I’m not sure how my experience with tickling and gender fit in.
As a kid I simply hated being touched under my arms, hate is actually too mild a word. I’d have female relatives try to tickle me, but it didn’t tickle, it was just them holding me down and poking me. (Being held down was another thing I hated) But for some reason I still don’t understand, tickling was fascinating to me then.
As I got older, girlfriends would try it when we were playing, but got little to no reaction. As I got older I wasn’t ticklish at all.
Until... recently I was cuddling on the couch with my wife. Her arms were wrapped around mine, and she moved her hand. I jumped a little and laughed. I pretended to laugh at something an announcer said. The only thought I had was “what was that?”
Eventually it happened again, from time to time she likes laying on my chest to fall asleep. She accidentally got me under the arm again and I laughed.
“Whaaaat?” She said. I couldn’t deny what happened, and I admitted that it tickled.
The other day I was trying to cheer her up, and said “If you don’t smile, I’m going to have to do this the hard way.” She gave me a cute smile, and we joked about how she can fight back now and I better me careful.
For me, having an emotional connection flipped a switch for me. And honestly it’s a lot more fun.
TMF Together 2019 [emoji486]