Most people laugh when they are tickled. But there are also individuals for whom tickling or being tickled triggers sexual arousal. This sexual preference is referred to as a tickle fetish or knismolagnia.
In a study, “Tickle Fetishism: Pleasure Beyond Playfulness”, that appeared in the Frontiers in Psychology, Shimpei Ishiyama, et al from the Institute of Pathophysiology of the University Medical Center Mainz wanted to analyze how adults use tickling in connection with sexual activity.
For this, they surveyed 719 people with a so-called tickling fetish, with the results showing that “human sexuality encompasses a variety of forms of expression that need to be studied and understood in greater depth.”
Among their findings were:
- in the context of adult sexuality, there are different roles in the interaction (tickler, tickled), as well as different tickling methods and intensities.
- for most of the 719 study participants, tickling can satisfy them sexually.
- almost half of the respondents reported being able to achieve sexual satisfaction without tickling.
- a quarter of respondents experienced orgasms exclusively through tickling.
- relevant childhood experiences, such as the depiction of tickling in cartoons, played a decisive role in some of the respondents developing a tickling fetish later on.
“Tickling is an intimate activity that requires a certain level of mutual trust. It can bond individuals and serve as an outlet for sexual energy,” said Ishiyama.
For the researchers, future studies should investigate the mechanisms by which tickling triggers sexual pleasure, and “our study results could pave the way for this further research into human sexuality,” Ishiyama ended.
