I had a cousin that tickled me when we were young who came close to getting a black eye when he wouldn’t stop one day.
My SO often sneaks up on me and will grab or poke me with his fingers on both sides just above my hips. I always let out this involuntary grunt…I have no idea how to spell out the sound. I like it because he gets such a kick out of it. He hasn’t discovered the other part of my body where I am incredibly ticklish yet. 
I once dated a girl whose answer to “Are you ticklish?” was, “It depends on who, when and both kinds of where.”
I absolutely HATE being tickled. No external reason (molestation or abuse or anything), I just HATE it. My now-ex tickled me once and I (involuntary, ;)) kicked him in the face and made his lip bleed.
My husband will pretend like he’s going to tickle me and will get a couple of tickles in before the panic-stricken look on my face makes him stop. He’s smart enough to not get kicked in the face.
Tickling is torture to me. Some people seem to think that because the victim laughs and there is no visible damage then the victim shouldn’t be allowed to complain, much less fight back, so it is a great tool for sadists. I can’t think of any other form of putting ones hands on someone else against their will that gets a pass like tickling. I warn people who want to tickle me that I equate it to any other form of assault and still, some people don’t believe me. Why? I wouldn’t slap someone because I think it’s funny or stick my hand in someone’s clothes against their will.
So, IMO, tickling is worse than hitting, slapping, spanking or whatever. It might be fun for some people in the appropriate setting but that doesn’t mean that it is OK for anyone to use any time.
You bet. That actually was a turning point in her martial arts training. You can learn it and practice it, but man, oh, man - when you see it work for real against someone 6 inches taller and 100 pounds heavier than you are, it is a confidence builder like you wouldn’t believe.
She always tells this story when someone asks if she’s ever used her martial arts training on someone.
I’ve got an answer to this one - when I’m tense, I’m ticklish. If I relax and go limp, I’m not. I’ve managed to use this successfully on a couple of “tickle attacks” at parties!
For me, that’s because it doesn’t really turn off. I’m just not that ticklish, so I can hold it in and not respond long enough for the person to usually stop trying. When I want to be tickled, I just respond more quickly.
Going the other way, I have a specific word and action that shows my girlfriend that I absolutely, positively will not continue. So unless I do that the horseplay can still continue, but once it is done she knows she is safe and can relax.
One of the skills I use for dealing with The Crazies is an ability to disassociate to varying degrees. It’s also useful for dealing with everyday stuff like sprained ankles, bonking my head on tables (don’t ask) and apendicitis. It is wonderful for dealing with people who want to tickle me. It’s like turning the volume down on the TV–I just tune out and am only vaguely aware of some pressure in the affected area.
That said, tickling is ok as long as it stops when the victim says so. Like sex. And handshakes.
+1
For me, tickling is justification for me to straight up punch someone in the face. I haven’t had to do it in a long time.
Sounds reasonable and it’s not as though she’s shouting “Asparagus!” so much as letting you know she actually means stop when she couples it with “please”.
My son is only 18 months but will plop his foot in my hand when I’m changing or dressing him and expect me to do “Piggies”. He starts to curl up and giggle by “…had roast beef” and openly laughs when I tickle him during “wee wee wee all the way home”. He can’t mind it that much because he keeps asking for it.
This.
I don’t mind some light tickling along my back/ribs, but I can’t stand for my feet to be tickled: my involuntary response is to kick as hard as I can, indiscriminately. I also can’t stand to be held down, and my ex liked to try to hold my leg down in order to tickle one of my feet. Then he’d get annoyed when I’d hurt him (I have pretty strong legs for a short, fat chick).
When I started dating my current boyfriend I warned him up front about the foot tickling, and that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from hurting him if he ever did it. He sincerely promised that he never would, and it is so nice to be able to wrestle with/tickle him and know that I don’t have to worry about him going for my feet. (IOW, it’s so nice to be respected/to be dating a grownup!)
I think that’s great. You’re teaching her that she controls what kind of contact people have with her, which is a big deal for kids in general and girls in particular. I’ve heard of similar situation situation where the parent taught the kid to wave their hands in front of them in a ‘no more’ kind of motion when they really meant it. They started before she could talk, so it was very useful for establishing communication too.
All answers were good and make sense. I agree how sometimes tickling can be used as some as a way to touch people, whereas other people may over do it thinking they aren’t honestly doing anything wrong.
I asked just out of curiosity because I had this discussion with someone not too long ago. I remember being tickled by my older brother, kind of a big sibling bratty thing as a way of teasing me.
Also someone said this is a way to be a sadist? What does that mean?