Does Renfaire Tickling still exist?

[St. Louie]

I’m in a Sex Positjve Discord group and I had asked a local Renfaire participant if they have ever seen this at the many Faires they have attended. I was very respectful. Didn’t get creepy. Just simply asked as it’s well posted on the internet. Some look staged…some look innocent. I was just curious. Well…this person lost their mind…and I mean they went full on bonkers on me, saying that there’s no such thing…I’m disgusting…people who do this are pedofiles since children are around…blah blah blah. Instead of calmly stating how wrong she was…I just decided to walk away and not engage. I’m too old to argue. I later found out she is a 22yo newbie to the sex positive community, so maybe that was it. Who knows?! But my question still remains…do demonstrations like this actually happen?

 

[SoleMates]

The existence of renfaire tickling is wayyyy overblown. It was a thing at like two or three faires in Europe, tops, mostly because of a few creeps from this community passing it off as "historically accurate". I don't know if they still do them, but I'd wager given how hyper-aware people are of fetish mining nowadays (and how... obsessive people from this community can be) that it's going away, if it hasn't already. I'm not even remotely surprised at her reaction, TBH.

 

[Comfort Eagle]

That one studio does it with apparently "normal" participants. The legality of them doing that and selling the videos as porn aside, I think them and a rare European festival here and there every now and then. I don't think it was ever a particularly widespread thing.

 

[St. Louie]

The existence of renfaire tickling is wayyyy overblown. It was a thing at like two or three faires in Europe, tops, mostly because of a few creeps from this community passing it off as "historically accurate". I don't know if they still do them, but I'd wager given how hyper-aware people are of fetish mining nowadays (and how... obsessive people from this community can be) that it's going away, if it hasn't already. I'm not even remotely surprised at her reaction, TBH.

You’re saying all Renfaire ticking was done at 2-3 European Faires??? 🤔

 

[Comfort Eagle]

You’re saying all Renfaire ticking was done at 2-3 European Faires??? 🤔

iirc most of those "classics" were done at one single event.

 

[U.N.Owen]

All the Renfaire scenes I know of came from 2 European troupes, one in northern Italy, one in southern France.

The Italian troupe was around from the late '90s until 2019, as far as I can tell. They were mainly associated with the Siege of Canelli festival, where they were the town's official mock punishment for faire-goers. Most of the videos that circulate came from there, though a few of the later ones came from another festival. But the Canelli festival seems to have stopped happening, apparently for financial reasons, sometime around 2016. The troupe kept performing at other venues - they were even booked to set up in shopping malls - but the pandemic seems to have been the end of that. Their last appearance I've seen was at another festival in 2019. Their website went offline during the pandemic and never came back.

I've seen some hints that the French troupe was back after the pandemic, but I'm not sure about that. I always preferred the playful tone of the Italian group anyway - they pretty much always got the participants playing along and got the crowd into it.

So yeah, it wasn't any kind of widespread thing - it was just two groups that were popular in their local regions and got a lot of bookings.

There is a barefooting festival in the Czech Republic that has Renfaire-style tickling in stocks as one of the activities they encourage people to try. That still seems to be going.

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

I hope so I’d like to see that in person someday

 

[brotherted]

I’m in a Sex Positjve Discord group and I had asked a local Renfaire participant if they have ever seen this at the many Faires they have attended. I was very respectful. Didn’t get creepy. Just simply asked as it’s well posted on the internet. Some look staged…some look innocent. I was just curious. Well…this person lost their mind…and I mean they went full on bonkers on me, saying that there’s no such thing…I’m disgusting…people who do this are pedofiles since children are around…blah blah blah. Instead of calmly stating how wrong she was…I just decided to walk away and not engage. I’m too old to argue. I later found out she is a 22yo newbie to the sex positive community, so maybe that was it. Who knows?! But my question still remains…do demonstrations like this actually happen?

On a side note, regarding online engagement with an inexplicably hostile person, I think most of us have done all three at some point: Debated them, not engaged at all, or replied exactly once.

Lately, I've been opting for the latter with such people, and in a way that's calm and analytical. I'll explain to them (depending on the situation) that hostility, name-calling and ad hominem insults aren't usually associated with the person who's winning an interaction or someone who feels confident in their points. I'll also add that since I don't know their age and they may be a child, this might prove a good learning experience for their future conversations, when they might learn to disagree without having to resort to hostility or emotion to get their point across. And I'll finish by saying this will be my last post in this thread.

It kind of boxes them in. If they're hostile yet again, they'll have kind of proven me right, and there was likely no helping them anyway. But other times, people will become contrite and maybe even feel a tiny shred of shame for their stupid bluster.

And yes, I've done plenty of long form debates with some of these people. That was my own stupidity -- never again! 🙂

 

[BigBadTickleDog]

I’m in a Sex Positjve Discord group and I had asked a local Renfaire participant if they have ever seen this at the many Faires they have attended. I was very respectful. Didn’t get creepy. Just simply asked as it’s well posted on the internet. Some look staged…some look innocent. I was just curious. Well…this person lost their mind…and I mean they went full on bonkers on me, saying that there’s no such thing…I’m disgusting…people who do this are pedofiles since children are around…blah blah blah. Instead of calmly stating how wrong she was…I just decided to walk away and not engage. I’m too old to argue. I later found out she is a 22yo newbie to the sex positive community, so maybe that was it. Who knows?! But my question still remains…do demonstrations like this actually happen?

There was one I know of that involved actors with fake feet being licked by goats.

The only other time I've seen tickling at any kind of event was a German "haunted house" where two people (who are completely willing BTW they agree that they can be selected) are restrained to a table and to a wall. They typically put ice cubes under their shirts but they also tickle them in front of the crowd. Its all in good fun and the videos I saw of it everyone seemed to enjoy it.

 

[U.N.Owen]

I would say that all the "victims" in the Renfaire videos are essentially willing. They mostly don't actually volunteer (although according to the Italian troupe, some do), but almost all accept the whole scene as part of the public fun and play along. On the very rare occasions someone flat-out refused, the troupe didn't push it. It's not like they were forcing people in at gunpoint or had real police powers. It's the fact that everyone is playing along and having fun - with the tickling usually goaded on by the "victim's" friends or family - that makes the scenes so cute and appealing. People looking for real non-con tickle torture won't find it in Renfaire scenes.

 

[pay_the_penalty]

The problem I have with these videos is that minors, unfortunately, do appear from time to time. Not as models, but rather in the crowd. And I strongly believe we need to have zero tolerance here. It's very clear that everyone here is watching tickling as a fetish and we are watching these for an explicit sexual purpose. Having a minor even in frame for any reason, even because they were just passing by at a public event, immediately is a hard no for me. And quite frankly I think should be a hard no for everyone.

 

[Switches]

The problem I have with these videos is that minors, unfortunately, do appear from time to time. Not as models, but rather in the crowd. And I strongly believe we need to have zero tolerance here. It's very clear that everyone here is watching tickling as a fetish and we are watching these for an explicit sexual purpose. Having a minor even in frame for any reason, even because they were just passing by at a public event, immediately is a hard no for me. And quite frankly I think should be a hard no for everyone.

I agree with this. An ideal scenario would have to be a 21+ Renaissance fair event that was kink-oriented at the outset. That way, no minors and no unwilling participants in your kink display. The thing is, renfaires that deny the "family friendly" element are just going to sell less tickets. If anyone is aware of a 21+ kink renfaire though, please let me know.

 

[Goatboy]

iirc most of those "classics" were done at one single event.

I saw some tickling at a ren Faire in New Jersey in like 1997.

 

[U.N.Owen]

I saw some tickling at a ren Faire in New Jersey in like 1997.

That might have been Kujman. I think he operated in NJ and PA.