Tickle Torture fact or fantasy?

[curious]

Hey there deep thinkers,

I'm sure we've all had this one on our minds at one point or another, can tickling be an effective form of torture? I know what you're thinking 'why tickle someone when you can just hurt them?' Well consider this, if it has been proven that strapping someone down to a table and repetively dripping water on thier forehead can cause an unbearable amount of distress and perhaps even insanity ultimatley, can't incessant tickling produce the same effect in much less time? Who here wants to weigh in on this?

 

[-Hari-]

of course, its just not very consistent cause some people love it and some people it just doesn't effect at all.

Anything that forces an unwanted sensation can be used as effective torture.

 

[rhiannon]

It can be, but due to the fact that not everybody is equally ticklish while pain works on pretty much everybody, tickling was historically never a form of torture that would be used as part of the regular program.

 

[BMoreTklr]

Yea.....I mean in theory it could work, but I don't see anyone really using tickling as an "enhanced interrogation technique".

 

[Comfort Eagle]

I've known people who would rather be stabbed than tickled.

So yeah, find someone it affects enough and it's brutal.

 

[Myriads]

A good number of hardcore S&M folks that I know declare tickling a non-option in their play. These are people who regularly get cropped, whipped, branded, cut, pressure point bound, and play with fire, ice, electricity, air restriction, and more.

To them it's intolerable and not fun in the way pain is.

To them it can be torture.

But as with any physical stimuli, it will be individual specific. Hell, there was a research study on how effective orgasm control and with holding on males was as a torture (It was very effective) but every person will respond to stimuli differently. I once new a sub who had reversed pain/pleasure responses. She would directly feel pleasure from pain stimuli. Punishing her was difficult until I found she hated being cold, and sticking her in an ice shower was effective at teaching I was unpleased.

So to answer; Yes, for some people. No question.

 

[TickleVisitor]

I would agree it could produce that effect. I mean, in a video, the area is controlled (if thats the right word). But if you were kidnapped and tickle tortured, you wouldn't know you're captors and the victim has the mindset that anything could happen to them.

 

[rhiannon]

Imagine how hilariously twisted it would be if somebody like us were the subject of some secret government tickle torture program.

To be honest it wouldn't feel any different for me than being raped!

 

[DontAskJusTckle]

I'm suddenly struck with a bit of whimsical nostalgia. Back in the mid 1990s, one of the earlier tickling forums had a member named "Tammy," who claimed to work for a secret government agency, tickle-torturing suspects of terrorism and other crimes. Her stories were quite elaborate and pretty cool. Whether they were true or not, or whether she was even really female didn't matter. It was all good.

 

[rhiannon]

Secret government agencies and posting about it in tickling forums doesn't seem to go too well together. 🙂

 

[Lagos]

I quote from wiki: "In history

Chinese tickle torture is a term used in Western society to describe an ancient form of torture practiced by the Chinese, in particular the courts of the Han Dynasty. Chinese tickle torture was a punishment for nobility since it left no marks and a victim could recover relatively easily and quickly.[2]
Another example of tickle torture was used in ancient Rome, where a person’s feet were dipped in a salt solution, and a goat was brought in to lick the solution off. This type of tickle torture would only start as tickling, eventually becoming extremely painful.[2]"

It has been used historically, or least what information we have that we assume is accurate. Personally for me being tickled with no idea what the hell is going on freaks me out to the point of extreme panicking. I know foot whipping and branding have been tortures in the past that might be similar to what you're looking for. I do seem to recall a horror novel where one of the minor characters was in fact tickled to death. I would assume if an individual was ticklish you could start causing them to talk by extreme tickling and causing them oxygen deprivation and of course the humiliation of soiling themselves. But thats my two cents for now.

 

[rhiannon]

It has been used historically, or least what information we have that we assume is accurate

If you check out other sources, you will find out that there is no historical evidence. It is not mentioned it any law books or on seen on any old pictures while other torture techniqes are very well described. So there is reasonable doubt that it was ever used.

 

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

A good number of hardcore S&M folks that I know declare tickling a non-option in their play. These are people who regularly get cropped, whipped, branded, cut, pressure point bound, and play with fire, ice, electricity, air restriction, and more.

That is very interesting. I mean, would those people still laugh, if they tickled or what? I think most would accept tickling to those other options, or maybe not....

 

[rhiannon]

I mean, would those people still laugh, if they tickled or what?

Maybe. Most people who get tickled and don't like it start screaming pretty soon though.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

I believe i've seen reports (i think MTJ posted them) where tickling was indeed used as a form of torture. It was reportedly done on some prisoners in China, as well as goats being used on a man in Iraq while he was in prison. There was also a report about it being used on a prisoner in a concentration camp. Most of it though seemed to be just mixed in, and not the only thing that was done. I believe there also was a report about it being used on prisoners in some place like India or Pakistan.

 

[Horatio]

I think that if someone was abducted by strangers, taken to a dungeon and strapped down that they would be so friggin' scared that their defense mechanism wouldn't let them be ticklish.

 

[ElFewja]

I thought there was historical evidence for the goats, but that it wasn't so much tickling as it was excruciatingly painful?

 

[dazed]

I think that there has to be an element of enjoying the situation to feel ticklish and react how we do when tied or held down
and tickled. There's a fine line between pain and pleasure with tickling. In some of the possible historic accounts of tickling I'vecome across googling in the lonely small hours the torture element seems to be exhaustion, humiliation and emotional abuse and I wish I'd not read them.

I've also wondered about the 'being too scared to feel ticklish' - fear, worry, pain, cold...not conducive to tickling.

I don't like to refer to my kink as tickle torture because of all the negative associations of that word.

 

[rhiannon]

I thought there was historical evidence for the goats

Not that I know of, at least I wasn't able to find any (and believe me, I've been looking 😉 ). Goats are not reliable enough to actually guarantee a continuous torture. In a German TV show not too long ago, two guys were trying it out. The goats licked for like two seconds, then one ran away and the other bit one of the guys in the big toe! 🙂 It was rather hilarious, but not tickle torture. 🙂

 

[pfromptown]

I have researched this to quite a large degree, and have found no substantial evidence to suggest it has ever been a mainstream torture practice save for a few isolated incidents, such as the gestapo story and a couple of stories of husbands who did it to drive their wives insane, which proved successful, but on a psychological level, as people have said, they knew the 'ler and so the tickling would have been much more effective. I have seen several historical references to foot tickling in public stocks but no "proof" as such, although surely it would be inevitable in that situation. Damn well would if I was around, anyway...

 

[DianaBanana88]

it probably could be a form of torture if the person whos tickling you doesn't have any intentions to stop until they get what they want. Plus if the person being tickled has a hatred for it and is just unbearably ticklish then it would be torturous. Id probably talk and tell them anything they wanted to know if i got tickled enough.

 

[rhiannon]

I have seen several historical references to foot tickling in public stocks but no "proof" as such, although surely it would be inevitable in that situation.

It might have happened every now and then, but I'm afraid people were much more likely to throw nasty stuff at people in stocks than tickling them.

 

[Crazy Wabbit]

Personally, I believe that it could be a form of torture. Especially if there was a drug you could inject into them that would keep them from passing out. It would also be a very slow, cruel, and sadist process.

And there would be nothing pleasant about it at all. Have you ever laughed so hard that you became light headed? How about to the point where it hurt up in your temples as well as straining the muscles in your sides? Well, imagine going through that non-stop without any possible escape from it by fainting, not to mention eventually the person losing control of their bodily functions, as well as the possibility of eventually pulling and tearing some muscles, damaging the person's throat, larynx and vocal cords.

 

[MrTicklefeet]

I believe there also was a report about it being used on prisoners in some place like India or Pakistan.

That rang a bell. Newspaper article from like over ten years ago, (although I wouldn't know how to research it now), mentioned a police department in Pakistan that used tickling to extract confessions for white collar crimes. They would tickle the persons armpits, and said it was very quick and efficient in getting information. One such person even gave up the accomplices names quickly.

 

[AvidTickler]

I'm suddenly struck with a bit of whimsical nostalgia. Back in the mid 1990s, one of the earlier tickling forums had a member named "Tammy," who claimed to work for a secret government agency, tickle-torturing suspects of terrorism and other crimes. Her stories were quite elaborate and pretty cool. Whether they were true or not, or whether she was even really female didn't matter. It was all good.

This sounds utterly amazing! Any idea where we can find "Tammy"'s stories??🙂