Any opinions on whether a person is born with a tickle fetish or..

[chicago]

There are multiple theories about how one develops a fetish. Some believe you're born with it or have a genetic predisposition and while many can recall having certain feelings related to their fetish from a young age, I kinda believe the following

Alfred Binet suspected fetishism was the pathological result of associations. Accidentally simultaneous presentation of a sexual stimulus and an inanimate object, he argued, led to the object being permanently connected to sexual arousal.

 

[rhiannon]

Interesting theory. But it reduces fetishes to inanimate objects I think. Plus, if you start having a fetish in a real young age, how can you even "present" an actual sexual stimulus? I now for sure I was turned on by tickling before I even knew what sex was, and I did not react at all to what would be looked at as sexually stimulating for the big majority of people.

 

[chicago]

Interesting theory. But it reduces fetishes to inanimate objects I think. Plus, if you start having a fetish in a real young age, how can you even "present" an actual sexual stimulus? I now for sure I was turned on by tickling before I even knew what sex was, and I did not react at all to what would be looked at as sexually stimulating for the big majority of people.

I was the same way and maybe there is genetic disposition but the idea that a tickle fetish was developing in my brain as a fetus is hard for me to believe.

 

[tickled7]

I was excessively tickled before the age of two.
I also associate big buttons with tickling; don't know why.

I'd get that funny and weird feeling in my stomach when a person was tickled or I was tickling them as a kid. I can remember as far back as when I was 5 or 6 years old when I loved tickling and the reaction it had on people and being tickled and the reaction it produced in me as well as the reaction it produced in the tickler.

 

[rhiannon]

but the idea that a tickle fetish was developing in my brain as a fetus is hard for me to believe.

Why? Pretty much everything is developing in your brain as a fetus, it's just a question of when it starts showing. 🙂

I also associate big buttons with tickling; don't know why.

Did you get tickled by a clown?? 🙂

 

[DontAskJusTckle]

Are you saying you believe that you choose your sexual preference?

Absolutely. Though I believe that in most cases, the choice is made very early in life. So early, that we can't remember having made it. And it's probably made over time, heavily influenced by our earliest experiences. Sometimes a choice is made later in life. I've known completely heterosexual women that decided they'd had enough of men, and made a decision to embark in a lesbian relationship.

The fact that preferences can change over time ought to be enough to invalidate the idea that we're born with them. I'm convinced this idea that we're born with a sexual preference was originally put forth by politically motivated shysters wanting to set a precedent to lump sexual preference in with the laws governing civil rights involving race.

 

[rhiannon]

Though I believe that in most cases, the choice is made very early in life. So early, that we can't remember having made it.

How come we can't change the choice we've made then later in life? And can you really speak of making a choice that early? I mean, how early are we speaking of? What I'm trying to say....early in life we can't even make the choice not to soil our pants!

 

[DontAskJusTckle]

How come we can't change the choice we've made then later in life? And can you really speak of making a choice that early? I mean, how early are we speaking of? What I'm trying to say....early in life we can't even make the choice not to soil our pants!

Don't be ridiculous. Defecation is something we all have to do. There's no choice except where to do it, and that choice is only offered to the independently mobile.

But a baby's brain is extremely active, learning to process his environment. The kind of choice I'm talking about is very basic. For example, Baby is tickled by mommy just before breast-feeding. After a few times, he decides he likes it, because he begins to associate being tickled with large breasts, affection, and food.

That's just one example of literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of experiences a child processes during the first 2-3 years of his or her life. A series of decisions that ultimately establishes a pattern on how to respond to various stimuli, leading to an ultimate preference that is gradually formed in such a way that the person later never knows how it happens. They just always remember liking/disliking something for as long as they can remember, and so they conclude they were born with the preference.

 

[rhiannon]

But a baby's brain is extremely active, learning to process his environment. The kind of choice I'm talking about is very basic. For example, Baby is tickled by mommy just before breast-feeding. After a few times, he decides he likes it, because he begins to associate being tickled with large breasts, affection, and food.

That would make sense, but I would't call that "choice". It's basically a kind of programming...nothing more like what was done with Pavlov's dog.