Are there any fetishes that you just simply cannot wrap your mind around? Whether that would be why other people find them interesting that, or because you feel strangely about it?

***WARNING: UNPOPULAR OPINIONS AHEAD***

You wanna know the fetish that people seem to love which I simply do not really understand?

Pup play.

“But Wes! You write pup stories fairly regularly! You seem to get it just fine!”

Intellectually, I understand why people are into it, and I understand the triggers which turn people on to the fetish, but I personally have no real interest or attraction to the fetish itself.

I feel, before continuing, that I should make a disclaimer, regarding what I’m *not* talking about. There is, in my mind, a distinction between people who want to be literally turned into a dog (the animal) and people who enjoy pup/handler RP in a BDSM sense. Or at least, in my head, they are different sorts of things. The animal TF itself isn’t particularly confusing for me, but the BDSM stuff loses me a bit. I should also add that just because it isn’t my thing, doesn’t mean I think it’s bad that other people do it. Obviously there’s something there that people enjoy! It’s just something about my understanding and experience with BDSM that makes it seem…strange to me.

Part of the reason for this, I think, is that BDSM–especially in the role of a sub–is very much about stripping things away. It’s about being present in the moment, and the sensation of a dom stripping away off the extraneous shit until all that remains is a blissful state of service. Or at least, that’s how I *experience* it, and I’m certain not all experiences are equal. But when I look at pup play, with the masks and the tails and performance of it, it honestly feels like the exact opposite of that sensation to me. It looks like, rather than revealing myself, I’m just burying myself within a costume and a role instead. I would be creating more distance between myself and the dom I’m playing with. That’s…just not what I’m looking for, I suppose, in those sorts of scenes. I also feel that part of being a sub involves an aspect of responsibility and service, but the pup role seems to be missing those aspects to me. Rather, it seems to be about abandoning responsibility and humanity–which could very well be the point!–but which seems to miss some of the core values that I personally appreciate in BDSM.

In any case, I’m sure other people fell differently! It could be that my view from the outside of it is very different from what it would be like for an experienced pup and handler. It’s still something on my list to try, mostly because I would like to see if my understanding of it really is wrong, or if it just isn’t something for me, personally.

tl;dr: don’t hate me, plz