Have you ever met a fetishist in real life? Would you want to?

[Vetinari]

I've met four fetishists over the years, on seven different occasions. The experiences have been fun, exciting, complicated and enlightening, and I'd love to meet more people in the future, especially fetishists from other countries.

If I'm ever in Sweden I'll stalk let you know.

This sounds a delightful meet-up. When it happens, please do allow me to join in with the stalking let me know.

As for the original question, add me to the list of those who have met other fetishists from this forum. I have visited two in their homes, one I met in London and then he came here to Norway to stay, one I have met for lunch when he was visiting Norway, and several more appeared once in a bar in London (not coincidentally).

did you find anything surprising that you had in common with these people?

I can't say that I noticed any particular traits that we all shared other than the obvious, and in most cases even that didn't crop up to any great extent as we had other things to talk about.

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

Maybe this should be its own post, but since there are a bunch of people on this post already who have met others in real life, did you find anything surprising that you had in common with these people?

Yes: the one person I met and the one person I almost met (stupid messed-up timing!) both self-identify as asexual, as do I. In fact, when I first made plans to meet up with my Forum friend for the first time at a convention, figuring out where and when to meet was easy: it turned out that we were both planning to attend a panel on Asexuality in Fandom!

Also, the fact that my Forum friend and I first met up at a fannish convention reminded me: both of the people I've mentioned tend to share my taste in media fandoms. Right now, we're all really into the BBC series "Sherlock" and the radio comedy "Cabin Pressure" (perhaps not coincidentally both starring Benedict Cumberbatch), but just in general, if you plotted all the fandoms we've each been in over the years onto a Venn diagram, you'd see a LOT of overlap.

Now I have a question for the folks who've met other members: do you think that the non-fetishy things you had in common drew you together more than the fetish itself? Because in my case, while I found these friends of mine through the fetish, and while I ADORE having people with whom I can talk about this stuff, I often feel as though that's not necessarily the thing that really holds us all together.

[Sawdust]

I have not, but I think it be an interesting experience to say the least.

[Europa]

Yes: the one person I met and the one person I almost met (stupid messed-up timing!) both self-identify as asexual, as do I. In fact, when I first made plans to meet up with my Forum friend for the first time at a convention, figuring out where and when to meet was easy: it turned out that we were both planning to attend a panel on Asexuality in Fandom!

Also, the fact that my Forum friend and I first met up at a fannish convention reminded me: both of the people I've mentioned tend to share my taste in media fandoms. Right now, we're all really into the BBC series "Sherlock" and the radio comedy "Cabin Pressure" (perhaps not coincidentally both starring Benedict Cumberbatch), but just in general, if you plotted all the fandoms we've each been in over the years onto a Venn diagram, you'd see a LOT of overlap.

Hmm, maybe some personality characteristics in common then. But it could just be more the going-to-a-convention that you had in common. And it does sound like asexuality is a little more common in people with fetishes. Incidentally, I don't watch any of those shows but a big fraction of the people I spend time with do .

[cupcake]

yes weird story really i wanted to tell my best friend about my fetish i was so scared but the day came when i told her that i like sneezing. she stood silent for a sec then smiled and said 'oh my gosh i thought it was just me'. 'what'? i asked. 'i like sneezing to' she said. we talked for a while about the fetish learning what kind of sneezing we both liked and stuff. it has brought us closer i showed her this site and she'll maybe join

[Bondi]

I've met SusieQusie and Lynne. I might be willing to meet someone else if it's someone I know really, really well from on here and if we both have time.

Since I don't tell anyone else my fetish, I've never knowingly met someone through coincidental means.

[laban_21]

That would be cool if I met one by accident.