The Sneeze Fetish a Growing Phenomenon ?

[Eson]

I have been a member of this forum for three years now (very proud of it by the way) and back in 2005, the fetish was large, but compared to now, it has completley gained a huge following and diffrent aspect. Don't you agree ? I mean, with this forum (****especially with the forum****) and YouTube uploads, people who don't even have the fetish are playing around with it and it actually grows on them! I questioned (in the title) whether it is a growing phenomenon because some of you might have a difference in opinon. Even if you do, the SF looks as if it will continue to grow until its just that, a phenomenon.

Everybody doesn't have to like it and of course some people's fixed opinons of it will remain the same. "Oh It's Nasty, or its Weird, and how could you like that ?" etc. But the way I see it is the SF has superceded alot of fetishes. It could be weird but not abnormal like some I've heard about. Has the question ever glazed your brain about how long people have had this fetish ? People like it for different reasons, but most of the time the prime reason you enjoy your own sneezes is due to the feeling. We will never know this but you couldn't say that in ancient times, this wasn't enjoyed by a person or people privately. lol Of course there were no forums, but the body is the body, its going to like what likes and feel how it feels. If you had the opp. to find things like this out, would you want to ? Does the science of it matter to you ? It does to me, because I'm one who catches the chill from my own sneezes and wouldn't mind knowing where it comes from. To some it is what it is and thats ok, but I'm into details and the art of thngs, so I would rush to find these facts if they were available.

As far as the phenomenon thing goes, a dummy could analyze this fetishes history online and see its future. It will grow and it won't stop. After all, there are people like me who are numb to the feeling or appearance of sneezing and blind to the fetish until it is explored. I'll end with this.......

I remember the availability hotlines years ago, but not near as many sneezing sites and videos. Everybody wants in, some for the money, but some for sheer pleasure. Funny to me how some that are in it for the money, are the same people with those past or current fixed opinons. Uhhh huh.

[count tiszula]

I am usually an anti-exclusivist fetishwise, but for the moment I don't think there is real evidence that the fetish is spreading [though it could be, we hope, with the spread of allergies and similar]. What is happening is that the same people who even five years ago were even unaware of their own naughty pleasure in sneezing have reached the stage of putting up their own vids. We have examples on this forum.

It is bound to increase; it seems for example likely that within another two years there will be dozens of sneezers making YouTube vids, audio and video. We will have vastly more members. It will become more and more difficult to claim that there are only two thousand of us [ each with four memberships so far ] or six hundred by Bondi's calculation in his current FAQ.

Will the fetish become widely acceptable? I suspect, and hope, it will; based on the effect that greater exposure has had on other interests...

[zneeze]

The fetish is surely growing. Tisza points out how many YouTube accounts are more or less fixed on sneezing lol. Our numbers and exposure are growing.

But the growth of exposure happens more easily than you'd expect. The fetish's exposure grows whenever one of us admits to a friend we have this "strange thing for sneezing." Some of us have told more people than others, but with each "confession," the knowledge of the fetish expands.

As far as it becoming a phenomenon, I wouldn't be surprised. But we have to remember that, as Eson pointed out, not everyone will accept it if it should. Not everyone accepts it as it is, for that matter. It will undoubtedly sound disgusting to some people. But over the next few years, I see no end to the expansion of the fetish's popularity.

[Prodigy]

I wonder if it's the fetish is growing, or if it is the community that's growing.

I wouldn't say that the fetish is becoming more prevalent, just more... mainstream?

With the introduction of viral vids and affordable digital cameras, everyone can be their own pornstar. There is a massive influx of "amateur" material out there for every fetish under the sun, while "professional" pornography is actually seeing a decline. I'm more inclined to say that, perhaps, our fetish has become a new way for people to become "amateurs". These people, in the interest of product knowledge and effective marketing, will want to join the forum to peddle their wares. The videos they post on free filesharing websites (such as YouTube) will attract those who are new to the discovery of the fetish -- those who are typing "sneeze" into that search field for the very first time.

[chui]

I tend to wonder like Vixen, thinking that it may not be the fetish that is growing, but the community that is...

if you consider the "growth" of the community as an indicator, we really aren't having that many second generationers introduced, which would be a clearer example of true growth, as we are having more people stumble onto us. also, thinking about things like internet access, then of course the fetish has "grown" in the last two-three decades... but in actuality, the number of people with the fetish has probably not changed that much, just those who have the ability to communicate with others...

with the introduction of YouTube and various other sites, it is possible to have a much greater market catering to fetishists, and of course there will be people out there who are accepting of almost anything if it makes them money. i would predict the fetish to "grow" for another few years, as internet becomes more prevalent across the globe, before levelling off, unless there is some global incentive for it to mainstream... in general fetishes are considered at least mildly taboo... or at least not fit to be spoken of in certain circles... while our is fairly innocuous, i dont think it will escape at least some hesistancy....

(and its late...and im babbling.... )

[jgsneeze]

I think more and more people are discovering this site, and the fact that people post videos on youtube of themselves sneezing. I was always into sneezing, but I never knew that people had vids of themselves sneezing. Also, I didn't discover this forum for awhile.

[Jemmabean]

2,000 of us with 4 memberships each?

There are a total of 2,360 registered accounts on the forum.

A total of 1243 of those accounts have never made a single post.

Even if we are to assume that every one of these accounts (including those that have never posted) are actually fetishists (which I find unlikely, TBH), then that still would only give us just over 2,000 people. Personally, I like calling the number of actual fetishists in the community around 1,250. This is based on the numbers I've just given you, and the assumption (which could of course be wrong, rest assured ) that perhaps 10% of those accounts with zero posts are actual fetishists.

[count tiszula]

Well, we must probably agree to disagree; but what I don't understand is why people wish to keep these numbers small. Wouldn't it be more fun if there were more of us?

We currently have one camp going with 1250, while another authority goes with 20,000 worldwide, and my own opinion is that the global total must be much larger.

Over 8000 have signed up as members of this one forum. Well, that must mean that 6750 people have signed up despite having no real interest . Isn't it actually more likely that there are say a different 6750 people who are fetishists and even lurk, but have not signed up?

My arithmetic is so poor that I usually give up at this stage; but if I am right the 1250 figure means about one in 5 million of the world population; yet we know of people who know each other in real life; who attend the same universities, live in the same towns, etc. If say 300,000 people have attended my university since I was there it would be very unlikely that I would know of another one of us in that number; yet I do.

[Jemmabean]

Personally, I like calling the number of actual fetishists in the community around 1,250.

I don't know about worldwide. You have to remember as well, that a lot of those accounts that have since been deleted were created during that brief troll-spam time after SomethingAwful.com did a bit on us.

[Professor_s]

You have to remember as well, that a lot of those accounts that have since been deleted were created during that brief troll-spam time after SomethingAwful.com did a bit on us.

Thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject...while you're at it, why don't you give me a nice papercut an pour lemon juice on it...We're CLOSED!

God I love that film...Oh sorry..back to the matter at hand

best thing about that article is tht the community percerviered in the face of ridicule...go us.

and the pity is that I used to be a regular SA reader until tht happened...hhah

[Eson]

I wouldn't disagree that the forum is growing, but I think that it's more people that have the fetish and still holding that mindstate of "am I alone", or "is this weird" ? Those people don't necessarly have to be young or in some kind of early stage either. I see plenty people discussing the forum and its numbers, but no one is talking about the hundreds out of the BILLIONS of people, that will never shed a single spot of light on their fetish because they consider it a guilty pleasure. Yes, that light includes even joining the forum. People touched on topics and grounds I already covered. Especially with the income and porn business that was already mentioned. I completely agree with count de tiza on all that, because almost all replies were completely opinonated, not to mention the topic itself. To back my opinon though and to match the intro of this particular reply, things do sometimes take an underground route. Lets not forget that, and yes it does count as another one biting the dust when it does. Lets get off numbers and talk plain example for a relpy, I spoke with an online friend of mine on YouTube (she does some of the sneeze vids) about the forum, and she didn't even won't to check it out.

Now i'm not saying she didn't as a guest, i'm just giving you her reply. You can't base the fetish growing on the forum an online statistics alone, the world is bigger than that. I gave the forum the slice of the pie it deserves as far as pulling and giving a since of comfort to those unsure, but I've met plenty a person who wants to keep to themselves SOLEY about the fetish. Point is, (or should I say my opinon is), no matter if the growth is online, the forum , underground, friend to friend, or partner to partner. The dots will connect more amongst all of those if you get me. Maybe it won't build a phenomenon so to speak, but it will get more recognition. REMEMBER, ALOT OF FETISHES AROUSE FROM SIGHT, THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW THAT HOLDS BOTH SIGHT AND THE FEELING OF ONES OWN ACTION (depending on who it is of course). Anybody can keep it to themselves and still share the delight, just like some of the people who freakin serve black out screens with only sound on YouTube.

[Professor_s]

Ok...really throwing $.02 in the well.

Clearly over the past ten years, the community has grown, that's obvious

Public knowledge of the fetish has grown considerably...Like i wrote earlier, the SomethingAwful debacle still did its intended purpose and put knowledge of it out there. Then you have the various legitimate porn entities that have reported on it, then this year alone you have SFF mentioned in a German article and abc.com did a huge report on the fetish in April/May.

I'm not so agreeing on Youtube...remember in the 90's people were making personal webpages here and there based on their experience with the fetish and all you had to do was type in 'sneeze' in a search engine and find it. You tube as a whole is just like Geocities past, but with our fetish it fits in almost like a glove.

And you are correct in there are people who aren't part of the SFF tally. At a time when it was the rave, there were also Yahoo! groups left and right; now most of them have succumbed to spamming and phishing...but you can still find good wares left behind. Just showing that the fetish is apparent in many different factions of cyberspace.

So...as far as Phenomenon growing...I would say yes; but it still depends on public knowledge of the fetish in general and an understanding on what it means.

Although, I have to disagree, it's not just sight and feeling of ones own action that caused the fetish to arouse but sound as well. Watch the videos on youtube again with the volume down and tell me if you get the same reaction

-Prof

[Eson]

Although, I have to disagree, it's not just sight and feeling of ones own action that caused the fetish to arouse but sound as well. Watch the videos on youtube again with the volume down and tell me if you get the same reaction

I did mention sound, not in the same sentence as what arouses a particular person, but its just common sense to know that its a default reason for one to be aroused by sound. I did however mention it in the last sentence, where I stated some vids on YouTube only use sound. Although I stand corrected, there is nothing to disagree upon as far as what I mentioned regaurding the turn ons, only a statement to correct . You can still put 2 and 2 together easily, see the mistake, and yet still clearly see the message I was sending.

I think this was a good post full of intelligent replies and opinons. Although several subjects boiled down to one, in my opinon, I think this is my best post. Not because of the # of replies, but because of the members and moderators that showed interest and were intriqued.

Thanks

[Professor_s]

I did mention sound, not in the same sentence as what arouses a particular person, but its just common sense to know that its a default reason for one to be aroused by sound. I did however mention it in the last sentence, where I stated some vids on YouTube only use sound. Although I stand corrected, there is nothing to disagree upon as far as what I mentioned regaurding the turn ons, only a statement to correct . You can still put 2 and 2 together easily, see the mistake, and yet still clearly see the message I was sending.

Thanks

Whoops, your'e right...my bad!

[Demon327]

I would say that the size of this community is growing. However, I beleive that a major reason is that people that have had this fetish since before the internet (Okay I am 44) may not have gotten internet access or are just now having the nerve to go looking in cyberspace for others like them. I remember thinking I was the only one in the world that had this fetish until I responded to a post on the old usenet boards.

You know who you are that made that post I replied to. There are also a large number of younger people joining this community that (as much as I hate to admit it) are young enough to be my children and therefore are the next generation.

Now I am really rambling. All I can say is be thankful that this forum exists, be nice to everyone, and don't be a shark. Too many people have been driven away by them. I remember what it was like when I thought I was alone and the only sneezes I saw were real or if I got lucky to see one on tv and I did not own a VCR (yes I am that old) to record them.

With that I will thank the staff here and all of the people who have been kind and brave enough to share with us all and get the hell out of dodge.

[Lynne]

Hey, even I didn't get a VCR until I was 13, and I'm nowhere near as old as you

[Jemmabean]

Thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject...while you're at it, why don't you give me a nice papercut an pour lemon juice on it...We're CLOSED!

LOL Prof!! Princess Bride all the way! You just keep piling awesome on top of awesome, don't you?

[count tiszula]

Hey, even I didn't get a VCR until I was 13, and I'm nowhere near as old as you

Lookshooreh! A VCR at 13; no wonder you young sneezepersons are so soft; I didn't have one until I was the age you are now. We had it tufa. We had to record things on reel to reel tape recorders. And of course if there was a televised sneeze; like the scene from the pilot of Bewitched or the various Man from Uncle programmes, we would have to wait five years for them to be repeated; well actually , twenty-five years , if even then. And that's only because they were American; UK tv was largely live, and a lot of it was never recorded at all.

I seem to recall explaining to our Dear Leader that when a thing that I can't mention any more first happened on the telly, I actually WROTE an account of it in order to preserve it in my memory! I also recall going to a newsagent's and secretly looking through all the newspapers to find out which of them contained an account of the sneezing incident I had heard about on the News. And yes, I got told off for reading them before buying; though I was too big for a clip around the ear.

Still, every generation can't understand the previous one; I can't imagine having to sit next to the wireless wearing headphones and avoiding the spilt acid from the battery, or indeed not having a wireless at all.

Well, back to topic; it's not really surprising that the vast majority of people who haven't even got phonographs yet haven't learnt English and joined up here; I shall have to increase my estimate; three million?

[Adrilynn]

I long for the days when it is.... mainstream? popular? whatever enough to have like real references in real books and movies, candy for US, like they already do for people who like legs or leather... on the other hand we gets lots of "Accidental" candy because everyone thinks sneezing is kinda cute or funny. even non fetishists.

[Sneesee]

I would say that the size of this community is growing. However, I beleive that a major reason is that people that have had this fetish since before the internet (Okay I am 44) may not have gotten internet access or are just now having the nerve to go looking in cyberspace for others like them. I remember thinking I was the only one in the world that had this fetish until I responded to a post on the old usenet boards.

Exactly, Demon! I happen to think that the community comes in waves. People register, maybe make a few posts, and sometimes disappear. However, I think it has grown recently because of the internet exposure, things like MySpace, Youtube, and Facebook. Perhaps the fetish is more out there than it has been in the past. Honestly, until I did a search on the word "sneeze," almost four years ago, I never would have known there were others like me, and I may not have been as interested in my computer other than writing on it. Being that I am younger than Demon, but older than most! HA HA HA! This community really drew me into the new century and all the possibilities of the internet.

I think I still have some shows and stuff on a VHS tape with sneezing in it. He he he! Back in the day, when that was all we had...lol.

Anyway, if this fetish were to become more mainstream, I honestly don't care. I don't know if I would want a ton of TV shows and movies featuring it, but whatever! I also think we are entering a new sort of sexual revolution, where songs like, "I Kissed A Girl" are so popular and played on the radio, and people are throwing their sexuality out there more. Which to me isn't a bad thing. I think as a whole, society is more accepting of sexual quirks. Heck, even CBS made that show Swingtown, and the word "Swinger" used to have such a nasty connotation.

[Nevyn]

on the other hand we gets lots of "Accidental" candy because everyone thinks sneezing is kinda cute or funny. even non fetishists.

(Homer Simpson voice) Mmmmmmm, "accidental" candy

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Lots of interesting points already made here so far. I think Sneesnee is right about a new sexual revolution; I think it's a reflection of the times we live in and certain aspects of that trouble me, but that's another topic for another day. What it does mean is that more people are exploring sexuality on the internet and taking advantage of all that entails (anonymity, easy communication / social networking, better access to information, multimedia archives / clip sites, etc.)

It seems to me that the internet could have been made for the likes of us. Under such favourable conditions it's no wonder that the community is growing. If, as has been suggested, allergies are becoming more common then it also seems logical that more sneezing in the world is going to lead to more people fetishising the act, sound or other aspects of the sneeze.

I think one thing that Youtube has going for it that the likes of Geocities and other sites in the past didn't is that it really is a mainstream phenomenon. Having a Youtube account is *gulp* normal, and posting vids is cool, where having a homepage was maybe a little nerdy. More people have access to webcams and broadband than ever before, and you don't need to be a computer geek to know how to use them any more... Therefore curious people who aren't necessarily fetishists themselves are more likely to stumble on sneeze vids or post material of themselves sneezing if they have exhibitionist tendencies, or just like to share and know there's an audience.

I still can't see this particular fetish becoming anywhere close to mainstream in itself, which is fine by me, but as people become more sexually open and aware of fetishes in general it can only do us good.

In fact we may very well be entering a Golden Age of sneeze fetishdom!