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Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: pmcd9 on March 24, 2012, 11:57:17 pm

Title: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: pmcd9 on March 24, 2012, 11:57:17 pm
I've been posting photos on Flickr for about 6 years.  It's a lot of fun.  I kindly treat it like a blog a lot of times.  There are a lot of different layers of privacy on Flickr, but most of what I post is completely public for anyone to see.  My photostream is moderately popular, it averages somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 views per day.

Flickr has a feature somewhat akin to our TCODP where you can favorite or "pink star" a picture. It's actually very similar to the Like feature on Facebook.  Where it differs from our system and Facebook is that Flickr creates a gallery of your favorites that any member can view. I do that from time to time.  It's a good way to see some really good photos.

Flickr also has a tagging feature which Is pretty handy for searching for photos.  I tag my photos pretty extensively.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  The main reason is so I can find my own photos.  I've posted thousands over the years and if I'm looking for a picture I posted 4 years ago say, I know I can find it by searching the tags. But I also know that others are more likely to find my photos if they are well tagged.  What can I say, I'm a whore, I like for people to look at my photos.

Most people when they fave a photo it's because they like the photo for it's artistic merit.  There are also a lot of fetishist trolling Flickr. These people that are looking for that one certain thing that gets them off. I often get random faves from people I don't know and this is usually a fetishist.  Sometimes I get fetish faves on seemingly innocent photographs and I can only identify the fetish when I check to see what the rest of their favorited photos look like. Sometimes, when I get one of these random faves, I play a game of name that kink before clicking through to the rest of their faves to confirm my suspicions.  When you look at someone's favorites and they are all of one specific thing, well, that's your fetish right there.

So what I've learned is that some people have some very specific and unusual fetishes.

I first became aware of this when I discovered that my photostream was becoming very popular with gay men.  Guess what, I'm a "bear." Apparently gay men love fat hairy dudes. This is not that unusual of a fetish, but it took me by surprise.

I get lots of faves whenever I post a shot of women's feet (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/4044149388/). This is probably the most popular fetish I've seen. Of course everybody loves it when I post a shot of a buxom woman (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=20698962@N00&q=giant%20boobies), and there are a lot of people that like  nicely shaped buttocks (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=20698962%40N00&q=sweet+sweet+backmeat&m=text), but there are others that are more specific and unusual.

For instance, there's this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/6737384085/) which quickly received 6 faves, all from people who were into pics of women wearing jackets with their face covered.  There was this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/511983030/) that was faved by a guy that is really into photos of women eating pork products.  Lots of ribs and hotdogs in that guy's favorites. The latest one was this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/526581299/) which was faved by a person that has faved hundreds of pics of women wearing seatbelts.  Now I guess there's an element of bondage in that, but he has no other bondage photos in his favorites, only woman wearing seatbelts. Only seatbelts will do for that guy.

This takes me back to something that St. Zartran said way back in the day, perceptive dude that he was.  I'm paraphrasing "If you can imagine it, there is somebody out there that wants to fuck it." My experience with Flickr has shown this to be true.

All of the links are safe for work, by the way.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: wombat on March 25, 2012, 12:08:53 am
All of the links are safe for work, by the way.

Except of course that what you seem to be saying is that nothing is safe for work, we only think it is because we're mercifully unaware of the kinks of our co-workers.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: Nabubrush on March 25, 2012, 02:04:46 am
Love the "sweet sweet backmeat" search term.

Yeah, the thing where people can see your favorites makes flickr less useful for me and is why I don't make friends there. I should set up a non-hidden hills profile there.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: littlefallsmets on March 25, 2012, 05:52:29 am
My girlfriend found out about bears by thinking she found a magazine for women who like heavier guys and then...

Opening up to the centrefold and two heavier guys were blowing each other and...

She realized this was not actually for her.

Did I tell this story before?
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: side_show on March 25, 2012, 02:07:23 pm
I just want to add that I don't think bears (or cubs) are necessarily a fetish.  Having an interest in a certain body type isn't a fetish because it's not narrow or specific enough.  Having a pal who is both into and is a bear, I'd say the fetish side of things exists within the community when it comes to:  daddy relationships and BDSM and/or leather though!

Vaguely related side story:  I was asked for a ride by a couple after a training we attended on Tuesday.  They were a sweet really loving couple, both former sex trade workers who had survived the streets by taking care of each other.  It wasn't far out of my way, so I said sure.  It occurred to me at some point that they each look like they came out of a Scooby Doo cartoon.  One is very tall and lanky and is gender transitioning from male to female and looks like Shaggy if he were to wear pink Hello Kitty clothes, the other is a lady, short and a tad plump with a bob hair cut and glasses who looks like BDSM Velma.  We were stuck in rush hour traffic for about a half hour.  They each had some great stories to tell, so I was glad to help them out.

I thought to myself during this ride "oh Melanie, only you would end up in a traffic jam with transgender Shaggy and S&M Velma!" It was pretty rad.  I seem to have the endless ability to find myself in really interesting situations on a regular basis with almost no effort on my part.  It's to my benefit that people seem to decide fairly quickly that I'm a "safe" person they can trust with their truth.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: Nabubrush on March 25, 2012, 03:35:41 pm
I went to San Francisco long ago with an ex. We get to the hotel and they're hosting a bear convention. That was my first experience with bears in the flesh. It was awesome.

There were pictures of Richard Karn everywhere.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: greenkoolayd on March 25, 2012, 04:50:47 pm
my tumblr url has tonythebear (http://tonythebear.tumblr.com/) in it.  im not sexually into or seeking the interest of big hairy gay dudes, though.  i am big and fat and strong and kind of hairy.  also, i am grumpy from time to time.  also, i make grumble-y noises in my sleep from time to time.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: jay-ell on March 26, 2012, 08:33:58 pm
I am a straight woman, and I love bears.

There, I've said it.

Of course, I also love cubs, twinks, the naturally lean, the athletic, and ladies. I'm all-inclusive that way. But there is just something about being able to run your fingers (or toes) through a dude's chest hair that is incredibly appealing.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: jaydub on March 26, 2012, 08:44:16 pm
How about his kidney hair?  Thats where you cross over from hairy to bear-y, I think.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: Nabubrush on March 26, 2012, 09:03:56 pm
They pretty much have to be dudes of gravity, too.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: jay-ell on March 26, 2012, 09:22:35 pm
How about his kidney hair?  Thats where you cross over from hairy to bear-y, I think.

You talkin' 'bout those crazy patches of hair a dude gets on his lower back? If so, bring it.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: pmcd9 on March 26, 2012, 09:52:29 pm
You talkin' 'bout those crazy patches of hair a dude gets on his lower back? If so, bring it.

I don't have one of those. Does that mean I'm not a true bear?
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: Nabubrush on March 26, 2012, 10:02:23 pm
I don't have one of those. Does that mean I'm not a true bear?

No, Paul - you are golden.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: jay-ell on March 27, 2012, 01:35:34 am
I would actually put Paul at the lower end of the bear scale. Of course, I've never seen him nekkid, but to me, a true bear is basically covered in hair from the neck to the ankles. Pedro even has hair on his feet, like a hobbit. Not just a few wisps on the toes, but down from the ankles along the top of the foot.

There is no break between his chest hair and his happy trail -- it's just one continuous forest. And while the tops of his shoulders are pretty bare, his back hair starts right around the tops of the shoulder blades and tapers down to the center of his back, then flares out around where his kidneys are, like wings. He's got a bare spot about the size of my open hands on either side of his spine about halfway down, and his sides and butt cheeks are pretty hairless, but other than that, he's a big fuzzy furball. And, Heaven help me, I love him for it. He's not a super large guy, though, which I guess makes him a cub? Or, possibly -- as Wikipedia tells me -- an otter?

It is strange what people find attractive, though. There is a website entirely devoted to videos of people masturbating...but it only shows them from the neck up. Which, when you think about it, is actually pretty darn neat. And there's apparently a huge demand for video of clothed women tied up and gagged just struggling against their ropes. Which is totally understandable, but also sort of creepy.

Did we already discuss elsewhere how Ray's cake-sitting fetish is a real thing?
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: side_show on March 27, 2012, 02:25:00 am
Yes we did, and it was me who posted a link,  something about a clown girl for hire I think.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: pmcd9 on March 27, 2012, 04:22:35 am
Did we already discuss elsewhere how Ray's cake-sitting fetish is a real thing?

I've adopted this as my fetish (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/4278036445/).
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: Nabubrush on March 27, 2012, 04:59:35 am
I've adopted this as my fetish (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/4278036445/).

Sweet callback on that page to the bear lover. Nice work 27 months in advance of the bit. I don't even know how you did that.
Title: Re: What Flickr Has Taught me about Fetishes
Post by: jay-ell on March 27, 2012, 12:36:32 pm
Yeah, I was just noticing that. Excellent.