Nose Picking

[Mercury]

So, I've heard that some fetishes showed behaviours when they were younger that could have been 'signs' of a future sneeze fetish, and yesterday I noticed my friends little cousin picking his nose and it made me think. A fair number of us are more comfortable around snot and germs than what could be considered socially acceptable, and I was wondering if this casual behaviour towards snot could have come from a history of nose picking.

My questions are; How many people here used to pick their nose when they were younger?

and; Do you think it could have been in any way related to the nature of your sneeze fetish?

For me, my answer is yes to both. I don't actually remember it all that much, but according to my mother as a young child I did pick my nose past the age when I should have 'grown out of it', and I do have a very apathetic attitude when it comes to any mess I make when sneezing alone.

Questions? Comments? Music Renditions?

[SunnyCaliGirl]

Despite my initial reaction to cringe at this, we're all adults here so I think I can pitch in my two cents.

I never did pick my nose for recreation, though my brother did. At least, that's what my mom tells me. It's an interesting question and I never thought about it before. I'm not sure about a correlation between one or the other... I thought it was pretty gross when my brother did it, but then again I'm not a fan of the snot/mess/nose blowing part of the fetish so it COULD have something to do with it.

Interesting topic!

[Mercury]

Okay, I'm going to justify my asking this question, since it seems to need it . Prepare yourself for an essay;

I'm interested in the development of human behaviour, what creates our motivations and habits. I haven't bothered to read Freud's work because, from what I know, he focuses very much on sexualisation, while I believe that the action of parents/guardians during childhood play a larger part. Since discovering the community of the sneeze fetish, the many degrees and components that vary person to person, I have tried to find behaviours in my own past that could explain why, for example, I may be less partial to nose-blowing than sniffing, or why I prefer colds to allergies.

As I didn't want to ponder on my family's sneezes for very long, or at all, I tried to remember anything about when I was young to do with my own sneezing or nose related habits. Nose-picking was the only thing I could think of, which is something many children do before it is stopped by a parent, usually around the time they enter school. My parents didn't bother discouraging this behaviour, and so at the age of five and a half I stopped on my own accord.

The indifferent behaviour of my parents most likely resulted in my dismissal of tissues and handkerchief as useful but unnecessary. What I mean by this is that I'm perfectly content to just sniff rather than disrupt what I'm doing to search for a tissue, and that I find others blowing their nose annoying, if anything.

My friend's little cousin, who helped prompt this train of thought, had his mother react immediately to his nose-picking, pulling his arm away and scolding him in front of everyone. His mother then got a tissue out of her purse and held it to his nose and told him to blow, as mums do.

I feel that if he was to develop a The Fetish, this reaction from a parent could cause him to subconsciously associate his own sneezing or sniffing with the embarrassment/shame of being told off in front of an audience or, possibly associate nose-blowing with the attention and care his mother gave.

I decided to ask about nose-picking since, as I mentioned, it is the only thing I'm aware of that could have influenced my own fetish, and thus the easiest thing I can relate too, but if this train of thought is inappropriate, unpopular or irrelevant, feel free to delete or move it.

[Vetinari]

From New Scientist from the Last Word Questions and Answers page.

Q) My dad keeps telling me not to pick my nose and eat it. Will eating my bogeys [boogers] do me any harm?

A) The medical literature is a delightfully rich source of information about nose picking. Firstly, nose pickers should not feel isolated or guilty about the activity. A US survey in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in February 1995 of 100 adults in Dane County, Wisconsin, concluded that the activity "is an almost universal practice in adults". The same publication in June 2001 carried another survey, this time of adolescents in India, which found that the average frequency of pickage was four times a day. However, too much of a good thing can prove to be a problem. Rhinotillexomania, or compulsive nose picking, can lead to epistaxis (better known as nosebleeds) or even septal perforation.

The cause of compulsive nose picking is unknown but in extreme situations may transcend habit and become a sign of a psychiatric disorder. The Wisconsin study identified one individual who spent more than 2 hours a day digitally excavating their nasal cavities.

Perhaps more worryingly, Dutch researchers reporting in the August 2006 edition of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology found that the frequency of nose picking correlated with the presence of nasal Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium carried by about 25 per cent of people but which in its most horrible form can cause lurid "flesh-eating" infections.

Alas I have not been able to find any studies into the effects of eating one's bogeys, but it is almost certain that there is an Ig Nobel award set aside for anyone who is willing to tackle this important medical conundrum.

Digbeth D'Marriotti,

I don't think for me that nose picking is related to the fetish though.

[Mr Sneezy]

You go, girl.

I've been picking mine for 40 years.

Recreation and work.

[Bondi]

I always thought that most kids picked their nose at one point or another and that it probably wouldn't be any kind of indication for anything. Kids don't really care about germs and stuff like that anyway when they're really young so it's not like they'd have that much of a problem with snot.

Also, wasn't there an online article a few years ago saying that research suggests that picking one's nose and eating it was healthy?

[haymaker]

Its a funny thing, but my own reaction to the thought, or the sight, of a woman picking her nose is utterly disgusting and would register a big fat zero on my own scale of sexually arousing senarios.

Yet, if that same woman were to unleash a massive, wet, messy sneeze, that zero could become a ten.

I wonder how many of you feel the same way?

[count tiszula]

I've always assumed that all children, nay, all people, pick their noses. Surely I'm not wrong. It's a bit like another practice we're not allowed to mention, isn't it? Anyway, it would follow that it cannot have any influence on whether people are or are not fetishists; though I suppose some people might enjoy it more than others.

It seems very hard that every indulgence is denied us; sneezing, nose-blowing, nose-sucking....and now even nose-picking. Is a man to have no pleasures?

And welcome to the forum. We are a diverse crew, enjoying hankies, noses, messiness, and even sneezing, and considering how odd it is apparently considered to enjoy any of these, it seems odd for any of us to express disgust about any other aspect of our interest.

[Mr Sneezy]

Its a funny thing, but my own reaction to the thought, or the sight, of a woman picking her nose is utterly disgusting and would register a big fat zero on my own scale of sexually arousing senarios.

Yet, if that same woman were to unleash a massive, wet, messy sneeze, that zero could become a ten.

I wonder how many of you feel the same way?

Sorry Haymaker, but it would be a 10 plus on both aspects for me.

Like the Count just said, we're a diverse lot.

One man's dislike of mucus is another man's love. And I'll have the girl with the messy sneeze too, thanks.

[haymaker]

Hey Mr Sneezy, absolutely no need to apologise. I too appreciate (And celebrate) our many differences.

Its well thought out questions like this one, and the multifarious answers they produce, that help keep this place vibrant.