How representative is the TMF of the tickling world and why?

[YouNeverKnow175]

The idea of this post is to explore the question of how representative the TMF is of the total number of people out there who are into tickling - or people for whom tickling is sexual. In some ways, for me, this question also has to do with "what draws a tickler to the TMF?"

Are we 80% of the tickling population? Or more like 10%? I know there's all sorts of things we could get into with this, like people who don't have internet access because of socioeconomic or cultural factors, etc, but that's not really what I'm interested in.

It's more like the question of: is the online tickling community most of the tickling community, or a small subculture?

Because tickling is "out of the ordinary" as a fetish or whatever, I think a big draw to coming to a tickling board/site has to do with connecting with others who share your interest. It's not like you can just talk to your buddies about your sexual experiences, as some vanillas might, because most of our friends don't share our fondness for tickling. So to me, the online connection is in some sense the ONLY connection to finding like-minded people, and a big reason why I think I feel drawn to visiting the TMF from time to time, chatting, etc. Of course, people who don't have a particular "fetish" per se look at porn, etc, but the actual community/message board aspect is different here. So THIS point of view leads me to believe that we could possibly be a large percentage of the tickling population.

Then again, maybe we are a small subset. Are we the extra-horny people of the tickling world? The online sex addicts of the tickling world? The extra-lonely who need to seek out online connection? The ones who are too shy, awkward, or scared to explore our fetish in "real life" (although I'm aware many of us do)? I'm absolutely not trying to be accusatory or judgmental of people on here, just genuinely wanting to explore this question.

I think all of us will have our own unique combination of factors that bring us here. I'm not someone who's on here every day, but come around every now and then because something draws me back. I know for me I feel like the answer to the extra-horny question is probably yes. Not so much to the lonely or shy to explore in real-life questions. I think for me the main draw is the earlier paragraph. I feel that I'm curious about who other ticklers and ticklees are, what your experience is like, and how we are similar or different in our fetishes. I also enjoy too the sexual aspect of reading stories, sharing stories, pictures, videos, discussion, etc. For me, too, there seems to be some quality that the online aspect is a powerful sexual experience for me - so maybe I'm in the online-sex-addict category to a minor degree. Of course, there's nothing like tickling a woman, or for me especially, hearing tickling stories from a woman - but at the same time there's nothing quite like visiting the TMF either, interestingly enough.

Anyhow - thanks for reading, and I'd be curious to hear others' thoughts on the matter.

 

[Comfort Eagle]

Wouldn't know, but keep in mind a good 80-90% of TMF are lurkers who just browse for the porn and never post anything for years and years. In that sense I imagine most of the "tickle world" is here, seeing as this is pretty much the biggest, most well known hub of tickle porn in existence.

 

[skelyrata]

This is our home

I have no doubt that if someone is into tickling someone will find their way to TMF sooner or later. I mean this is our home, where we rule. When you go to other fetish forums tickling is consider a very minor genre, if it is labled at all apart from Others, or Misc.

A while back I posted a tickling clip in a fetish forum where they feature bondage and BDSM and some members called me a freak.

TMF is the only place on the web that I fill free.

 

[TheTickleMonster]

.

A while back I posted a tickling clip in a fetish forum where they feature bondage and BDSM and some members called me a freak.

Seriously? lol... gosh, they think you're a freak? Gosh.. some people have some weird fetishes, but tickling is one of the fetishes in the world that actually makes sense lol..

 

[rhiannon]

some people have some weird fetishes, but tickling is one of the fetishes in the world that actually makes sense lol..

How does it make more or less sense than any other fetish?

 

[TheTickleMonster]

How does it make more or less sense than any other fetish?

thank about it... when you tickle someone you have to physically touch them *unless you use tools of course, which i don't* and sometimes it can get intense and makes people happy, but I think the physical sexual contact is why it makes sense lol

some fetishes are like stomping on cans turns them on, or smelling certaint things lol

not that I mean to talk bad about other peoples fetishes but to call us freak because we tickle people.. doesn't make sense lol... tying someone up and and cutting on them doesn't make them freaks but us tying people up and tickling someone does? i don't know about that.. but oh well, we all like what we like.. lol.. to each their own and so forth.

 

[rhiannon]

sometimes it can get intense and makes people happy

And that is where the freakiness comes into play. 😉 Usually it doesn't make people happy, it pisses them off. 🙂 And on the other side of the tickling coin, it seems weird to people that someone finds it appealing to 'torture' another person. So I can see why people would think about tickling as freaky, although I don't think someone has the right to judge others that way - as you said, to each their own.

Especially people who have a fetish themselves should be more understanding, but I've seen numerous cases where that isn't the case...for some fetishists, their fetish is like religion...theirs is the only true one! 🙂


And on topic: I, too, believe that everybody who is into tickling and has internet connection will sooner or later end up here because there is just no way of getting around it if you google "tickling". 🙂

 

[MacD]

First of all we should define what it means to "be into tickling". This already makes the answer even harder.

Are we the extra-horny people of the tickling world?

I don't know if "we" or "you" really are. But some of us here do their best to make it look like ;-)
This first impression of here makes visitors decide whether or not they like it. The first, most active and let me say "loudest" ones define the style and direction of a forum. This first style can hardly be changed since it regulates who feels ok and who not. Which means then it's virtually clear who comes in and takes part or not. If someone feel different he/she becomes part of the lurkers. So you actually can hardly say what the mass of lurkers are into.
Maybe 90% of all members are not comfortable with the current TMF, so they decide not to take part in discussions?
Maybe they are not interested any more and were only curious to see what's up?
Maybe they like it but just do not want to contribute?
You'll have a hard job to find out 🙂

I am one of those who are here because there is not much else but I am not so happy with the contents. For me it is too sexual and unfortunately sometimes too low-minded. And TMF should be renamed to something like "Jack off on feet - forum that accepts tickling as side effect" or something ;-)

 

[skelyrata]

Seriously? lol... gosh, they think you're a freak? Gosh.. some people have some weird fetishes, but tickling is one of the fetishes in the world that actually makes sense lol..

Well, when you really think about it, the tickle torture fetish is the most brutal of all fetishes for one factor... control.

By rule, any fetish session has to be perfomed by mutual consent, which means that even in spanking, or whipping, or the hardcore BDSM, the girl is in control of the situation and she might scream and cry of pain but deep inside her mind she knows what to expect and has a safety net.

Now, when you look at a tickle torture video from the distance, you see a woman bound, usually to a bed, spread, naked, and pretty much helpless, and a man tickling her entire body making her laugh and scream and her body totally out of control struggling, reacting by impulses, no matter how much she tries she can't stop her stomach from crunching, her longs from contracting, even when she has expelled all her air, she keeps laughing unable to bring oxygen inside, and no matter how much she begs and cries he won't stop until she has no choice but to scream the safeword... which in our language means defeat, and that he won.

In a rape fantasy scenario, both parties have to use their imagination because they know there is mutual conscent and no matter how much the "rape victim" screams and struggles, they know is just a roleplay game and at the end is just bondage and rough sex.

But a good tickle torture session, the ticklee is giving consent to be driven beyond her tolerance.

When I was starting in the tickle-video biz, looking for new girls everywhere, thinking that girls would prefer tickling session over bondage-sex, I was surprised how many of them put faces of horror of just thinking of the posibility of being tied, helpless and tickled. And yes, there were the ones that 10 minutes into the tickling session screamed "I can't take it anymore! Stop! Do whatever you want! Fust fuck me if you want! Just stop tickling me!"

I just love to slowly move my fingers over a naked womans skin and feel her muscles crunch, her body tremble against her will and hear her breathing hard, or trying to breath while giggling.


Now, you have to be a tickle-phile to understand this. And the only place I have found where I can say things like this and get inteligent comments is here.

 

[skelyrata]

How representative is the TMF of the tickling world and why?

If you take the time and read most of the tickling discussion threads, and watch the tickling images and the clips, and read people comments, I think TMF has a good representation of the tickling world, at least the cyberworld.

If it wasn't, other forums would exist, but when you look at other tickling forums like TickleTheater they are not even a fraction of what TMF is.

 

[Carsomyr]

There are a LOT of lurkers on regular, non-sexual forums as well, so ask yourself: How many people do you know who frequent at least ONE regular online forum. I dunno, but for me that's about 5-10% of the people I know. Take people's sex-drive into consideration though, and the number is probably much bigger for the TMF - especially with the lurkers.

But I only think the TMF is representative of the English-speaking tickling world in that case, and I still doubt "everyone eventually find their way here", simply because not everyone are computer buffs. I bet some just keep introducing the kink to their IRL partners, and I mean, maybe not everyone feels the need to visit a forum like this like we do, simply because they are content with that.

Anyways, again, regardless of how many tickling-fetishists actually seek themselves to a forum, the TMF probably isn't at all representative for the non-English speaking tickling world. I mean if I go to the Swedish tickling forum that's out there, most people have never even heard of the TMF. And that's Sweden. Almost EVERYONE here is fluent in English, so imagine what it's like in countries where that's not the case. I'm thinking Asia, Continental Europe, etc. That's a lot of people.

So to summarize, I think we are just a small fraction of the tickling world, no matter how you look at it. Even in the English-speaking world I can't imagine the TMF representing more than 50% of all tickle-fetishists at most. To think it's more sounds very unrealistic to me. 🙂

 

[rhiannon]

Maybe 90% of all members are not comfortable with the current TMF, so they decide not to take part in discussions?

I think 90% of all members are perfectly alright with the current TMF and just don't come here to discuss, but for jack-off material. Check out the views in the media-section and you'll know that is the case.

In every forum I know, be it about sex or not, only a very small percentage of members actually does participate. That's just how forums work.

But a good tickle torture session, the ticklee is giving consent to be driven beyond her tolerance.

I really do not see any difference between a SM session with pain and a tickling session here. The only difference is probably that the reactions to pain aren't as straining than the reactions to laughter, therefore the "victim" might give in to tickling quicker.

 

[TheTickleMonster]

And that is where the freakiness comes into play. 😉 Usually it doesn't make people happy, it pisses them off. 🙂 And on the other side of the tickling coin, it seems weird to people that someone finds it appealing to 'torture' another person. So I can see why people would think about tickling as freaky, although I don't think someone has the right to judge others that way - as you said, to each their own.

Especially people who have a fetish themselves should be more understanding, but I've seen numerous cases where that isn't the case...for some fetishists, their fetish is like religion...theirs is the only true one! 🙂


And on topic: I, too, believe that everybody who is into tickling and has internet connection will sooner or later end up here because there is just no way of getting around it if you google "tickling". 🙂

Okay, well, let's stick to what exactly I was quoting when I first sad we're not the one being the freaks, I was bassically talking about people on that bdsm site that he was talking about. you said people find us freaks to torture people, don't bdsm people torture people? So that shouldn't be why they call us freaks. People on bdsm sites usually get turned on by pain. So why are we the freaks because we get turned on by touching them and makin them smile rather than cutting them up and giving them bruises... not that I have a probem with bdsm, just have a problem with being called a freak lol..

but anyways... I also agree that if they are into tickling and hve the internet, the typed in tickling and found this place, that's how I did it lol

 

[rhiannon]

I was bassically talking about people on that bdsm site that he was talking about. you said people find us freaks to torture people, don't bdsm people torture people?

You did read my whole post, right? 🙂 It's all broken down! My general comment was directed towards your statement that tickling makes people happy, not how BDSM people would find it freaky...that one I don't understand myself.

 

[Eclipse19]

I would agree that most people would find their way to this site eventually, but they may not find what they are looking for. It seems to me that this site is mostly focused towards f/f and m/f. There is some f/m, and a very small amount of m/m, but any fetishist interested primarily in guys being tickled might not find what they're looking for in this site. This isn't referring to me, as I'm into all 4 categories to some extent, but there are those like I described above.

Another thing I noticed is that some of the fetishism here is very...intense. I'm straight (with a male tickling interest), and I still find the little slideshow sidebar uncomfortable sometimes. I prefer a lighter atmosphere in regards to tickling...bondage, yes, but extree sexual behavior, no.

But that's just me. I'm not judging anybody with different interests, of course. This is just for the purpose of debate.

 

[eric33]

""TICKLE MEDIA FORUM""....I don't think this site is named properly for starters,..
The site is great for tickle art , shared videos , stories,..( certainly enough to get your rocks of ) ,..however if your here to find cyber tickling or tickle chat buddies turn around and leave,..even if you are polite and just happen to be curios about how others "tickler/ticklee's" feel about this unusual fetish, you have to walk on egg shells,..otherwise check the back of your pants as you are leaving ,..you may find an extra hole where you got torn another one,..
To me this site attracts a lot of the tickling community , and as far as i can tell is like a giant personal billboard ,.i would say about 1/2 the people that registered years back, leave a description (in brief) of what they are into,.have no recent activity , but to get in touch with them you have to contact them with their yahoo,.or msn ,.messenger ,.
Personally i,m attracted to this site because i,m a mature tickler and i like to think i have manners , so if i ask questions about how others feel about tickling , i like to keep the questions civil , even humorous when ever possible,..and not attack with both guns a blazing "..I want to tickle you baby all over your body .."..that type of stuff does not hold well here.
I have made some friends here , but there is a lot more to this forum than meets the eye,.Don't come to this site if you think your " God's gift to ticklee's" you will be cut down to size,.and my advice to the Horny ticklers out there this isn't the place to cyber tickle,.and just keep going on your journey ,..Just because this site has the word tickle in it doesn't mean you can come barging in threatening to tickle every ticklish female here.
In fact sad to say it,s idiots like that who have ruined it for us polite , well mannered guys .
""the Tickle Media Forum""...in short , it,s not your cheap $7.95 bottle of wine you can just chug back and get a quick buzz,.this place is more like a $50 bottle of finer wine meant to be sipped and savored...oh BTW,.share it with some friends to.

 

[TKL_Rebel]

Let me explain what brings me to the forum...

First off, im open with my tickle fetish to all my friends, its not a secret to me anymore and i prefer it that way if im honest...

I can discus to SOME of my friends about my tickling experiences cause they're interested to know what makes my motor tick and what i like about it...

I know some peoples sole purpose here is to find someone on TMF who they can have some fun with...
Im not tickle deprived fortunately so im not one these people but thats not to say if i meet a lovely lady on here, we get on really well and she would like to get some more tickling experiences under her belt, then that may just happen 😀 deppending on circumstances...

I hardly ever go to the video section on here cause its just filled with previews which need to be downloaded and what not, if it was streaming with in the post then i may pay more attention to that section but in the mean time... nahhhhhhh...

The main reason i come on here is too share my experices with like minded people who would appriciate my stories a thousand times more than any of my friends ever would and hopefuly get some feedback on my posts...
and ofcourse to make friends with some lovely people on here (who aren't perverts 🙂)

 

[Sandisk444]

Seriously? lol... gosh, they think you're a freak? Gosh.. some people have some weird fetishes, but tickling is one of the fetishes in the world that actually makes sense lol..

weird to people who don't have them, people think we're weird for being aroused by tickling, it's generally just for fun.

but to the OP i figure alot of us VISIT here but don't actually join, like it's already been said people come here for the clips

 

[Mephistopheles]

Anyways, again, regardless of how many tickling-fetishists actually seek themselves to a forum, the TMF probably isn't at all representative for the non-English speaking tickling world. I mean if I go to the Swedish tickling forum that's out there, most people have never even heard of the TMF. And that's Sweden. Almost EVERYONE here is fluent in English, so imagine what it's like in countries where that's not the case. I'm thinking Asia, Continental Europe, etc. That's a lot of people.

So to summarize, I think we are just a small fraction of the tickling world, no matter how you look at it. Even in the English-speaking world I can't imagine the TMF representing more than 50% of all tickle-fetishists at most. To think it's more sounds very unrealistic to me. 🙂

That's pretty much exactly what I was going to say. If you don't speak English to begin with, you won't google tickling , and you won't end up here.

 

[skelyrata]

Translators

That's pretty much exactly what I was going to say. If you don't speak English to begin with, you won't google tickling , and you won't end up here.

For your information, search engines like Yahoo and Goolge have translators which means that a Hispanic can do a search for "Cosquillas" and he will get in the results "Foro de Cosquillas" and get here.

 

[Kid Caravan]

I spent several years as a lurker on here, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the majority of people accessing the site are doing...

 

[Gentler]

I think the TMF is a good representative of fetish tickling. But the "world" of tickling is much greater as just about everybody in the world has tickled somebody and has been tickled by somebody. I don't believe the TMF is a good (or bad) representative of the vast majority of tickling that goes on in the world.

I've known many people (women mostly, come to think of it) who tickle people obsessively, but not for fetish gratification. They just love to tickle.

 

[rhiannon]

Loving to tickle isn't unusual at all - it is the extent that it is practiced in some cases here that is unusual. Also loving to be tickled is rare.

 

[Mirage]

Thank's for posting this thread it's very informative...
Me I choose to register right away and participate in the disscussions your having here, cause I think if I would not get enough exposure to this whole tickling thing, than I would propably never find out if I am really into it or not.

 

[tkl-pen]

There are only a few of the eighty thousand members of this forum who actually post on it. I'd be surprised if it was more than eighty. Most of them simply enjoy reading the stories and watching the clips. Those who might post, though, I think are likely to be discouraged when they see the responses that others make to posts they do not agree with, a few of which are intelligent but many of which are nothing but derision, filthy expletives, etc. In fact, there's only twenty or thirty people who regularly participate.