is the recent media attention bad for "us"?

[TangerineTicklee]

Oh right, like the massive shitstorm that happened after that guy was breaking into womens houses to tickle them? Or what about that fiasco that happened after the Sarah Kozer videos! Tickle fetish never recovered from either!

Oh wait, that's right, there was no horrible Tickle Fetish Holocaust, because nobody gave a shit after a week.

Shocking as it is, people for the most part know about people getting off on tickling and for the most part don't really care. You think there's really a group sitting around chatting amongst themselves right now saying "A tickle fetish, eh? Why, another poor misunderstood minority to oppress! TO DATELINE!". Like all sexual fetishes, people will say it's weird and then not care. Why you or anyone else is so afraid that someday someones going to look at you and think "Oh God, one of those tickle people..." and disrespect you because of it is beyond me.



Oh course they did, a grown man in a position of political power was getting feely with his underlings. Nobody cares that oh God, he was tickling people!, someone in the spotlight was handsy and is paying for it. There hasn't even been a single mention of "tickle fetish" and people are already eager to flip their shit, completely oblivious as to why people are actually giving Massa crap for it.


Oh Jesus, a typo.

My point is that it could happen. It hasn't happened yet, so you cannot claim that it can't, but there is the possibility that it can, based on the negativity that it has received so far. It has been associated with this man's "handsy" disposition - that's my main point. It's possible, so I'm not saying that it is definite. Why look down on my theory? Anything's possible and, based on the way the world naturally is, I think it's wise to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Sad thing is that most people never prepare; they just hope.

...You picked fun at me for my beliefs, so I picked right back... Tit for tat.

 

[Comfort Eagle]

My point is that it could happen. It hasn't happened yet

Except you kind of just said it did;

So far, they have shined a negative light on it, so that leads me to wonder

Why look down on my theory?

Your beliefs are based entirely on the fact that "the media is always out to get someone" and not what was actually why it is a newsworthy issue. "They're picking on the tickle people!" and "They're talking about a guy fondling his staff" are not the same thing. Given that and the fact that every other time tickling has been involved in both much worse and more sensationalized terms and nothing ever came from it, how is it a big deal now?

And what's more, how is it going to affect you, or anyone else if the big mean media suddenly realizes "Oh damn, I guess some people are really really into this tickling shit..."? Is The View going to sit around and say things like 'So what's everyones take on these tickle perverts"? Is someones girlfriend girlfriend then going to see that, put the pieces together and think "Oh fuck I'm with a freak, time to gtfo"? Nobody's going to care, and sitting around complaining that someone might make you look like a freak, cursing this not-yet enemy and praying to God they never catch on makes it seem as though you are indeed into some freaky shit and very well should be ashamed.

Which isn't to say this is all directed at you personally, it's a mindset that's plagued tickle freaks for years and is for all of them. But hey, you did take my post as a direct and personal insult.

 

[Fire_Sprite]

I think people are biologically programmed to be awkward and defensive about their sexuality. Throw that in with a non-mainstream fetish and you've got paranoia galore.

 

[SmarterthanU]

Oh, but grown-ups tickling other grown-ups isn't necessarily sexual, right? These people who are freaking out about a grown man (congressman, to be exact) rolling around on the floor with his employees just don't understand that tickling can just be for the fun of it. People are just pervs, assuming that was sexual. Yeah. Right.

OF COURSE this kind of thing is bad for us. When people with any fetish can't control themselves and respect the boundaries of others and the boundaries of professional conduct (even in a casual or celebratory situation), it's bad for all of the other well-behaved pervs out there who share that fetish.

Fetishes are fun, but they are also sexual and thus have to be in check, just like any other display of sexual attention. When a person can't control himself, the vanilla world automatically assumes it's because of the fetish. It isn't a fetish that makes someone do something inappropriate, stupid and creepy - plenty or people with very -- uh -- let's say "robust" sexual fetishes have no trouble controlling themselves.

 

[Fire_Sprite]

Oh, but grown-ups tickling other grown-ups isn't necessarily sexual, right? These people who are freaking out about a grown man (congressman, to be exact) rolling around on the floor with his employees just don't understand that tickling can just be for the fun of it.

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying that average people will assume that tickling is universally sexual but we know that it isn't? I think the roles got reversed there. Truth be told, tickling isn't universally as erotic to everyone as it is to us but it is almost universally an act of flirting and foreplay. The people's conception that his activity was unprofessional and kind of homo-erotic is well founded.

OF COURSE this kind of thing is bad for us. When people with any fetish can't control themselves and respect the boundaries of others and the boundaries of professional conduct (even in a casual or celebratory situation), it's bad for all of the other well-behaved pervs out there who share that fetish.

The only people speculating that Massa has a tickling fetish are the people here.

Fetishes are fun, but they are also sexual and thus have to be in check, just like any other display of sexual attention. When a person can't control himself, the vanilla world automatically assumes it's because of the fetish.

There's the misconception right there. I've seen nothing to indicate that vanilla people blame fetishes for negative behavior. When someone dies during BDSM play, the public holds the partner responsible. They don't call for government sanctions on bondage equipment or picket to get fetish clubs shut down.

It isn't unreasonable to expect that some people are going to get the wrong impression about tickling's relationship to sex, but the thought that things like this will turn the tide against us TK fetishists is paranoid.

 

[DEEPSHOTONE]

Its very bad press for us. Our society is quite confusing. Its ok to swallow someone's "cum" but tickling is out of the question. Sad, really sad

 

[Texas_Tickle]

Its very bad press for us. Our society is quite confusing. Its ok to swallow someone's "cum" but tickling is out of the question. Sad, really sad

Perhaps, but as I have said before, but the general population has a very lax attention span. Give them a week and the general population will have a new 'scandal' to panic over.