College "Tickle Clubs", Step One: Criticisms.

[Ace Riley]

And guys, sorority initiation isn't synonymous with "massive tickle orgy." Just FYI

Booooooooooo!!!


STOP crushing my dreams!

 

[Capnmad]

Again, to address concerns according to "first come, first serve" since the last one I replied to:

First, Ballroom dancing and other dancing has a traditional pairing off the sexes. Most dancing clubs attract couples and not singles. Dancing does have it's roots in sexual behavior, but with ballroom dancing they have tried to divorce it as much as possible. Still, they have a traditional pairing of male and female. Tickling does not have this traditional pairing. If you look at youtube you can see instance of males tickling males, most of who are not gay.

If you are the chess club you would not insist on male/female pairing. Then why so here?

I would dispute your first claim that there's no basis for traditional pairing. Beyond childhood, tickling often plays a part in courting rituals in much the same way as dance.

Secondly, don't claim to know what pairing I would establish for a chess club. You have no idea. I may well pit the males against an equal complement of badgers. That should liven things up. I kid, of course. Again, for reasons of comfort, I'd keep the badgers out. Mostly, for the comfort of the badgers.

Also, if your contention is that there is no traditional pairing, and as you say, youtube is so full of straight men tickling straight men (after which I might question how you divined their orientation), it kind of undercuts your premise that things would just fall apart for lack of women. What's your stance? Would they fall apart, or would they continue on for lack of women? There seems to be a failure of consistency in your argument.

That is fine trying to get a mix, but trying to get so you can have mixed sexual paring is not the same thing.

I was explaining that there are many good, valid reasons why a rough balance of sexes should be sought. Having a good mix, and doing so in the interests of fairness are good reasons, I believe.

In many cases it would be, but since you are posting this on a fetish board, I do not think it is.

Please direct me to the Asexual Tickling Enthusiasts Forum so I might post it there, then. I know of no such place, so I post where tickling is the topic of choice, and where I know the most traffic is.

My suggestion would be, before you start posting signs, talk to a few of your closest female friends and see what they think of the idea of tickle therapy and casual tickling. Start in the dorm rooms before you start booking space and posting signs. And be assured, whatever you do, some of your neighbors are going to think you're the world's biggest weirdo.

Well, in all likelihood, I won't be the one to be organizing such a club in reality -- or at least, not the first. I'm not currently attending college, but I do think of it as a place well suited to this sort of club. Perhaps when I go back for grad school, I'll give it a go. Right now, I'm just trying to work out the kinks from the idea -- literally and figuratively.

1. Tickling is not something that a person like myself (a busy honors student who seems rather nerdy and bland), would not want the general public and all of my friends to find out about. Yes it is a part of my life but I do not want all of my friends and who not to find out about it.

2. There is enough problems with sexual assault/ harassment, that I think something like this might increase it. I would certainly hope not but it is a possible thought of mine.

Thank you, Music. I remember the days of being a busy honors student. And likely, this sort of thing would have been something that I just wouldn't have had time for, but I'd have probably made the time to check it out at least once.

I understand your views, and not wanting your friends to find out about it, and if it is so intensely intimate an issue, and inextricably linked to sex for you, then you might be reasonably averse to joining. That's okay. It's not meant to be a club for tickle fetishists, but tickle enthusiasts of whatever stripe, provided they're mentally balanced.

I agree that there are more than enough problems with sexual assault and harrassment on campus, and this would be a planned activity with rigorous organization, rules and highly selective membership so as to protect precisely against any taint of impropriety. Unfortunately -- and not to bust on social fraternities -- but in my experience, they have been cauldrons for precisely the kind of concerning behavior you describe, largely because the lack of concern, control and oversight that is exercised over the average frat party. And yet, they continue to flourish without widespread criticism.

What I propose would be far more conservatively handled, and with a specific eye toward the concerns of sexual impropriety so as to weed out undesirables expediently, and preserve the safety, security and reputations of its membership. With that as a primary concern to be protected against, I suspect you could create something with actually fewer such negative allegations and occurances than the average college social club/group/frat.

Thanks for your input.

If I understand this, you want to organize a bunch of college students to get together for the specific purpose of putting their hands on one another's bodies in an emotionally charged setting, while at the same time keeping sexuality out of it.

All I can say is, good luck. It's not just tickling. You'd have exactly the same problem if you tried to organize a massage club.

Your implication of "emotionally charged" -- from where do you get that? And with the guidelines in place, students wouldn't be touching anyone anywhere that wouldn't be acceptable under most ballroom dancing guidelines, in all likelihood (they wouldn't be at all under the conservative version of this I would advocate).

Interesting that you should mention a massage club. The physical therapy students belonging to one club or another where I went to school had an annual massage fundraiser and students paid for their services. Nothing was ever considered inappropriate about that. If they had it more often, would it suddenly become inappropriate, or do you think it would be viewed as such? Frequency is a poor indicator of sexual impropriety, methinks.

I dont see why everyone needs\wants for tickling to become more popular in the mainstream

I'm a college student with a tickling fetish, and I wouldn't attend a 'tickle club'.

And that's okay.

I wonder if more people here would actually be against this idea than those in the mainstream, seeing as how those here mostly connect tickling with sex, and so, in one form or another, would feel that part of their sexual behavior is being put on public display by joining such a group... Unless exhibitionism is another part of their turn-on, would those here be more averse to such public display than those who attribute to it no overt sexual value? I wonder if vanillas would be more or less inhibited on this idea? Something to think about.

I too would have reservations going to a gathering on my own campus. I would definitely attend something that was organized by college kids in my area though. Maybe this thing starts as a small gathering of college students from the tmf? I think tickling clubs on each campus is kind of a dream thats too good to be true..but a college aged gathering is something that we could look into. (Not that I'm a large advocate of exlusivity with age or anything of the sort.) This would also solve the problem of people not into tickling taking advantage of a "touchy" gathering which could result in unpleasant events. Just some food for thought.

Cool thread though.

Thanks, phish. Just two thoughts:

Number one: College members of the TMF gathering on their own would be a wonderful thing -- again, if properly moderated. There are too many unknown variables on the internet to just say, "This and that person are cool to come to this event." You really don't know what you're getting. That would be a different thing than what I'm talking about here in several aspects, but if you want or can do that and pull it off safely, more power to you all.

Number two: I would not assume that drawing from a pool of apparent tickle fetishists would guard against people with ulterior motives. I don't think it would "solve" your problem. I'll be willing to wager, in fact, that there have been people in the past taking advantage of various tickle gatherings mostly for the opportunity to handle, fondle and grope people. You must be careful. The TMF does not have rigorous rules of selection. This place is essentially no more selective of its membership than any other place on the net -- which isn't to say it wouldn't be if it could, but they simply have perilously little control and knowledge of certain variables, except probably for ISPs and that sort of thing.


All right folks! We're moving right along! Keep the thoughts and criticisms coming!

 

[Redmage]

Your implication of "emotionally charged" -- from where do you get that?

When was the last time you saw a tickling session that had any intensity at all but did not come with a big charge of emotion? It's usually good emotion, but that's more likely to lead to sexual feelings, not less.

And with the guidelines in place, students wouldn't be touching anyone anywhere that wouldn't be acceptable under most ballroom dancing guidelines, in all likelihood (they wouldn't be at all under the conservative version of this I would advocate).

Ballroom dancers aren't usually handling each other's feet, knees, ribs, and underarms - certainly not in the way ticklers do such things. If you place all those areas off-limits, you'll find few interested I think. Also the emotional vulnerability of tickling is much greater than that of most dancing.

Seriously, if there was nothing more to this than dancing, then you might as well join a dance club. But you get things out of tickling that you don't get out of dancing. It's reasonable to expect that most other people will as well.

Interesting that you should mention a massage club. The physical therapy students belonging to one club or another where I went to school had an annual massage fundraiser and students paid for their services. Nothing was ever considered inappropriate about that. If they had it more often, would it suddenly become inappropriate, or do you think it would be viewed as such? Frequency is a poor indicator of sexual impropriety, methinks.

Then think of it this way: The massage fundraiser is an annual event whose purpose is raising money for a good cause. If you had an annual tickling fundraiser, then that might be comparable - and it might even work. But if there was instead a club whose members met, say, monthly for no purpose other than giving and receiving massages, then that would be a very different matter. And yes, then we would expect to see sex raising its head. Motivation and even frequency do matter in these things.

 

[method11236]

I believe the following sums up the dilemma for the m/f ler...

"Georgy Porgy pudding and pie,
tickled the girls and made them cry,
but when the boys came out to play,
Georgy Porgy ran away."

 

[method11236]

"Georgie Porgy, oatmeal and cream

Har!

 

[Iggy pop]

Please direct me to the Asexual Tickling Enthusiasts Forum so I might post it there, then. I know of no such place, so I post where tickling is the topic of choice, and where I know the most traffic is.

There is not one, and most likely there will never be one? Why do think that is?

People that do not have a fetish for tickling, do not care about tickling all that much. Sure, they may tickle each other as a friendly activity, but they really do not think about it. They certainly are not looking for stories, videos, and photos about tickling. They are not discussing tickling in detail every day, every week, or every month.

A lot of people enjoy tickling, but the people come to this board enjoy it different manner than the rest.

 

[The Last Laugh]

Capnmad, as I said before, I don't think this project of yours can work, and I'm afraid you have an unrealistic, overly optimistic view of the situation. However, if you do give it a try, I hope you'll share your experience with us, even if it turns out to be a failure. I mean, I definitely think it's a bad idea, but if you're going to try anyway, I'm very curious to know how it turns out.