Popularize Tickling?

[Soda Bobinski]

Howdy folks!!!!

I would just like to pose a question for everyone here :

a) Would you like to see the "tickling fetish" become more popular? Are you sick of having to hide the way you feel about tickling because you feel that society , friends , & family will think you to be strange & weird? Do you dream of the day when tickling becomes so popular among the masses that it would just be a 'normal' thing to be into .... & you wouldn't have to "figure out a way" to tell your significant other that you'd like to incorporate tickling into the relationship? Do you wish that there was more tickling in mainstream movies , TV , cartoons , books , etc? Do you ever wish to see a mainstream movie 'about' tickling ... rather than there just being a tickling 'scene'? Would you like to read your favorite comic book & see that the villian uses tickle-torture on the hero because it's just as 'normal' as using pain or some other torture device? Would you like to read a romance novel & see that tickling is just as casually mentioned as kissing , hugging , making love , etc? ..... I think you get the idea ......

..... OR .....

b) Are you happy that we ticklers/lees have our own little forum we can go to? Do you think it's cool that we can visit the TMF & consider it our own little "pocket" of the internet-world? Do you like visiting other tickle sites , knowing that you are among the priviledged few that know about them? Do you like having to keep your passion for tickling private ... & away from the public/mainstream? Is keeping your fetish private & to yourself more desirable for you rather than it being a well-known topic? Are you happy that there are several companies that provide tickling videos , clips , & stories/art via the 'net ..... rather than going to Media Play or Best Buy , where it could be anywhere? Are you happy/satisfied with the status of the tickling community or would you like to see it grow .... get bigger & better?

I'm curious to see what people think.

 

[toyou444]

Let me jump in on this one.

I just had this debate with myself over the weekend. I was musing on the S&M area and think that maybe it would be cool to have us that weel accepted (as it is). But the more I thought about the more I like being under the radar. Let us have OUR thing and we can enjoy it and we can make the most of it and people can leave us alone.

Just my 2 cents.

~ toyou

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

For me, it's a mixed bag. Personally, I don't much care what people think of my love of tickling. It's a part of who I am. As with every other part of who I am, people will either accept me or not. If they don't, I'm not going to worry about it. If they do, cool. Maybe I'll make a new friend in them.

But, not everyone is like me. Lucky them! 😉 For many, that degree of acceptance by individuals and society as a whole is very important. So, for their sake, sure I'd like to see it be more accepted. It would make it much easier on people who are already looking at themselves with scorn and thinking that they're weird or something. But, I think WE need to be the place where acceptance begins.

We (I mean that collectively) tend to be among the first to yell that we shouldn't be judged or looked down upon. Yet, when someone within our own community has a slightly different take on their fetish, people often put them down. Smelly feet? Peeing? Too much bondage? Too little bondage? Nudity? Lack of nudity? Sexual? Playful? Who's tickling whom? The list goes on and on. If we want others to accept us, we're going to have to learn to accept ourselves and one another. I honestly don't see others as being able to accept us until that happens.

just my two cents
Ann

 

[vampirecult]

For me, it's a mixed bag. Personally, I don't much care what people think of my love of tickling. It's a part of who I am. As with every other part of who I am, people will either accept me or not. If they don't, I'm not going to worry about it. If they do, cool. Maybe I'll make a new friend in them.

But, not everyone is like me. Lucky them! 😉 For many, that degree of acceptance by individuals and society as a whole is very important. So, for their sake, sure I'd like to see it be more accepted. It would make it much easier on people who are already looking at themselves with scorn and thinking that they're weird or something. But, I think WE need to be the place where acceptance begins.

We (I mean that collectively) tend to be among the first to yell that we shouldn't be judged or looked down upon. Yet, when someone within our own community has a slightly different take on their fetish, people often put them down. Smelly feet? Peeing? Too much bondage? Too little bondage? Nudity? Lack of nudity? Sexual? Playful? Who's tickling whom? The list goes on and on. If we want others to accept us, we're going to have to learn to accept ourselves and one another. I honestly don't see others as being able to accept us until that happens.

just my two cents
Ann

well said. 😉

 

[Mitchell]

As I often am with many subjects. Iam ambivalent on this one. Here are my thoughts.
On one hand, it would be nice if tickling were a bit more accepted in the mainstream world, and if it could be expanded, and become an acceptable part of mainstream society and, or, sexual behavior for people other than those of us who have this "preference", as I like to call it.
As many know who know me on here, before I joined TMF, I had female letter pen pals, many of whom I have asked if they are ticklish. So many people who answered the question said something like:" Yes, Iam very ticklish, but I hate to be tickled" While Iam sure there may well be people who dont have tickling fetishes, who still dont mind being tickled, the vast majority of women I've spoken to do hate to be tickled. I think this may be from some bad experience they had growing up where they may have been tickled by an older and stronger sibling as a way of torture and domination, that was not pleasant to them, against their will. Furthermore, even in a loving relationship with a significant other, there are just some people who dont enjoy the sensation of tickling. They see it as an annoying, teasing, thing, instead of the sexual fetish, or exciting activity, that many of us do.
Someone in this thread mentioned the idea of tickling being under the radar, and, I think, while people like Howard Stern may have mainstreamed it somewhat more with his tickle shows, the fact is that many consider him sexual and off color, so that doesnt bring it into the mainstream like it would on say, another type of program.
I dont know if tickling will ever be "mainstreamed" simply because of the public perception of our fetish, and the fact that many people hate to be tickled. I do think that places like the TMF encourage people like our members to come out and not feel ashamed. This is a good thing, but, as for it becoming mainstream totally, beyond Howard Stern, and maybe articles on it in sex magazines, like the one I described I read in Hustler in the 80s, which was the first place I had ever read about tickling, I dont see it making a major mainstream move. This may be a good thing, as someone said. Only my views.

Mitch

 

[ticklkitten]

I'm with both sides on this one. I love our group and our close friendships here. but I also wouldn't mind not sounding wierd or trying to pick out the right time to tell a date that I'd like him to tickle me. I think I'm pretty happy keeping things the way they are.

 

[Soda Bobinski]

Cool , guys ..... thanks for replying to this thread ..... I'm always interested in hearing "ticklephiles" opinions on tickling & the tickling community ..... anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[Amnesiac]

This issue comes up a lot and for very simple reasons that I think most commentators miss. I personally think there are 3 reasons people debate this question.

I. Most people equate tickling fetishism with more than a little bit of shame. For reasons the jury's still out on, fetishes like feet, leather, whipping, etc. are all partially mainstream while tickling remains truly bizarre. The former might be due to the number of people involved in them, but tickling either because of or in spite of its innocence gets derision if it is acknowledged at all. So think of tickling fetishists as the minority that othe rminorities don't really take seriously. So I think the movement to popularize may be driven substantially by the desire to be recognized, taken seriously, or to not be alone.

II. The other fetish communities, even though occasionally mocked by the mainstream, nevertheless have access to mainstream resources. You can find large numbers of publications, pornography and all sorts of media catering to them. Granted, we have lots of artists, but less than a handful of them are Heavy Metal or Louvre-quality expertise, which is something you'd find in mainstream. So another reason I think is that the community would like to have more stuff available to it that you could buy in a store and not have to search long hours for online. I think there's more than a few people here who would like to keep the anonymity but have the resources that the mainstream does.

III. Lots of us get our start by the hinted tickling we see in cartoons and comics and if tickling were popularized, we'd see a lot more instanced tickling situations in mainstream media, which woulf further our appetites and probably help produce a new strain of ticklees and lers to take over when we're old and grey.

Just my opinion, anyway.

 

[drew70]

My feeling is that tickling could explode in popularity but it's unlikely to happen soon, if at all. The greatest obstacle is our insistance on classifying tickling as a sexual fetish, joining the ranks of whips, chains, and golden showers. With very few exceptions, nearly every tickling website including this one is Adults Only. We're shotting ourselves in our collective foot by clinging to this mindset. I say we take tickling out of the gutter and put it back in the schools and churches where it belongs!

 

[Ace Riley]

...

Drew70...*slaps you with a large trout*

😀

---Ace