An Open Letter About Globophilia and Pedophilia

I have edited this post in response to actions by the party about whom I originally wrote it. But I have retained the following paragraphs:

I also would like to ask all my fellow balloon lovers to make sure they are above reproach. Though I would like to think I didn't need to say this, it harms all of us when a balloon fetishist posts pictures of minors—no matter how innocent the picture itself—with balloons, or makes inappropriate comments on pictures and videos, or dares minor children to perform acts with balloons to satisfy their own desires.

And it's not enough to refrain from those behaviors. We need to call those who make us look bad to the carpet as well, as publicly as possible, as adamantly as the behavior demands.

We are already handicapped by the fact that the object of our desire is perceived as a child's toy (see my take here on that subject, among others). We have to separate our sexual interest in balloons from anything connected with children.

Otherwise, the haters of the world will win, and instead of seeing documentaries about men in the woods doing blow-to-pops, or men in their bedrooms stuffing balloons up their shirts, we may start seeing alarmist reports about balloon fetishists molesting children.

And at that point, the truth won' t matter even one little bit.

Please fight the good fight!

Perspectives

I'm writing a short story, and unlike the main male character in my novel, this gentleman has a different kind of balloon fetish, a different kind of history, and a different kind of life from mine. So I have to let myself get into his head a little and imagine what it would be like to feel the way he feels.

In some ways it's not as hard as I thought it would be, but then this character isn't so distant from me in interests; it's not as if he is turned on by things I hate. It's more that he would probably hate some of the things that turn me on. It's more a matter of restraint on my part, I think. (Notice I haven't actually told you what his interests are. I'm keeping it as a surprise. Besides, I might end up changing some of it before I finish the story.)

But it did get me thinking about two things. First, when I get around to writing a story about a character whose interests deviate from mine a lot, will I be up to the task? Will it ring hollow because I don't personally get turned on in the same way? Or can I use my own experience with what turns me on, combine it with what I've read from other balloon fetishists, and create something convincing and enjoyable?

Second, am I really in any better position to understand my fellow fetishists than anyone else out there? As I've said, there is so much variety, and even one of my characters in the book expressed disdain for a popping method that she, personally, didn't like.

As to the first question, I don't think I'll know the answer until I try. I may discover, by the end of the first story I do that's far outside my own likes, that I can immediately detect my utter lack of identification with it, and toss the story out in favor of something I know much better. Or, maybe it will look okay to me and my readers will tell me I'm full of it (or at least full of myself).

The thing to do, I think is to dive right in a do a story where I don't identify with the interests of any of the characters involved and see what comes out. Maybe the story after the one I'm doing.

Now, as far as the second question goes, I think the answer is yes. Not only because I have a balloon fetish, but because, as a writer, I've had to put myself in the minds of so many characters. In fact, I think any fiction writer with an open mind who's willing to take the time to read the forums (and ignore the mainstream media) might do pretty well at understanding us.

Unfortunately, there have already been a few writers who took a stab at it without making the effort to understand. The only saving grace is that hardly anyone has read their work.

But then, I don't write balloon fetish stories to make a lot of money; the hourly pay is lousy. And I don't write to convince the masses, for I don't expect them to understand. But there are definitely intangible rewards. Even when I have to give my stories away, it feels good to know that there are people out there who, even if their fetishes are not exactly like mine, still understand the basic gist of what I'm writing about.

And that makes it worth the time and effort.

Writing While Researching

The research on the new book is proceeding very slowly. I was hoping to be further along, but this annoying need to make a living keeps interfering in one way or another (just as life takes time away from balloon play).

Meanwhile, I am composing a short story, not related to Blowing It! in any way (don't want to get anyone prematurely excited about a sequel), but just something I thought of one morning and decided I wanted to write. I expect that it will only take a few weeks to whip it into shape and get it published on Kindle.

I asked my Facebook followers if I should make the character a popper, a non-popper, or some kind of combination between the two. I got lots of opinions, and you'll have to read the story to find out what I decided, but some of their other suggestions sparked some other plot ideas.

So, rather than having to wait until I can do a whole novel, or get the research done for an entire non-fiction book, I just might have some stories for you to read this year.

It should be fun; I hope you'll enjoy them.

My New Year's Balloons

I finally took my New Year's balloons down, two and a half months into the year. In my house in the winter, good-quality balloons will stay shiny and firm enough to be nice to look at for several months. But when the spring comes and we start to open the windows to let in the fresh air, the balloons soon oxidize and lose that lovely shine.

We are still several weeks from that point, but I live in a house with children and don't get much privacy. So I took advantage of an empty house to have some fun with them while I had the chance.

The balloons were Qualatex jewels, and when they have been inflated for that long, the rubber is a little stiff, so they are not so good for sit-popping. But I also like to stuff balloons in my clothing, and they were still very nice for that.

I don't like oxidized balloons, so even though I was sad to not have the balloons hanging in my room anymore, I was glad I had some fun with them before they started to fade. This is different from many others who actually prefer oxidized balloons, or don't care one way or the other. Each of us has very specific likes and dislikes when it comes to balloons.

For example, a lot of people who like to pop balloons probably wouldn't keep them around so long. But I like to have balloons around to look at, and I like non-popping play, so I'm not always in a hurry to pop my balloons. Even balloons I've blown up specifically to play with sometimes end up in my closet for a time until I am in the mood (and have the opportunity) to pop them.

It's a good thing my wife understands.

Seen On Twitter

I post and follow on Twitter, but not very often. It started as a way to promote my book, and that score it has been spectacularly unsuccessful. But I haven't deleted my Twitter account because it does add some dimension to the research for my new book.

I keep a search going for the words "balloon fetish." Not so much to find other fetishists (Facebook, it turns out, is much more fruitful for that), but to see what people are saying about balloon fetishes. Mostly, I see very little posting by actual fetishists; what I mostly see is promotional posts by balloon fetish sites, and posts by people who have recently watched either Strange Sex or National Geographic's Taboo.

And the reactions are usually not positive. Now, as an indicator of how the general public feels watching a segment about balloon fetishism (albeit a narrow and misleading one, in both cases), tweets are probably not very helpful. When you consider who tweets, and what they normally tweet about, you might expect to get more "I just saw something really weird" posts than "I just saw this and found it very interesting" or "I was watching this and I really didn't have much of a reaction to it" posts.

Still, it's disturbing to see so many posters responding to these documentaries with LOLs and WTFs. And for a while I tried to set them straight, sending a link to my short, but more reasoned page on the subject on my book's site. But I realized that it was just a knee-jerk reaction on my part. No one who does posts like that is going to change his or her mind because a real fetishist tweets something to them. Maybe if one of their own friends came out to them as a fetishist. Or maybe not.

It makes people feel secure and more powerful socially to reject something that hints at "otherness." Especially young adults, from whom most of these posts seem to come. We just have to accept the fact that our sexual oddities cause discomfort to most of those who don't share them.

Of course, I'm sure that any of my gay and lesbian friends could have told me that.

Taking Over

I have been asked by my long-time correspondent Triple Outcast to take over Globophilia, as he is deleting his Google account and didn't want to see the URL go to waste. I will need to sort out for myself which of my writings should be in my author's blog, and which should be in this one, and I hope that I won't be neglectful as I take this over.

Thanks to T.O. for handing this over to me. I hope he made the right decision.

Getting Organized

Although I've already written a lot of words for the new book (which I need to get a working title for soon so I stop referring to it as "the new book"), I'm a long way from actually writing anything I would call a completed book. There is so much research to do, so many people to contact, so much thinking about the format of the book, and how I'm going to correlate everything that I find out so that it all works together without denigrating into dry statistics or trite (and wholly inaccurate) classifications.

And so the organization is not just of the kind where I make sure my files are all in the right places and that my GMail folders are set up just so. It's the mental organization of the concepts.

I've decided on a format for the book. And yet I'm fairly sure that by the time I've written the first draft, I will have discovered that the format I thought was just right is, in fact, totally inappropriate for the job.

But that's the way of writing, when it's working as it should. Not just words on paper, but a voyage of discovery. And when we all get there, I think that I will be as surprised as you to see what the final product looks like.