the nature of tickling

[siamese dream]

I've often wondered things like why ticklishness was a trait of humans; scientifically, what "purpose" it served. Or why certain people feel aroused by tickling, like ourselves, or hate tickling, or aren't ticklish at all.

I think the answer might lie in the animal world. I love learning about the natural world and wildlife, I could watch National Geographic and the Discovery Channel all day. You actually learn a lot from these shows, as I'm about to explain. I watched a show about wild chimpanzees in African forests, and remember seeing them film a mother chimpanzee tickling her baby. It "laughed" in response, similar to the way a human would. The narration suggested that this behavior was bonding activity between the mother and baby.

Perhaps tickling is a primal form of physical bonding between animals of a species. Chimpanzees are not the only example of this in the animal world. A surprising example of this behavior is shown in the anaconda. The males have a small "spur" on their bellies which has only one known purpose: during mating, the male will "tickle" the female by gently flicking it against her, apparently to prepare her for mating. No, the snake does not laugh, their faces aren't capable of expression like that. But since this behavior only occurs before mating, I would guess she's getting something out of it.

So now we have a natural world connection between tickling and sex. Hmmm makes me think maybe we know something everyone else doesn't lol...

As for why people respond to tickling in so many different ways, I guess it's just that everyone has a different sensibility. To some people (us), the ticklish sensation is arousing and fun. Perhaps we're maybe slightly more in tune with our animal instincts than everyone else 😉... and people who react to tickling with panic and hate it, maybe they fear intimacy on some level, or feel being ticklish is an undesirable weakness, and respond accordingly. As for people who aren't ticklish, I'm not really sure, but I guess it's just your sensibility... I would say that tickling can still be a form of physical bonding and affection, even if the person doesn't respond to tickling with the traditional laughing, squirming etc.

I don't know, it's late and I'm thinking too much... what do you all think?

 

[milagros317]

Yes, I believe that the natural function of tickling is bonding, not just between mother and child, but between a child and anybody who wants to show afection to the child. Moreover, there is no need to 'outgrow' this activity as adults; it is so much fun.

 

[Deleted member 2452]

good points siamese

i believe those of us who have a love of/for tickling,
have it hard wired into our system. we recognise it for the sexual play it is (as adults).
i feel sorry for people that aren't ticklish. those poor creatures will never know the joy, and sensual pleasure, that only tickling brings.
those who are ticklish, but hate it, are very confused people.
they reguard it as "childish", "imature", and other terms to hide behind. the truth is that they are affraid of what their reactions will be. some are simpley control freake who would rather die than give in to someone on such a primal/sexual level.
on another note, there are those of us tickle lovers who are in it for the control it gives them. they are not in it for the sharing of titilation, or pleasure. these are the people who want to do it to someone, not with someone.
and lastely, did you know that rats are ticklish? yup, they are.
steve

 

[SuperTickler]

Yes, I believe that the natural function of tickling is boning...

I agree! 😎 😎 😎

 

[Prime]

i have to believe that word was meant to be bonding not boning. 😛

 

[magic fingers]

I don't know, Prime. For me, tickling often results in boning! 😀

 

[Klais]

It's a social thing

As far as its distribution across the animal kingdom, tickling seems to be limited to humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas. The anaconda tickling that Siamese mentioned is really an anthropomorphic way (as related by The Discovery Channel) of describing part of the courtship/mating sequence.

Steve mentioned rats; a major criticism of the study demonstrating 'ticklish rats' is that the observations were taken out of context. Without understanding the social context in which free-living (wild) rats exhibit so-called tickling behaviors and vocalizations, laboratory observations can be subject to misinterpretation.

Back in the day, most theory regarded tickling (or ticklishness, rather) as part of a defense mechanism (the following was lifted off of http://www.comedycourse.fsnet.co.uk/fun5.html ): " As Darwin was the first to point out, the innate response to tickling is squirming and straining to withdraw the tickled part...a defense reaction designed to escape attacks on vulnerable areas such as the soles of the feet, armpits, belly, and flank."

Tickling has since been regarded as an element in social bonding, especially between mother and child. In the behavioral sciences, not much attention has been devoted to tickling's role in more intimate social interaction. For a more detailed treatment, folks might want to check out the chapter on tickling in Robert Provine's book "Laughter: A Scientific Investigation".

Cheers,

Klais

 

[milagros317]

Thank you, Prime. I have edited my response to correct the typo.

 

[Ayla ny]

milagros, the second way makes more sense... but the first way was funnier! 😛

 

[maverick83]

areen...

(Just a disagreement, not an attack)
A little harsh, no? Seems you're coming down pretty hard on those who dislike being tickled. I mean if they don't like it, they don't like it. Is it really our place to judge them for it? Are we not then guilty of the same kind of discrimination used by those who stigmatize us? I doubt they are confused. They know at least that aspect of their own preferences very well. And while it is certainly a control issue for some, I strongly believe there are many who simply don't like the feeling itself. It may very well be comparable, for some, to something like drowning, struggling to breath. I mean, how many of us would honestly enjoy that?

As for my thoughts on the subject introduced by this post, I can honestly say I don't know what to think. The purpose tickling would best serve varies from person to person. It actually ranges from a means of torture to a means of sexual stimulation. (Or even both!😀 )

 

[SuperTickler]

Re: good points siamese

...and lastly, did you know that rats are ticklish?...

Yeah, but who wants to tickle a rat? 😎

 

[Deleted member 2452]

maverick83, maybe you're right

i may have been too harsh, or critical. i think it's brought on by the people who do knock tickling, and us tickle folk. i was responding to their critizism. a question to you; have you know anyone who stated they hated tickling, yet haven't been tickled since childhood?
supertickler. i or rather my kids have pet rats. we've had a series of them for 5 years now. they are very clean, smart, and fun little guys. try playing with one, you may find yourself tickling on the nape of their neck, lol.
steve

 

[SuperTickler]

Sorry, I gotta riff on this "rat" thing a little more...

1. How can you tell that the rats are really ticklish and not just faking it?

2. Do you tie up the rat before you tickle it?

3. If you tickle a rat more than it can stand, will PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) get on your case?

4. Should we start a sub-forum called "Ticklish Rats" where we can ask various well-known rats (like Ben) in online chats (also known as "Rat Chat") if they are ticklish? 😎

 

[Prime]

Re: Re: good points siamese

Yeah, but who wants to tickle a rat? 😎

Ahhh come on tell me you could'nt tickle this lil rat. 😀

Disclaimor......Mr. Prime will not be held accountable or in any way responsible for the altering of a perfectly good picture in order to get cheap laughs.... 😛

 

[U.N.Owen]

All right, all right, I confess! I'm deeply emotionally involved with tickling rats. I didn't want it to happen, it just did! She came into my life so unexpectedly, filching the cheese from my larder. I tried to shoo her away, to end it all quickly... but once I took her in my hand, and felt the soft little body, I just couldn't help myself! You don't understand how hard it is! Every time we try to go out, the strange looks we get! I brought her to my favorite restaurant, just a pleasant night out for two, and the place got shut down by the public health inspectors!

Oh, the unfairness, the persecution of it all!

*Sob!* I'm sorry, I can't go on...


😀

 

[Prime]

There, there U.N.Owen admitting it was the first step.........to getting shunned by the rest of us...get out you freak.....heh j/k


and thus why i will never have a career as a counselor....doh

 

[U.N.Owen]

Oh, it's all too cruel!

😀

 

[maverick83]

areen

To answer your question, I have never known anyone who said they hated tickling in general. I know people who hate being tickled, but think nothing of it. My whole attitude about it is:You don't have to like it, but don't give me a problem because I do. That said, I cerainly understand what you said about people knocking it.

 

[Deleted member 2452]

responding to super tickler

ah more rat bait! i love it, lol.

1) you can tell if a rat is faking because then they only squeek. but when they are truely ticklish they sqyeek, and sort of vibrate.

2) i rarely tie up a human ticklee, and never my animal friends. actually in the past you'd of had a hard time telling the two apart!
again more lol's.

3) i wish some peta types would come here to complain. then i would have to show them the "harmlessness" of tickling! no wait, those peta babes don't shave their underarms do they?...

4) rat web tickling site, with rat chats? i thought we had that already?!?!

steve

 

[tklr5150]

Rats? Tickling rats? You sick fucks! Where the hell did this perverted garbage come from????????

Now, tickling meerkats . . . that's another story 😀

 

[kurchatovium]

Anybody tickle any hamsters? I think they are much cuter than rats.🙂

 

[hiram]

The Nature of Tickling

Thomas Aquinas called Aristotle "The Philosopher." I've never seen or read much to suggest that he was wrong about that. Aristotle never had centuries of science as a foundation for his thinking. Yet he never stopped asking, "Why." Aristotle eventually concluded that anything that occurs as a pattern in nature is somehow necessary for said nature to be healthy. The first time I ever read this was his discussion on why we dream while sleeping. That turned out true, as studies in the last half of the 20th Century proved. Something tells me the same thought applies to ticklishness and tickling.

There is an oft repeated characteristic that has been said (in jest) for at least a large number of years that I know of. It certainly applied to me. I always said I was "cursed to love women." That was always my perspective and the only one I felt, even if I never totally understood it.

It is infinitely fascinating that my wife finds several of her "features" to be her least desirable traits. I s'pect she is not the only woman in the history of the world that feels the way she does about these characteristics. The thing that I find interesting about it is these are her features that I find the most desirable or the most able to cause my heart to skip the odd beat just to look at her move. The thing that makes this the most interesting to me is that women are this way, primarily, because men have liked it that way for, lo, these last 200,000 years (give or take a few). My guess is that condition will continue as long as guys keep feeling about it the way I do.

I think it's the same with tickling and ticklishness. I've never subscribed to the common theories about tickling. I think people are ticklish because it's another tool in helping us attract mates, that is, those we want to attract like us this way. The way a woman's body twists and turns in response to some form of tickling simply takes the natural beauty of a specific woman and increases it exponentially. Seriously, have you ever seen a woman into tickling that wasn't a knockout. It's universal. Then, since it takes at least two to tickle, it not only helps us attract one another, it demands that we get together. That idea is such a treat.

Hiram

Jimmie Rodgers once popularized a song that went something like this:

When I was a young man and never been kissed,
I got to thinkin'it over how much I had missed,
So I got me a girl and I kissed her and then,
O lordy well I kissed her again,
Because she had kisses sweeter than wine...

If I could find a way to rhyme it, I'd make tickling the object of a similar verse. The thing of it is, is, when you have the tickle bug as bad as I do, and when you are first ready to make yor way in the world, and you get that glorious feeling the first time you get physically tangled up with a ticklish lass, that's when you get that peek over the window sill into heaven.

The best part is I like it today as much as I did thirty years ago...maybe more so.

 

[JoBelle]

Hiram,

Your posts always make me want to stand in front of a mirror and practice those "beautiful" contortions you refer to when you talk about tickling..lol 😉

As much as I love to be tickled, and whoo BOY, don't I love it...

I feel much the same way about a ticklish man as you do about a ticklish woman. I think there is something divinely erotic about watching the muscles flex under a hairy chest. It must be something primal like hunting. Ever watch a cheetah scope out a horizon? That's how I feel when I have my long nails running down the spine of my male "prey." There is an urge that fills me when I hear his voice...that usually strong and cocky voice as it begins to tremble and go a bit shy. Then to hear a man laugh. Mmmmm....you know you've hit a spot that is making his mind race when he barks out a laugh that shakes his body. Is there no greater pleasure than binding up centuries of dominant flesh and tormenting it a while? Yes, I know he'll "get even" on my tender tootsies possibly, but what a game! One I love!

Bottling these thoughts up can make a girl do evil things. I'll have to get it out soon, I think. But isn't geography a bitch? 😛

Joby, girl tickler.

 

[tk86]

"..isn't geography a bitch?"

Geography sucks...

 

[Deleted member 2452]

jobelle i wish i could be there for you right now!

i love how you talked about tickling a man.
i am a man who enjoys, no make that, thrives when tickled.
and a woman with your outlook would be a gods send!

on another note, venray, or venraya, do you have a gif of a rat sticking out it's tongue? i wanna send it to kurch.
steve