Re: How many new fetishes have you picked up since signing up on free ones?
First of all, let me say that I write here in a sense that covers fetishes as specific actions or something that requires external accessories. So this wall of text doesn't cover fascination towards, for example, different parts of the female body.
For the longest time I didn't really have any fetishes at all because I associated fetishes to the more disturbing, degrading and disgusting sexual acts (and there's an overflowing excess of that going around in general). Indeed, I've seen too much of that side as well and become very visually jaded as a result. After the initial shocks and nausea of the typical shock sites and such, I got to the point where I don't really feel anything when I see something that's normally disturbing. Still, it turned me off from the fetishistic side of sexuality pretty much completely.
But since signing up here I have noticed some kind of interest slowly developing towards lingerie, stockings, catsuits and other sexy clothes women may wear. I kind of had a revelation about it: earlier I merely considered how an item of clothing looks like in a picture, not how it feels like. There was only the visual aspect of it (typical when considering porn). After I happened to think about how the clothes that the woman is wearing might affect the way
she feels, it kind of opened my senses. You see, the feelings a woman has before, during or after sex mean a lot to me (but sadly, watching porn usually makes me ignore it). Her excitement increases my excitement as well. You might call that a fetish as well. Anyway, that's not something I have recently acquired, it has been that way for a long time.
But as I said, thinking about the feelings the clothing might invoke on a woman opened up new possibilities. Now I do indeed notice a different sort of subtle feeling when looking at a woman clothed in some revealing lingerie than I did before. It's not really a strong fetish, but still interesting. Porn usually easily becomes just a mechanical thing, so that was a good thing to notice. I've been lurking FreeOnes board for many years before signing up but didn't really think of this before. Go figure.
Whatever fetishes I have or will be having in the future will concentrate on the soft, nice and wholesome variety (there seems to be a significant shortage of it in porn though), not the hard and degrading sort. The extreme fetishes just seem like an aspect of outright sexual violence that is justified by saying that the people practicing it are consenting adults. I'm sure that they really are too, people sometimes do really disgusting things all on their own accord. Enough of that though.
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of gray area here. The softer side of BDSM for example can be interesting: soft butt-slapping with only a wrist movement or slight nipple-pinching, rope that isn't really there to restrict but just for the effect or some other similar things are completely fine (and might be really hot if done correctly) as long as it doesn't really get painful or degrading. Not really sure if I thought about this before signing on the board or not. Then there's another aspect of BDSM that I hadn't considered at all until I read this article:
Syd Blakovich's guide to rough sex.
Essential quote from that article: "Off camera rough sex is more of a mixture of aggression and compassion for me, because you get those checking in moments to see how your partner is doing, if they are enjoying themselves. I think rough sex can be really fucking sweet and caring, because of the attention paid and awareness that is shared." Haven't watched anything by Syd though, so I don't know how far she really actually goes and if I would agree with that statement then. Still, that article was a surprising read for me. It actually made some sense to me and gave a perspective on it that I hadn't considered (and what really doesn't show at all in any BSDM videos). Mostly it makes me feel a bit confused though, it's still somewhat strange to consider that the abuse-pain-comfort-compassion cycle would be a source of sexual pleasure.
Now that I think about it though it feels really hypocritical on my part. I have looked at and even liked some rather rough movies of double (or even triple) penetrations and deepthroating (as long as she seems comfortable, able and willing to do it) and other straight hardcore sex acts before this realization. I think most of that would go well into the territory of rough sex, but still find myself somewhat squeamish when it comes to whips, chains and other restraints. Human sexuality is an insanely complicated thing though, so no wonder if it isn't completely logical. Besides, recently I have just concentrated on mainly solo sets due to becoming really bored with some of the other irritating things in porn that have been discussed here on the forum. So in a sense, I've gained a fetish and lost another. Maybe. Difficult to tell with this thing ultimately... It seems to depend on what mood I am in really.
The consistent part of it is that it's mostly very depressing and irritating how often fetishes just go to the absolute extremes. Brings to mind the Tool song
Stinkfist. Essential quote from it:
"Something kind of sad about
the way things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything,
what became of subtlety?"
I have rediscovered some of the subtlety. Hope it lasts.