Why do "vanilla" people tickle?

[King of tickles]

Obviously everyone on here pretty much deeply loves tickling in some way or another. However, my question is why do vanilla people tickle each other if they don't have a fascination too? This fetish or whatever people wanna call it isn't like others where people wanna be trampled on, beaten, hurt physically or emotionally, and that stuff isn't in public, at least i doubt it is.

 

[Comfort Eagle]

Because you can still enjoy a tickle without getting a boner from it.

Why do "vanilla" people sometimes give their girlfriends a firm smack on the ass?

 

[TickleMyFancy]

Because it's fun and elicits laughter, which is pleasing to both parties (usually).
Tickling can be just playful and flirtatious. Most people don't see it as sexual, but that doesn't mean there aren't vanilla people who "enjoy" the occasional tickle.

 

[rhiannon]

This fetish or whatever people wanna call it isn't like others where people wanna be trampled on, beaten, hurt physically or emotionally, and that stuff isn't in public, at least i doubt it is.

Just because something can happen in public doesn't mean it's not a fetish. Everything can be a fetish. Hell, there's people getting off from seeing others throw up! (Which also does happen publically.....)

Most people like to tickle because they enjoy annoying other people, not because it turns them on.

 

[goddess_nemesis]

Tickling can be a way for people to bond. It's fun and silly.

 

[C.A.B.]

...why do vanilla people tickle...

for the same reason ticklephiles kiss

 

[Mitchell]

I think another reason is that tickling is a form of body contact between two people, that can illicit a strong reaction, without one or both parties being naked, and engaging in actual foreplay or sexual activity. A boyfriend can tickle his fully clothed, and perhaps stocking footed, or just barefooted, girlfriend, and get her to laugh hysterically, or react strongly, with little or no clothes being removed. It's an easy form of body contact, that's playful, not sexual to them, and doesnt necessarially for them, require a whole lot of removal of clothes, thought, foreplay, or time, like sex does.

Mitch

 

[Wade]

Virtually every person who's ever tickled me, either relentlessly or repeatedly, flirtatiously or platonically, has been vanilla (as far as I know); I'm persuaded that the response tickling elicits in a ticklish person is peculiarly calibrated to encourage others to tickle them, whether out of friendly playfulness or antagonistic perversity, or something in between. The visual effect of all that squirming and twitching is funny and the sound of the laughter is pleasant. The act of tickling ticklish people perpetrates itself in the population at large, entirely separate from any focused sexual feelings that a subset of us may attach to it.

 

[MaleTickleeDC]

Most tickling is done by vanilla people, just by virtue of there being far more vanilla people than tickle fetishists.

As others pointed out above, it's a lot easier to get vanilla people to tickle than it is to get them to engage in other fetishes, because tickling also has a vanilla purpose or function.

Because of that I would think it would be pretty easy for the ladies of the TMF to pretty much get tickling any time they wanted. I can't imagine any vanilla guy turning down the hot female lers who post regularly on this site, for example. Even a guy who isn't "into" tickling surely couldn't complain too much if girls like TickleMyFancy and anonymiss86 let loose on him. LOL.

 

[PhoenixRising]

For some it can go either way between good clean fun and kinkyhotsexy. Depends on the situation and who is involved.

 

[WorkInProgress]

I would say that heavy tickling between people who do not have a tickling fetish has more in common with playing paintball or throwing balls to dunk someone in a dunk tank than it does with fetish tickling. I'm serious: a lot of mainstream activities involve inflicting pain or discomfort for fun in a manner not at all sexual.

 

[cue]

I don't know if they realize that there's something to the tickling. They may just think it's harmless fun, while never taking the time to explore that side of themselves. For whatever reason, they may think that it makes them creepy if they admit that they like tickling people. Sometimes, being thought of as different isn't something that they strive for. They could be the ones who never want to look more into that side of them, afraid that they'll somehow be stigmatized by something.

 

[peanie wilpnips]

I think its just a Vanilla way of saying..I LIKE YOU

 

[3xPIN]

Social interaction, torture, extortion, boredom....watching you squirm. I think it is the same as for us, just, you know, without the fixation and/or sexual arousal.