Why don't YOU go to gatherings?

[Evil Dave]

I can only put it down to a great deal of shyness on my part. I am officially terrible at dealing with large groups of people I've never met before.

 

[TKL_M28_LI_NY]

Why?

Fear - I don't know anyone, I don't know if they'll respect my limits.
Shame
Distance
Expense

But the number one reason, the reason I went to a NEST in PA, went in the door, then turned around and left again without even saying hello was:
It was almost all men.

 

[dvnc]

Wow. Weird. Last NEST, and the one before it, had ratios of men to women in the 4:1 range, and play going on most of the time.

There WERE more men than women. Never seen that better than equal numbers, and that was once only. In open invite, it's always been more men. Figured it worth mentioning, as I ran a gathering out there in London, near a decade ago, and there were more men then, too.

There's some great women out there, mind ya.

 

[RobAce]

If your motivation for going to a gathering is too just meet women to play with, or just to flat out meet a woman for a long term relationship, then most likely a proper decision would be not to go or to walk away from an event like the gentleman above said he did.

Gatherings are not dating clubs, they are not a lonely hearts club and certainly not a matchmaking service. The purpose as I understand for gatherings is to get a group of like minded people in the same place at the same time to share common experiences, meet and greet, and if individuals there allow....then there may be some play. Of course there are usually going to be more men than women, and even then many of the women there are spoken for, thus them attending with their significant other. But gatherings are a place for everyone to feel comfortable, not just the married and attached, but for the single folk as well. Gatherings are a great place to meet people. Not men, not women....but people. Granted a single woman would have a HUGE number of people to choose from, but even then most of the women are there for a good time and to meet people, not rope their future husband....well at least not immediately 🙂

I guess the best thing I can say is, go into gatherings with an open minds and open arms. I can pretty much guarantee that if you come to a gathering, munch or whatnot...you will meet someone that you will be glad that you did. A new friend who understands your fetish and will not judge you based on it.

Rob

 

[BOFH666]

I can only put it down to a great deal of shyness on my part. I am officially terrible at dealing with large groups of people I've never met before.

I know exactly what you mean, a few years ago I'd have described myself in exactly the same way (and, in my more depressed moments, I may still do so 😉 ). Oddly enough what's helped me get over this in both tickling and the wider world has been going along to munches and gatherings! I've met some fantastic people through them (including my wife as it happens...) and some of my best friends are from the tickle scene.

These days the UK scene is largely being organised through the Tickle Brits series of web sites and is expanding rapidly. Last year there were two gatherings (play parties) and a half dozen munches (social meetings). This year we've already had two munches, including starting a regular Birmingham munch, and have just held out first gathering of the year. We're hopefull that there'll be another couple of gatherings (including one 'beginners gathering' for those new to the scene and wanting a slightly more structured introduction), a whole raft of munches (we're hoping to hold an average of at least one munch a month across the UK) and maybe even a workshop or two (if we can figure out how they should work).

As a general rule of thumb every event has at least a couple of people who've been around for a while and are used to helping newcomers feel relaxed and welcome. We've seen a lot of new faces recently and, so far at least, everyone seems to have had a good time and have enjoyed themselves.

So if anyone from the UK is reading this, or if you're going to be visiting the home of fish 'n' chips, queing and Mary Poppins, why not pop over and have a look at the Tickle Brits web site and see what's coming up in your neck of the woods - we promise not to bite 😀

 

[dvnc]

I'll second that recommendation. Hasn't been up here in a while. Gent that started that is good people!