For me, it swings between affectionate, callous and sadistic. If it’s just a quick tickle from someone I know and love, great. If it’s someone I don’t know, but doesn’t continue, kind of callous/rude, but at least they stopped. If they don’t stop when I ask, then it’s sadistic.
I’m ticklish in some spots to the point of pain. Especially when people find those areas, they tend to go overboard, with the exception of close friends and family, who know that that hurts.
My father was a completely unaffectionate man. He didn’t kiss, hug, pat on the head . . . nothing. But he tickled - sort of. He dug his nails in too deeply to a little kid side and any sign of laughter or giggle would intensify his efforts. From him I learned to turn off my ticklish-ness. I think he was purely sadistic. I never thought about it before - but poor Mom :eek:
I now respond violently to ticklers too.
It tends to be playful. Doesn’t mean I like it, as generally speaking I never have.
Am I the only one who likes to be tickled? Especially tickle wars where everybody (but mostly me because I am REALLY ticklish) ends up laughing so hard they can’t breath. When I tickle someone, it usually means I want to be tickled back (that or I’m bored and trying to start something).
Who in hell tickles someone they don’t even know? Grown ups know that you never touch someone without permission.
Uh, my family doesn’t tickle me. I’m an adult, so are they. Tickling is extremely physically intimate, given the places you have to touch in order to get a ticklish reaction, certainly moreso than hugging (which I will do with family, if we’re close).
Once you hit puberty, certain physical acts get weird as all hell when done between adults who aren’t sleeping together. It’s even weirder between adults who are related. I have had certain close friends who I would snuggle with, non-sexually, but I don’t snuggle with my family, either.
We’ve never actually talked about it, but it’s just always been taken as self-evident within my family. My sister probably tickled me when we were kids (don’t really remember), but it had certainly stopped by junior high. If a family member tried to tickle me now, my reaction would most likely be to loudly blurt out “What the hell are you doing?” I’d be absolutely shocked that they’d go there.
I’m not sure anyone’s suggested the former ever happens. The latter does, though.
My brothers were sadists about tickling. They did not stop just before you peed your pants, they’d take it all the way through and then laugh while you desperately ran for the bathroom sobbing from embarrassment.
(This is one reason why I’m a stay at home mom. There will be no sadistic babysitting siblings in my house.)
Anyway, I enjoy it on a very small scale now as an adult. Sometimes with my husband I might tickle, but he’s a digger and very aggressive in return attacks so I don’t often initiate a tickle battle. I will lightly tickle small children in their sides mostly as a distraction technique. It works beautifully with toddlers especially. I do tickle my children some when cuddling just for a second or two as a sign of affection.
I took it from this (emphasis mine):
Granted, but assault is a crime for a reason.
I voted “playful”, because most of my own personal experience with tickling has involved children. It would probably have a different meaning between two (or more) adults, though.
… is fucking annoying.
I’d rather be poked with a hot skewer than be tickled. At least that way I’d have a valid reason for punching the tickler in the head.
I’m not ticklish (probably due to numerous abdominal surgeries)
Is an instant-safeword level hard limit. eyedart
Usually the people who won’t stop don’t even tickle right, they poke and prod and claim they’re tickling you but they’re not. Am I giggling? No? Then you’re not tickling, you’re poking, and get your finger out of my ribs if you like having it!
It’s erotic if you use a feather. It’s perverted if you use the whole chicken.
None of the above. Tickling is neutral-to-bad and the word I’d most associate with it is “accidental.” I don’t tickle people on purpose as a rule, and I am not tickled on purpose as a rule.
I “tickle” little kids, but with them I generally make tickly gestures and say, “Tickle, tickle.” That’s all it takes!
Does anybody remember the old joke where “particularly nasty weather” said by a suave lothario to a young lady gets converted into “tickle your ass with a feather” by a drunk who overheard it? It’s the rest of the joke that gets the laugh.
No, you’re not the only one. I like giving and receiving. In the right situation it can be very erotic, or just a lot of fun, although not something I would enjoy on any level with another man. I also wouldn’t initiate tickling with a woman unless we were romantically involved.
I chose playful though, because in my experience that’s the most common scenario. I’ve known several women who liked to tickle and presumably wanted to be tickled (because that’s always going to be my response), and most of them were not coming on to me. Likewise when I’ve seen people tickle kids, it has been playful and not to the point of being sadistic (with one or two exceptions).