If the general public were surveyed, "Do you think of tickling as sexual?"...

[brotherted]

I honestly have no idea what the survey results would be.

Obviously, people on this site would say "Absolutely, yes"... but we also all know people who just think of tickling as either funny or fun, as well as others who'd say it's awful or annoying.

If I were to take a wild stab at it, I'd say maybe 10% think of it as sexual, i.e. a normal part of flirting/foreplay, whether they personally practice it or not. But maybe I'm wrong?

 

[milagros317]

I, too, would guess that 10% of the general public find tickling between adults to be a form of flirting, hence sexual (that is, an invitation to sexual activities).

But I would also guess that at least 20% would agree with a statement like this:
"Tickling between adults is a turn-off for me. It is childish and annoying."

 

[WickedTouch]

I honestly have no idea what the survey results would be.

Obviously, people on this site would say "Absolutely, yes"... but we also all know people who just think of tickling as either funny or fun, as well as others who'd say it's awful or annoying.

If I were to take a wild stab at it, I'd say maybe 10% think of it as sexual, i.e. a normal part of flirting/foreplay, whether they personally practice it or not. But maybe I'm wrong?

I guess it depends exactly how the question is framed and what kind of responses can be given under what context. Surveys are especially sensitive to subtle wording variations and the form of the answer the participant can give will shape how they think about the question. In addition, all of those factors can affect the interpretation of the results.

This is all guess work of course, but here’s how I think about it. I think the average person does not think of tickling as a one-dimensional activity. That is, I think the average person recognizes some level of its role in flirting and sexual foreplay, and at the same time recognizes tickling as a totally non-sexual form of play. and bonding. If the question was posed exactly as you wrote it with a yes or no answer, I could see how many people could say yes, or very few could say yes. My guess is that the question feels to most people like it is asking if they primarily think of it as sexual, and I think that most would say no because that is not how they predominantly see it even though it may be seen or expressed that way by them occasionally. So under those assumptions, I’d say that 10-15% feels right. I think you’d get a notable increase if you made a subtle change like “Do you ever think of tickling as sexual?” In contrast, I think if you made a more explicit question in the other direction like, “Do you primarily think of tickling as sexual?” you’d get a notable decrease.

 

[brotherted]

I guess it depends exactly how the question is framed and what kind of responses can be given under what context. Surveys are especially sensitive to subtle wording variations and the form of the answer the participant can give will shape how they think about the question. In addition, all of those factors can affect the interpretation of the results.

This is all guess work of course, but here’s how I think about it. I think the average person does not think of tickling as a one-dimensional activity. That is, I think the average person recognizes some level of its role in flirting and sexual foreplay, and at the same time recognizes tickling as a totally non-sexual form of play. and bonding. If the question was posed exactly as you wrote it with a yes or no answer, I could see how many people could say yes, or very few could say yes. My guess is that the question feels to most people like it is asking if they primarily think of it as sexual, and I think that most would say no because that is not how they predominantly see it even though it may be seen or expressed that way by them occasionally. So under those assumptions, I’d say that 10-15% feels right. I think you’d get a notable increase if you made a subtle change like “Do you ever think of tickling as sexual?” In contrast, I think if you made a more explicit question in the other direction like, “Do you primarily think of tickling as sexual?” you’d get a notable decrease.

I think you make a valid distinction. I suppose if I were to refine it to get closer to what I was wondering, given your points, I'd edit it to, "Has tickling, for you personally, ever felt sexual?"

 

[WickedTouch]

I think you make a valid distinction. I suppose if I were to refine it to get closer to what I was wondering, given your points, I'd edit it to, "Has tickling, for you personally, ever felt sexual?"

Ah, see, that’s interesting—I would not have guessed that is the direction you were taking the question! In that case, my personal guess would be more like 20-25%. That’s based on the fact that many (most?) couples tickle each other occasionally, and I think it’s reasonable to suspect that for no small portion of them, just about any physical touch or play at least sometimes leads to sexual intimacy. I’d say enough of them consider that a sexual experience with tickling that it could be 20% or so. Of course, as a guess, I could just be wrong and maybe nowhere near that many may make the connection in their conscious memory. But from a pure plausibility exercise, I can totally imagine a sizable chunk of most samples recalling something like, “Well, there was that one really hot experience when my boyfriend [blah blah blah].” It’s definitely interesting to think about. Good question!

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

I think the Yes percentage would be high

 

[quinn65]

Another angle could be 'is it always sexual?' Like most (I think), I'd answer no to that. Just like kissing or wrestling can be affectionate or friendly or fun, I think it depends on the context.

I've done lots of sessions and demos, even involving bondage, where the vibe is just playful and experimental without sexual overtones.

 

[torturoustickle]

I believe it would depend on their relationship with tickling. I know some people who absolutely hate it. Little chance then, that they would find it sexual.
Others, depending on who it's with, would find it a type of flirtatious foreplay.
Then there's the absolute tickle lovers.
As far as percentages go, I'd guess 20% hate, 20% love, 60% swing voters. Lol

 

[piyr]

I really don't know percentages but it's an interesting question. I can only speak for myself, but I think of tickling as associated with sex. When I tickle somene, my intent is always flirty, romantic or sexual. Not everyone is wired that way which is why I have no desire to even playfully tickle kids but I know that's perfectly normal for others. I agree that it's situational for most even if it's not for me. That said, while it feels uncomfortable to me to be tickled by someone who's intent is just playful, I don't feel sexually violated on the very rare occations when that happens because I know they arent doing it with sexual intent. It's like some cultures greet each other with a hug and kiss when I feel more comfortable with a handshake. So yeah, my connotation with tickling is sexual whereas I seperate a kiss or hug by context.

 

[Cave In]

I think these days quite a lot of people would say yes. But if you were to put that question to the public 20 years ago, I think the number of people saying yes would be much lower. People are more educated about sexual kinks now than they were back then.

 

[hefophre]

Overwhelming majority of public would say no, and i say no also. Tickling is not sexual.

 

[HereNorThere]

How many people of the general public would be bothered by seeing their partner tickle or be tickled by someone else? I bet a lot. Has to mean something.

 

[quinn65]

I wonder if an authentically more-fun-less-sexual attitude makes it easier to talk vanilla women into being tickled? In 40+ years I've never tickled a pro model and only once (as far as I know) have I tickled another fetishist. I have had some more intimate encounters that were explicitly sexual with tickling mixed in, but the vast majority of my tickling experiences would fall into the "try it out just for kicks" category.

Just a thought...who knows?

 

[retry0]

Yes and No. But surely 99,99999% will agree that it's about affection. And surely most people do NOT perceive tickling as a real form of humiliation. Tickling used "as torture" it is either pretending/foreplay between couples/friends that enjoy tickling, either a BDSM activity (so they like to suffer), either a pratical joke with no actual harm intended. To actually use tickling to make someone suffer is either one of thoses cases of a freak emperor mentioned on "tickling through history curiosities" around the internet, either a sexual psycho.

As I said before, many people born liking to be tickled, but it may or not become part of sexuality later, which is shaped by experiences, cultural references and pornography.

The thing is, more and more tickle fetish has been shaped by hardcore pornography, so it may feel like a sadistic activity itself to BDSM people, but it's not.

 

[retry0]

But I have reasons to believe men and women usually perceive it differently, because they perceive affection differently.

It took me a little while to put it together. I've had a girlfriend who hated tickling, and two long term partners who liked tickling. BUT! One of them had a bdsm tickle fetish and didn't really enjoy the tickling sensation itself. The other one liked to be tickled, she could get aroused by it, but it wasn't a fetish. So I think the line is not about sex, but intimacity - including sex or not. To treat both as the same comes from a masculine's perspective, we're raised that way.

But let's exclude sexual partners examples for a while. When I was younger, I've had two particular female friends who loved to engage in tickle fights, so I assumed everyone actually enjoyed it and people only pretended not to. I slowly realized it wasn't true, especally during my first relationship. I've actually understood I had a fetish when I heard from one of my friends, who asked me If I got sexually excited by tickling too - simple as that. As soon as I became fully aware of my fetish, I naturally lost the will to friendly tickle people like I used to do. And it's not only a moral issue, I hardly feel intimate to someone. But this other friend of mine, it bugged me out... she really loved to start and keep tickle fights, and I remember how much she liked tickle talk and describe how she would torture someone for information, etc. I was sure she knew what was going on betwee us and I was sure she had a fetish. But later I realized she wasn't a fetishist at all. She liked to tickle and to be tickled by family members and, later, I've seen her tickling her children, which obviously feels gross to me.

Now. Usually men do not tickle each other to please or show affection, when they do it, it's as a form to mock each other - like when they twist each other nipples, slap each other in the balls, etc. Not to hurt, but to bully, and I think that precisely comes from how men avoid any form of physical affection with other men.

That's probably why tickle torture scenes between men are more common and may "feel" like comedy to the general public, while a women being tortured "feel" more like abuse and ulterior motivated. Which has absolute no fucking logic, of course. I think it's intuitive to most of the people, but we try to rationalize it.