mischief or a form of torture.

Whoever considers it childish probably got tickled by relatives; I personally know a girl and she was tickled tortured by friends as a child - she shudders at the very mention of tickling.

That's the problem with tickling: it lacks a fetish dignity like SMBD's got. It can be mistaken for a practical joke, and dismissed as such.
You clearly cannot mistake a bondage setup for anything else. 🙂


-> witproduct

Tickle fetish and foot fetish do overlap to some extent - but foot fetish is also a borderline form of submission, when coupled with worshipping or trampling.

A submissive foot fetishist wouldn't even dare tickling his [her?] dominant's feet - and a shoe fetishist wouldn't probably remove those shoes to do the actual tickling.

From what I gather from the frequency of tickling in foot fetish sites, it isn't still recognized as a full fetish outside our community; in Italy [my country... 😉 ] it is rarely recognized as such - most foot sites cater to shoe worshippers, foot worshippers or [to a lesser degree] trampling fetishists.

Professional sites [FM style, be it good or bad] are almost unheard of - and I can only point out SMBD is uncommon as well - but it is more widely known in adult comics.

Franco Saudelli, one of our most liked artist, is italian - but he is considered first and foremost a bondage/foot artist, and only secondarily a tickling artist.

As a curiosity note: Solletico, that is "tickle" in italian, was the title of a tv program aimed to children - and this could be a telltale sign of tickling's dignity in Italy in the past decade. 🙂


Reg's.

 

[nessonite1]

K as usual you impress us greatly. 🙂
I have to interject and tell Zerbert that I believe that we are indeed "born with it". Even if it lays dormant most of our lives, perhaps never surfacing in some people, I believe that we are at least have a predisposition for it.
I say this based on what others have said as well as my own experience.

 

[TickledToDeath]

Not as strange as most would think and for the most part, if introduced in the right way, most would accept it and not think it is as strange or sick as one would think. I think one would find this out if a general survey was taken of the general population of say, 1000 men and 1000 women who are NOT known members of a tickle site etc. .

Wonder if any were done?

TTD

 

[TickledToDeath]

There are in fact lots of folks who are "into" or enjoy tickling and or beign tickled that don't even know it is a "fetish" per say. It is something that is just fun and normal to them. Gotta love that kind of innocence?

TTD

 

[GOERGE]

im from lebanon ,but my nationality is armenian,in lebanon the tickling is not well known to the people i mean i may be the only persone in lebanon that has this fetish,so guess what they will think when i talk about it!!the only place i can talk is here.imagine what im going through🙂

 

[ZerbertTickler]

K as usual you impress us greatly. 🙂
I have to interject and tell Zerbert that I believe that we are indeed "born with it". Even if it lays dormant most of our lives, perhaps never surfacing in some people, I believe that we are at least have a predisposition for it.
I say this based on what others have said as well as my own experience.

oh yeah nessonite! so you think that most people if not all are born right away with having ''a certain fetish in there life'' that they'll grow more into and enjoy more in life as they get older? share more on this further if you like. if indeed thats the way you feel

 

[ZerbertTickler]

There are in fact lots of folks who are "into" or enjoy tickling and or beign tickled that don't even know it is a "fetish" per say. It is something that is just fun and normal to them. Gotta love that kind of innocence?

TTD

Theres nothing wrong with people likeing the innocent side of tickling reguardless if its a fetish for them or not. at least they enjoy tickling none the less and thats all that should matter nothing wrong in that in the least bit 🙂

 

[drew70]

Since tickling can and does occur under the most ordinary circumstances, without any sexual overtones, it might come as a surprise or perhaps even a shock for some to learn that there are some in the world who attach an erotic connotation to tickling. However, if you define tickling as "touching another person to stimulate involuntary reactions of excitement and pleasure" you can see it's really closer to sex than nearly any of the aforementioned mainstream fetishes.

When I came out of the tickling "closet" and started telling friends and family members that I dig being tickled, most thought it was harmless and rather amusing. Of course one must take care in chosing the time and place to divulge such predilections. 😉

 

[Kalamos]

I don't usually reveal my "preferences" without some introductory taste of the medicine... 😉

Gauging the reactions is usually wise - as Drew pointed out - and telling too much too soon is probably detrimental.

I've done it once - and it was pure disaster. 😀

Thinking of it, an undeniable advantage of tickling as a demi-fetish is you can satisfy it without alerting the whole community a "dangerous individual" is on the loose... 😉

 

[MistressValerie1]

A submissive foot fetishist wouldn't even dare tickling his [her?] dominant's feet - and a shoe fetishist wouldn't probably remove those shoes to do the actual tickling.

THANK YOU for pointing that out so eloquently 🙂 I get tired of explaining -- usually several times a week, lol -- that my being a foot domme means that my feet do the dominating. Tickling is just another way that I dominate my subs, not a way for a sub to "even the score" with me.

Love and squishing 😉

 

[Kalamos]

THANK YOU for pointing that out so eloquently 🙂 I get tired of explaining -- usually several times a week, lol -- that my being a foot domme means that my feet do the dominating. Tickling is just another way that I dominate my subs, not a way for a sub to "even the score" with me.

Love and squishing 😉

Well... *I* would love to tickle a domme, since I am a rebel at heart, and I dislike hierarchy even if it is part of a sexual game... 😉 😉 😉

... but in an established Dom/Sub relationship it would probably be unacceptable.

The only exception I can think of is a Switch relationship - but if I understand well, Switches don't usually change "rank" within the couple but outside of it: the sub of a dom, might be the dom of a lower ranking sub.

🙂

Tickling has none of these rules or behaviour codes.

[Hope I haven't shocked you too much. 😉 😉 😉 ]

 

[nessonite1]

Zerbert,
Any evidence I have would be largly anecdotal as I havent done (or seen) any formal studies on the subject. I can relate my own personal experience however if it will help.
The earliest I can remember having a "funny" feeling about tickling would be around the age of four. Barring an especially unusual upbringing where someone is purposfully trying to make you feel that way about something this is way to early to be swayed by outside forces regarding sexual matters. I say sexual because even at a very young age that was the conotation it had even if I didnt posess the vocabulary to understand it. In adition my childhoos was highly stressful and in such situations children often tend to have a higher than average interest in sexual functions even if they suffered no sexual abuse or an excessive exposure to sexual images. (none of that happened to me)
Anyway, pardon the long windedness...
I remember quite clearly having very strong feelings about it around age 6 or 7. I could clearly sense that not only was this (tickling) something that evoked a strong physical reaction in me but also that I apparently was the only person affected this way. It thus became almost shameful and embarrasing and something I hid at all costs. It wasn't that I was confused or scared, I knew perfectly well what my feeling toward tickling were, but I knew it wasn't something anyone could know about.
I vividly recall drawing my first pictures involving tickling (I was always a prolific artist but these I hid and later destroyed). I would get nervous and feel physically ill if tickling happened on tv and others were in the room. Worse still if it happened in my presence. And I NEVER let it happen to me.
For these reasons, seeing nothing in my past that would cause this "fetish" to materialize, I have to say that I was born with it. Furthermore since nothing happened in my childhood to make any latent "fetish" show itself I have to also conclude that, in my case anyway, it was always just "there".
I will say that there certainly are people who aquired this later in life or because something triggered it but it is my theory that it was in them from the start, just hiding under the surface.

//end ramble

 

[Faramir]

one of the coolest serious replies I've ever read, Ness ...!!

hats off to ya ...!!

 

[TickleSoldier]

In my honest opinion, tickling as a fetish really varies depending on the person doing and reciving the tickling, it honestly depends on the people I believe. Tickling can be brought down into quite a few categories in my opinion, that being said please allow me to elaborate.

The first is quite obvious, as someone said in their earlier post, a fetish is something, be it a scene be it a body part or an action of any kind which stimulates that person in a sexual way, that being said for this case it all depends if tickling arouses you, if it doesn't then I would not believe that it's a fetish, however if it does, it is - to yourself anyway, that being said another thing I want to bring up is the fact of a very good point someone had brought up earlier, and that is the hype or belief of others on the subject

I believe that people in the world are taken off guard by things which they are not firmilliar with, and therefore see it as strange or inapropriate tickling, not being all too commen(in every day life) might be seen strange by someone whom hasn't been exposed to it and also might be considered a fetish by them.

Which brings me to my next point, and that is - if a person has been raised around it or has seen alot of it, then it is only natural that they will eventually take to doing it themselves 🙂 it can go to be the same for anything in life, be it tickling or anything else you may have, for example : if a family raises their child to go to church every week, then it is obviously going to take effect later in that childs life and come to be completely normal to them - I believe if a person is used to it or doesn't see it as being an uncomfortable situation - then it is not a fetish.

The second point I want to make here is that Tickling can be used in many diffrent ways : It can be used as plain fun, or used as foreplay in the bedroom, or it could be used in other ways aswell, as Valerie had said earlier it is a way to dominate a submissive, so it can be used in many ways. - So it all comes down to the equal person and what their honest opinion is.

My opinion shows abit of both sides really

If the act of tickling is precieved by someone as sexually arousing then it is a fetish(we all have something that excites us, no one is immune to that.) so it can be considered a fetish

but if you do not find it sexually arousing then you do not have a fetish for it at all and can use it in just plain fun.

I often wonder to myself what my standpoint is on this and if I actually had the fetish myself?

The answer is yes : I do, and is that strange? I don't really believe so 🙂, if someone is going to be critical of you because you are interested in something that they do not find interesting or have had little exposure to, then they are extremely closed minded

So yes I have the fetish

But I do not find it the least bit strange at all

- Regards

TickleSoldier