Gays have tons of message boards, where guys can find other guys into tickling, or speculate about whether David Duchovny's feet might be ticklish. The most popular of these is Jack's Tickling Rack. Regular kinksters see themselves in Madonna or the Genitorturers. Tickle fans tend to find their truest reflection in old Warner Bros. cartoons. It's easy to see why tickling might seem childish.
Most enthusiasts date their interest from early on.
When I was a kid, a camp counselor whose name I forgot held me down and tickled me, and I felt an unfamiliar bliss. Part helplessness, part overstimulation, it was all surrender. Later on, guy friends would hold me down and tickle me for hours while I mock protested. Dave tells of tickling a babysitter when he was 3 or 4. By kindergarten, he was obsessed with tickling.