The shame of being into tickling

[JakDubs]

Add me to the list lol. I'm definitely still embarrassed by it. As a kid I always loved getting tickled by the babysitter I would have sometimes, and we'd spend a lot of time playing tickle games. I got a 'Mr. Tickle' book as a gift. But once I got a little older and I had more social inhibition, I pushed it to the back of my mind. When I was a teenager, I rediscovered it with videos online (and lurking here ), and was immediately hooked back in. I'd still be pretty embarrassed if anyone found out about it though. But as Libertine pointed out, it could be worse haha

 

[brotherted]

The main times I've felt what I'd call shame was when people have directly said things to my face. I was once with an extremely attractive lover who straight up told me in so many words that wanting to tickle her was weird and stupid. (Incidentally, this was someone who wanted to be choked during sex.)

But that's also because, as has been debated endlessly here, I choose to share tickling with people selectively. And then when I do, I introduce it gradually rather than via a deep, dark, serious, "fetish reveal" which I believe can unnecessarily scare people off. I believe this gradual approach better allows normies to see it in context as one of the things I like to do, rather than as some scary perversion. I think the gradual and understated approach produces less of this disapproval.

 

[maniactickler]

I find it a totally embarrassing fetish. i wouldnt want anyone to know about it.

 

[Libertine]

The main times I've felt what I'd call shame was when people have directly said things to my face. I was once with an extremely attractive lover who straight up told me in so many words that wanting to tickle her was weird and stupid. (Incidentally, this was someone who wanted to be choked during sex.)

But that's also because, as has been debated endlessly here, I choose to share tickling with people selectively. And then when I do, I introduce it gradually rather than via a deep, dark, serious, "fetish reveal" which I believe can unnecessarily scare people off. I believe this gradual approach better allows normies to see it in context as one of the things I like to do, rather than as some scary perversion. I think the gradual and understated approach produces less of this disapproval.

Absolutely. I've never bothered telling male friends, because my sexual interests only involve women. And you're quite right, brotherted; a gradual reveal has always been my approach, introduced gently during foreplay without any ' deep, dark, serious, "fetish reveal"'- you phrased that brilliantly.

And truth to tell sometimes they've found it annoying, and stopped me.

However, in my experience many a woman who originally hated the thought of it has actually enjoyed it very much, and told me so afterwards. And during...

 

[duderino84]

if you have ever felt any kind of shame about being into tickling how has this changed over your life ? cause I felt like it was just a normal thing everyone liked up to about 9 then realized it was weird af and got super private about it due to shame then at about 13 when I started doing tickle tortures with a group of us I felt pretty ok about it for a while. Then about 19 I felt the shame again which gradually has gone down a bit since then.
But still never told anyone fully irl

what are your experiences of it and were yours different?

I use to have major panicks someone would find out or see my search history etc

So when I was younger I had other fetishes aside from tickling. That and I guess the fact I got bullied as a kid made me recluse. I started dating and thinking things would have deep meaning if I had a chance to date and I'd stupidly open up with people (online dating of course), which led to a lot of trial and error; to top this off I had a lot of friends that were socially inept, it would be no surprise I didn't have game.

I did music etc but that's just like creative pow wow shit.

Over the years I guess I improved, had a few relationships. They all failed. For one, I don't want to settle down any time soon if I always lived a socially impoverished life. Which is a deal breaker for a lot of women living in their agenda for having a family etc. I just can't really see myself trusting anyone in that manner. I've met similar friends who I get along with but over the years I've lost interest in tickling. The truth is, I liked being weird. And I found out that based on some people's experiences that they've shared with me, I'm not really that odd to begin with.

Having a dad bod, having these relationship experiences formed now with the clear objective background reasoning plainly in sight, most thoughts about dating turn me off.

So I'm not really ashamed of being into tickling, in hindsight, despite what social defect would indicate. I'm just plain ashamed of myself. I could have had a life/ kids if I weren't so rigid.

 

[Dark Crane]

As a child and teenager, I was happy to be able to have this kind of secret pleasure without anyone actually knowing about it and thinking it was all just a joke...

The only thing that bothered me a lot about this was when I started having sex and I failed. I thought it was my fault and that I would never get it because of my fetish, I thought I was incapable of it...

But now I see that it was much more a matter of sexual immaturity than anything else. After all, I always wanted to have sex. A woman who is ticklish becomes a million times more attractive to me and I want her so much more. So, I don't think it's something to be ashamed of, just something that adds an extra something to your sex life...

 

[AKF99]

My tickle fetish is primarily connected to a foot fetish and I've always done my best to keep it private because anytime it may have slipped out to anyone, I'd be teased, made fun of and felt the risk of being labeled a 'weirdo'. I still feel uncomfortable discussing or acknowledging it around peers, family and friends.

Sadly, I even feel like I'm at risk of being viewed as 'strange' among other ticklephiles and foot fetishists. I love tickling pretty feet of pretty women, but prefer seeing pretty women tickle each other's bare feet. In particular, I always orchestrated scenarios where my female friends would tickle my sister's feet (as well as one another's feet) and everyone jumps to conclusions that I'm a pervert, including other foot and tickle fans. It blows my mind and disappoints me that I often feel uncomfortable amongst a group of people who share similar (and often unconventional interests). It's like being judged in what should be a judge free zone. So if I feel I could be judged by ticklephiles and foot lovers, than I definitely can't be open to non foot/non tickle people.

I'm the same. My tickle fetish stemmed directly from my foot fetish. I literally had the Persona "I am thou" moment once I realized it.

Also, because I have this fetish, I absolutely hate it when the word "tickle" is used outside of the fetish world. Be it referring to the action or as a metaphor (for example: "it tickles me whenever she says so and so..."), I just can't stand it. It's like they know my weak spot.

 

[laughtermech]

if you have ever felt any kind of shame about being into tickling how has this changed over your life ? cause I felt like it was just a normal thing everyone liked up to about 9 then realized it was weird af and got super private about it due to shame then at about 13 when I started doing tickle tortures with a group of us I felt pretty ok about it for a while. Then about 19 I felt the shame again which gradually has gone down a bit since then.
But still never told anyone fully irl

what are your experiences of it and were yours different?

I use to have major panicks someone would find out or see my search history etc

Just read thru this entire thread of responses to a very good question about shame posed by natscott6282 (I’m having flashbacks to Back To The Future and Doc saying your name like he voiced ‘Great SCOTT, Marty!’ LOL). Seriously though, thank you, NatScott! Really appreciate you putting this topic out there as you’ve seen in the responses there is ALOT of shame to go around with our fetish here.

I definitely have my fair share as well. I have to work on it everyday. I am working on it as I type this message. I continually have to remind myself that I belong here. That we all belong here. That we owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves with kindness and compassion and to try and do the same to others. That would be my big ask in this forum thread for those feeling ashamed and possibly hopeless, to take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize that you belong here. We all do. And we can all practice more kindness towards ourselves today and always. And, in that spirit, we can also just appreciate the vast variety of turn ons for humans and just come to peace with the fact that your turn ons with tickling are no less valid than another’s for being defecated on. That person that wants to be defecated on (-although it’s difficult for me to understand why they need such an act to turn them on) probably feels the same difficulty understanding why I get so turned on seeing another woman having her feet tickled. Again, my hope is that those of you feeling ashamed and hopeless can find solace that you’re not alone and that this kink for tickling is something to admire in your way and in your own time and with kindness and compassion toward yourself. Hang in there! Thanks for all the beautiful sharing and vulnerability. It’s definitely not easy, to borrow from a Kermit The Frog sentiment, it’s not easy being ‘tickled pink’ [instead of ‘green’] LOL.

Take good care of yourselves,
TLM

The Laughter Mechanic
https://thelaughtermechanic.wordpress.com

 

[FFT32]

Just with anything in life, we will all experience things differently, even commonly shared interests such as tickling.

I myself have never (fortunately thus far) experienced any shame for my love of tickling or my love of feet. I have had moments of apprehension and concern of being judged, but those were all mild and nothing close to causing shame or remorse. I am of the belief that how you handle yourself and how you behave can/will dictate how you come out of any situation where shame or embarrassment could be imposed or forced upon you.

For example, way back in high school when I was caught tickling a girls feet at a party, I didn’t experience what I would call shame. There were some teasing comments for sure, but I handed it like it was no different than if we were caught kissing or in bed with each other and I honestly believe that downplayed the whole thing which directly avoided me feeling or dealing with any shame.

In addition, I believe my reaction to being caught allowed the girl that I tickled to be relaxed and understanding about the whole thing. So much so that we shared other tickling experiences with each other. I even had tickling experiences with two other girls who were part of the group that caught me tickling the first girl at the party. So, I am a firm believer in how you carry yourself in any situation can dramatically affect how you are viewed, perceived and ultimately how you feel about any external judgmental comments and actions.

Enjoy the fetish my friends. It’s wonderful and anything worth enjoying is worth the effort to preserve said enjoyment!

 

[Fired]

I have never felt "shame" per se, but I do feel like I need to keep it very secret.

And while I agree that tickling is not as extreme as being into something like scat, it is something that more often than not evokes negative responses from people. This is also quite prevalent in BDSM and kink circles. They'll be all "YKINMK" but have no problem rubbishing tickling and anyone into it, which feels bad when that's your sole thing.