Why do some like being tickled and others not?

[juniper22]

I have been thinking about this for a while and I would like to see what others have to say about it.

I have always been ticklish and, maybe its cause of the games my uncle and I used to play, I love being tickled (by certain people). My bf is ticklish as well, only really in one spot but he doesn't like it.

Now, what do you guys think? Why do some people like being tickled and others not? Childhood experiences? Associations with tickling?

 

[rhiannon]

I guess it's just genetic. Like some people like spinach and others don't. 🙂

 

[Skipadeedoodah]

The same question can be asked about anything in this world. Some people like it - some don't.

With tickling specifically, I know some people who don't like it because they don't feeling the loss of control. Some just don't like the sensation. Some love/hate it. You can't say one reason why a group of people feel a certain way.

 

[Aimee]

I get what you're asking. It's a mystery to me too.

I've always wondered how can some people strictly like lering and other strictly like leeing? Ya know? But I guess that's just the way it is.

 

[KrazieDog]

I get what you're asking. It's a mystery to me too.

I've always wondered how can some people strictly like lering and other strictly like leeing? Ya know? But I guess that's just the way it is.

You've made a point directly relating to it. You were almost 100% lee until NEST and then got to experience ler'ing someone and felt the fun/excitement/rush and now you do both. I think the same goes for the question. So many people were "tortured" with tickling as a child by siblings/family/friends way beyond the point of enjoyment and that has always stayed with them and even became a phobia. The phobia that they'll return to that world of fear/pain they experienced as a helpless child.

For a lot of people, when they finally do get another a chance to play with a friend/lover and have someone slowly break them in or play very lightly or lovingly and rebuild that trust, they can allow themselves the chance to experience the awesome feelings, tactile sensations, and shared connection tickling can bring. At that point it becomes a whole new event than it was at the other point in their life. The fear gets taken away, and the pleasure of the action is allowed to be felt.

So I guess it's all how someone's feelings on the subject were shaped to begin with, but it's never out of the realm of possibility to convert, not necessarily to a fetish, but an ability for enjoyment.

 

[emilyemilyemily]

because when a mommy and daddy love each other very much...

wait, wrong thread. whoops.

 

[Mister Scruff]

because you touch yourself at night

 

[Aimee]

because you touch yourself at night

 

[juniper22]

because you touch yourself at night

Please, this is a mature question. If you don't have anything mature or relevant to say, please, just stay out of the thread.

 

[emilyemilyemily]

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/serious%20cat" target="_blank"><img src="http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu105/solinoure/serious-cat.jpg" border="0" alt="Serious Cat Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>

 

[Mister Scruff]

Please, this is a mature question.

If by "mature" you mean "aged, rank and done to death", then I agree entirely.

 

[juniper22]

I'm allowed to ask my questions, thanks.

 

[Artoo]

I'm allowed to ask my questions, thanks.

You are that. And he's not been banned from responding.
Just ignore him when he gets your goat; I know I do. 😉

 

[Gadilici]

Some people have a natural bent for it. Others against it. Some people have had experiences which build a love for it, some a hatred.

For some it's both.

What makes a masochist enjoy pain? What makes a sadist enjoy giving it?

Anyone can be taught to hate or love any activity. Just depends on approach personality, dedication of the teacher/learner, etc.

Why do you love tickling, Juniper? If you can answer that, then you'll have an answer for many.

Or you could be like me and not have any idea at all.

Christopher

 

[juniper22]

I plan to Artoo. Just wanted to say my quick little thing to him. People like him, with responses like his, do not deserve my time of day. Just simply trying to understand my world.

 

[juniper22]

I'm not 100% sure. I attribute it to the fact that, when I was much younger all the way up to a few years ago, my uncle and I made games out of it. I loved being tickled by him or my friends. I just loved the feeling and the laughter. I don't like it from parents, grandparents or most of my other aunts/uncles.

 

[poopies]

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/serious%20cat" target="_blank"><img src="http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu105/solinoure/serious-cat.jpg" border="0" alt="Serious Cat Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>

 

[mykal]

I think that it largely depends on conditioning, and how tickling is handled. I have a nephew who is 4 years old, and when my parents babysit, he is always asking to be tickled. For him, it is a way of receiving affection. I also had a friend who told me that when her friends would tickle her, she loved it because for her, it meant that they cared for her. Being tickled was a form of connection.

For me on the other hand, at the moment, I am strictly a 'ler, though you could say that I am beginning to feel 'lee curious. I don't recall being tickled a lot as a kid, but I do recall one time when I was tickled and it was taken too far, and from then on, I was so paranoid about being tickled, I did everything that I could to avoid even the possibility that I might be tickled. Only now, after 30+ years, have I started to even think about being a 'lee, and only then with someone that I can trust.

 

[taz_tickler]

My experience has been most people who don't like it were "tickle tortured" until they couldn't stand it by older siblings or other older people as kids and it wasn't something they associated with play. For others, it has been having a problem with being "out of control" and they don't like it.....along the lines of experiences as mentioned before. I have been fortunate enough to have been in a few relationships where the lady was indifferent to it but found she really loved playing like that after I introduced her to it.

 

[ParanoidChant]

I remember reading somewhere that roughly 1/3 of the ticklish population enjoys the feeling of tickling (not necessarily on a sexual level, mind you), 1/3 hates the feeling and 1/3 is indifferent towards it. I just assumed it was coz the nerves that detect a ticklish sensation can also detect pleasurable, painful and simply tactile feeling, so the chances of associating tickling as a positive, negative or neutral sensation would fall about evenly within those three.

... BEHOLD MY COMPLETELY SCIENTIFIC REASONING! If anybody feels like citing my lazy ass's sources, be my guest ...

 

[SillyMan]

It is an interesting question, and I have also wondered about it. Many of the answers in the thread sounds reasonable, tickling can be done in different ways and taken too far. I myself have always wondered why I hated tickling at the schoolyard, but liked it when my female cousin and I tickled each other. Later I liked the ticklefights with my girlfriend, but hated being tickled by others. Strange, but maybe it also has to do with the person, who is tickling.