Fred588 wrote:redjak6t4 wrote:Fred588 wrote:Ask two quicksand fans why they like quicksand and you will get five different opinions.
And yet, while each of us are unique people, with our own individual preferences and understandings, there must be certain underlying themes about our fetish that are common to all of us.
Please note that here I'm not talking about the opinions of our members. A personal opinion about our fetish is different from how it actually works, deep down in our psyches. To dig deeper than personal opinion we need to look for common patterns seen across the experiences of many. The collective experience, rather than the uniquely personal. And this forum, being a collective of people who all share an erotic fascination with quicksand, is a good place to look for such patterns.
That is how all science works, really. Take a sufficiently large sample of anything, observe it and see what patterns emerge. Draw up a hypothesis, based upon the observed patterns and then find ways to test that hypothesis.
Ok, I don't think that hypothesizing and testing are ever going to happen, but it would be interesting to see if our fetish, manifesting itself in us in all of it's many ways, still displayed certain patterns.
Thank you.
Redjak.
The concept of looking for common threads from a larger number of cases (people) is scientifically sound, provided there IS a common thread. However, if the happen to be two or more things (let's call them causes for simplicity) underlying what appears to be one outcome, then things get complicated. There are research procedures for this sort of situation (factor analysis) but it is not simple. Another problem, from a research point of view, is that
simply gathering a lot of data and looking for a connection to something can lead to what is called a "correlation." but that say nothing about cause and effect. It only suggests a cause and effect that can only be verified with other methods. For example, if you collected lots of data about people in their teen years and then looked at their abilities in math you would find a very strong correlation between math ability and shoe size. Do large feet promote learning in math? Does learning math make one's feet grow? The truth is that during those years most people's feet get bigger and they learn some math.
I happen to agree, Fred.
As well as your pertinent points, there are other reasons why it's going to be next to impossible to draw out any bona fide patterns about the common workings of our quicksand fetish. Here are some more reasons that I can think of.
1.
Assuming that our fetish establishes itself within us during our teenage years, who can accurately recall what they were thinking and feeling then? Not me, that's for sure. I can barely remember what I was doing two years ago, let alone forty-five years ago. So, the likelihood that I can remember anything from which a meaningful pattern could be drawn is very, very small indeed.
2.
I consider it quite likely that whatever establishes a sexual fetish within us, does so unconsciously or subconsciously, below the radar of our conscious thoughts. Therefore, how could we recall changes that happened within us that we weren't even aware of? These things would be inaccessible.
3.
Human psychology is a complex thing. Far too complex to begin teasing out meaningful patterns from the paucity of information we could bring to bear on the problem.
4.
These are intensely private and personal matters and I would imagine that public discussion of them is a complete no-no for almost everyone in this forum.
I suppose that all I wanted to say was that I find the idea of a common reason or point or origin for our fetish to be a tantalizing one. An unrealizable one to be sure. But if I may refer back to my opening comments. While I'm at generally at peace with what I am, from time to time I still find myself mystified by my quicksand fetish and it's at those times I wonder about it. Hence this thread.
Anyway, my thanks go out to all of those who have contributed.
Respectfully,
Redjak.