Running this site for six years and talking to lots of sleepy enthusiasts has taught me a lot about our community. Today I want to talk about one aspect of our community I think we all have in common:
keeping our fetish a secret.
Why do we hide? What are we ashamed about?
Let me tell you my story. I've had this sleepy fetish almost my whole life. It's an ingrained part of who I am. And I think like all sexual interests,
having this sleepy interest was not a choice for me.
Even when I was a kid, I had an understanding that liking sleeping gas KO scenes was not normal. I would browse the early sleepy sites in secrecy, deleting my history and all that. I was constantly looking over my shoulder in case a family member would catch me in the act.
I wasn't even looking at pornography. What interested me was comic book and cartoon KO scenes. The stuff I viewed had no sex or nudity...
yet I still hid my activities.
The first person I ever told was my brother. He was asking a lot of questions, and I was bad at hiding all my activities. I was launching my website and I couldn't keep it a secret any longer. So I showed him, and I definitely blew his mind!
An interesting thing happened though. He didn't shun me, or laugh at me. He just sort of...accepted it and moved on! I even try showing him my artwork, and he doesn't even care enough to look at it.
That's when I learned an interesting truth about life:
most people don't really care about your life and your interests.
But I also think we as humans have a need to appear normal...to
fit in with society. I think that's why we still hide our secret.
Look at the Colorado man who killed 12 people in a theater. The first thing the media pointed out, was how introverted and different he was from the rest of society. The message is clear:
being different is bad.
That perception needs to change. I want to change it. And I think it
is changing. I mean, 20 years ago if you said you were gay, you would have been received much more negatively by society. Today, we are successfully pushing gay marriage legislation through...even our President supports it. In addition to that, people are starting to recognize that other sexual identities should be accepted by society as well.
So with that, what are some things we can do to change perceptions?
- Embrace your interest - don't think of it as a curse. Learn to think about it in positive ways.
- Educate people - if people find out, don't hide! Confidently tell them that this is your identity and that there is nothing to be ashamed about. Chances are, they are into something weird as well.
That being said...for some reason, I still don't tell people! But they don't ask, so it's okay :-)
Tell me what you think! What are your reasons for keeping your sleepy fetish a secret?
PS: The Sleepycomics.com Originals Store is working like I expected. 8 people have purchased the drawing so far.
I think "Supergirl Chloroformed" is a really cool piece of art and for just 99 cents you can see it today!
gytalf2000
Aug 07, 2012
Another thing comes to mind -- it seems like so many of my fellow fetishists thought that they were the only ones. I never thought that! I was convinced that a few comic artists and writers were KO enthusiasts, as well. I didn't know it for a fact, but I had my suspicions.
Now, it was a bit embarrassing to have my mom suspect (talking about sex to your mom while you are a teenager is a bit squicky), but it really wasn't all that bad. It turns out that my dad (he died when I was a baby)likely had the same fetish!
I told all my close friends when I was thirteen or fourteen. They were all fine with it! One of them confessed to having a bondage fetish.
My real name is right up there when you access my "Deviant Art" page. I ain't hiding nuthin'! Ha!