Internal vs External

[terorizer]

It never ceases to amaze me how varied preferences are in our little ticklish corner of the world. We all have our unique way we relate to the tickle phenomenon, which has oft been molded or shaped by experiences we've had dating back to childhood. I know many of us relate the first awareness of this fascination to an experience with family, while there are those who relate their first awareness to things like cartoon scenes. Usually when we see tickling in the mainstream, it's either portrayed as a fun, flirty activity, or a torturous, tormenting event.

My question is, more or less, can you point to experience(s) in your early years which you feel have shaped your current tickling preferences? My strongest memories and experiences from that time involve the people closest to me, so I relate to tickling as an intimate form of expression between close persons. I tend to think most of us had this fascination wired into us from the get go, but it's interesting to hear about what may or may not have shaped our likes and such.

 

[4Pawz]

I did not know I had such a love of being tickled till I was 13. My first experience was a teacher and friend (basically made a smart comment and got tickled for it, lol) and I think that is why I associate tickling more with my friends and boyfriends than with family. I really don't like my family to touch me at all, but if it is one of my male friends, I will "horse around" with them in seconds and do anything to instigate a tickling. So, I think you are right in that our experiences shapes our desires.

Pawz

 

[Wilson]

I sure can't. Hard as I try, I can't think back to a particular moment. Especially since as a kid I liked seeing tickling or doing it, but generally not being tickled.
Same for my foot "fetish". No isolated incidents that triggered anything. It's just always been that way. But I'm sure there are plenty of people here who were triggered by something either early or late in life. I can't wait to hear from those who's fascination with tickling started after the age of 16.

 

[starfires]

I have always liked tickling as far as I can remember - the recipients' reactions were just so much fun!
It wasn't until I was about 14 that I realized I also liked being tickled, and that was sort of an introspective realization. One day as my friend and I were engaged in an extended tickle fight, the thought occurred to me: "I dislike the tickling because I can't stop it. What if I stop trying, relax and enjoy the laughter?" And when I did, I realized that not just the laughter, but the tickling sensations themselves were highly pleasant. I've been longing for more ever since.

 

[dodger]

My theory is that its internal from the get go.

 

[dvnc]

Not surprisingly, my strongest memories are associated socially and with trusted folk. Almost always with female involvement. Always preferred the tickling part, and always strove to make it fun for the person I was tickling.

This went on from 2 on. I can recall trying to tickle the feet of a friend of the family. The reaction was hysterical, to me. I can recall tickling games in Kindergarten, where some kid made up a game he called "Tickle Toys". The kid even had dominant and submissive roles. I knew the kid doin' such, and was always impressed that he thought it up, 'cause others played with us. We hid in a toy closet, and the "Tickle Toy Master" tickled the "Tickle Toy". Wasn't even always male dominant, 'cause there was at least one female 'ler and a male 'lee that I recall.

I'm still pals wit' my Tickle Toy. Went to her weddin'. She'll always be my friend.

Didn't get extremely intimate, to me, 'til I was lookin' for sweeties. At that point, the activity was divided into those folks being tickled 'cause it's playful, and those folks being tickled 'cause they interested me.

Heck, I'm still like that. I can divide tickles between playful and intimate. It's what makes Gatherings possible for me.

I do remember meetin' many that had to learn to associate tickling with social stuff. Extending the "Kissing" analogy I often use, they got to where social kissing was possible, whereas during their teens they'd only kiss lovers, and parents, and each got a different kind of kiss. Now, they know several kinds of kisses. Babies get one kind, and parents another, lovers a third, etc. Not everyone has this hardwired. Some learned it right before my eyes. Many send the nicest emails about such, and even thank me, like it was my doing.

Good thinker, Ter!

 

[Deleted member 2452]

i agree with dodger

i think it's internal, or inharent from birth. w/o this "kink" being there from the start, we wouldn't be affected by the various causitive factors when they happened.
other people who aren't tickphiles, arent affected the same way we were as kids, by the same things. so it must have already been there waiting for the spark.
steve

 

[Ticklegrrrl]

internal

I agree with the people that say that the desire for tickling is internal with people such as ourselves and there from the beginning. I remember getting a weird feeling in my stomach when I was a kid from just watching tickling and thinking "hmmm, other people do not feel like this." My first memories aren't of actual tickling on my part but tickling on Sesame Street, Electric Company, my sister and my dad tickling each other etc. It's always been there and it's always seemed somehow erotic to me even when I was a kid and didn't understand it. Now thank god we're adults so we can express it and have some fun with it, woohoooo!!


ticklegrrrl

 

[ericr]

This is a difficult one for me to sort out. I'm inclined to think it is internal and external. I think it is internal partly because I am a very ticklish guy who had very ticklish parents who did not tickle me.The whole thing seems hereditary. Being very ticklish and liking to be tickled goes back as far as I can remember. I can't remember early experiences of being tickled. On the other hand, it seems external since I can remember an early exprience of tickling. I was a small boy playing on the floor of my grandmother's living room. My mother and two aunts who were sitting in easy chairs had on sandals. I crawled around tickling the toes of the three women who probably over reacted for my benefit and to my delight. This external experience may be significant because it is one of the few memories I have going back to such a young age.

 

[BigJim]

I can't wait to hear from those who's fascination with tickling started after the age of 16.

Well from my perspective I was born with a foot fetish, but didn't develop a tickling fetish until I was 21. (I'm 24 now.) That was when I first got online and found out how closely the two were connected. I guess that is what triggered it for me.