Non-Consensual Tickling: No Means NO!

I have had far too many conversations about this subject lately to not address it with a blog post. Society needs to acknowledge and amend the problem of non-consensual tickling. For some reason guys like to use tickling as (what we assume they believe to be) a clever way to get handsy with a girl without actually making a move. 

I suppose guys do this because they think it is cute. Of course it is not cute -- it's juvenile. Maybe it was cute when I was a 14 year old girl -- I can't really remember. But I am not a 14 year old girl anymore, so unless you're a 14 year old boy you should stop trying to tickle the girl you are dating. If it's just an excuse to get handsy, why don't you just get handsy instead? If I'm going to shoot you down for getting handsy, I'm going to shoot you down for tickling too.

Besides the fact that it's annoying, there's a bigger issue. Guys don't know how to tickle. They don't seem to understand that it involves only light pressure and some finesse. When they "tickle" you they are actually forcefully jabbing your sides with iron fingers. It hurts! I'm not wreathing and trying to wriggle away because I'm ticklish, I'm doing it because I'm in pain! Here's a hint about tickling: it shouldn't leave bruises. If it leaves a permanent mark you're doing it wrong.

The final and greatest problem is that when you tell a guy to stop tickling you they never listen. Rather, they take that as encouragement to persist! I'm not being coy or coquettish, I genuinely don't want to be tickled. Think of my middle as a touch-with-permission-only-zone. No means NO! If I ask you to stop you should really stop! We shouldn't need a freaking safe word! If you find a girl who is into that great -- knock yourself out! Just make sure the tickling is consensual. Tickle rape is wrong.