Encountering Other Looners

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  • TooBigToFail
    Junior Member
    • Feb 2019
    • 26

    Encountering Other Looners

    Reading some of the posts here, it seems that many people have encountered others (relatives, friends, etc.) who might be looners since they seem to be suspiciously into balloons.

    My question is how common is this truly? My closest experience is that I know someone quite masculine and aggressive brought down low by his phobia of balloons, but nothing that to me would stand out as having looner tendencies.
  • BusterBill
    Founder, Balloon Buddies
    • Nov 2016
    • 251

    #2
    Re: Encountering Other Looners

    Originally posted by TooBigToFail
    My question is how common is this truly?
    .
    As the most senior member of the looner community - - I've been communicating with and meeting other looner's from all over the world for 54 years - - I have 2 answers to your question about how common the balloon fetish is. First answer is that it is more common than most people realize but until recent years was not widely known because looners have a tendency to feel guilty, embarrassed and weird about their fetish. It's more widely known and accepted now that the Internet has provided fertile ground for scores of web sites and thousands of videos, photos and stories. Second answer is that no social scientist or psychological researcher has, to my knowledge, formally studied the prevalence of our particular fetish and therefore any estimate of how common it is would be a wild guess. If my 50+ years of observation is of any value I'd say that probably 1/2 of 1% of men have some sexual response to balloons. I think it's about the same for women but I'm less confident about that. By "some sexual response" I mean some people experience a mild arousal and others intense arousal and even obsession. There is definitely a spectrum that ranges from people who experience casual arousal to people who are enthusiasticslly obsessed loones.

    I have met others and made friends with folks who are all across the spectrum.

    Comment

    • globos&bears
      Member
      • Jun 2019
      • 87

      #3
      Re: Encountering Other Looners

      By "some sexual response" I mean some people experience a mild arousal and others intense arousal and even obsession
      Very interesting, I wonder what define that someone is obsessed about a fetish, I thought that a fetish it is a fixation per se.

      Comment

      • Blowitbig
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2016
        • 688

        #4
        Re: Encountering Other Looners

        I think busterbill is correct, i believe some people are very mildly aroused by balloons while others are ( myself included) very very sexually aroused by balloons , ive only met 1 other person in my life that felt the same way about balloons as i do , but we were just young kids at the time and talking about balloons was the extent of it .but i hope there are more looners out there than what i tend to believe, im patiently waiting to meet one .
        The bigger the better

        Comment

        • bfinch2000
          Senior Member
          • Feb 2020
          • 118

          #5
          Re: Encountering Other Looners

          i know what you mean, i have a few friends who seem to be just a little bit weird around balloons, although it's hard to put my finger on why. sometimes i think they might have a fetish, other times i think it might be a phobia, or maybe both!

          but i wonder if it's us being like hyper aware and maybe we're seeing things that aren't there? or even wishful thinking in some cases...

          Comment

          • Blowitbig
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2016
            • 688

            #6
            Re: Encountering Other Looners

            Im sure we do notice the smallest things about certain people when balloons are around, if their nervous, if they want to bust em or do they shy away from em , its probably just high hopes and wishful thinking
            The bigger the better

            Comment

            • SirSquishy
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2020
              • 219

              #7
              Re: Encountering Other Looners

              Originally posted by BusterBill
              I have met others and made friends with folks who are all across the spectrum.
              How and where do you meet these people? Online or in person?

              Comment

              • BusterBill
                Founder, Balloon Buddies
                • Nov 2016
                • 251

                #8
                Re: Encountering Other Looners

                Originally posted by SirSquishy
                How and where do you meet these people? Online or in person?
                .
                I met dozens of looners both online and in person through the looner social group called Balloon Buddies that I founded in 1976 as a pen-pal group -- we found each other thru adverts that I placed in adult magazines. When the earliest pre-browser, pre-web-site versions of Internet took hold (e.g. Compuserve, AOL, The Well, Prodigy, and others) we created chat forums, email lists and shared photo libraries. Later the first browsers arrived (Mosaic and Netscape Navigator). We were the first looner web site. The Balloon Buddies, and spinoff pages created by Balloon Buddy members such as Chipple's Looner Directory, were the only online looner resources for quite a few years.
                .
                In those days groups of Balloon Buddies would gather for long-weekend meetups. Some of the get togethers attracted looners from around the world. Also, I traveled internationally on business and pleasure so I was able to meet looners in several other countries.
                Last edited by BusterBill; 27-05-2020, 04:48.

                Comment

                • SirSquishy
                  Senior Member
                  • Mar 2020
                  • 219

                  #9
                  Re: Encountering Other Looners

                  You've lived a life only some looners can dream of living. Thanks for sharing.

                  Comment

                  • frankfrank
                    Empathetic Harmonizer
                    • Feb 2018
                    • 262

                    #10
                    Re: Encountering Other Looners

                    I've met quite a few looners in my lifetime (20 or 30?), most of them at a weekend get-together that Mike D. and Mellyloon hosted a decade-or-so ago. In ALL cases that I've ever met any looner, it's only happened because of some type of presence on the internet (e. go. that get-together), or deliberately looking up a looner in my travels.



                    One looner (who I don't think I've seen in here) lives only 90 miles from my downstate Illinois location, which I'm in the process of vacating and selling this summer, in favor of being in Chicago year-around and permanently.


                    I have NEVER met a looner "in the wild" without any previous publicity or correspondence of some kind.
                    People who don't know the difference between BURRO and BURROW, can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground.


                    There's been a lot of thefts of helium-filled balloons recently. More so than in the past, so they're going up. I think inflation is to blame.

                    "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking." - The Scarecrow, WIZARD OF OZ, 1939

                    Comment

                    • Roye
                      Junior Member
                      • Jun 2018
                      • 15

                      #11
                      Re: Encountering Other Looners

                      Originally posted by frankfrank
                      I've met quite a few looners in my lifetime (20 or 30?), most of them at a weekend get-together that Mike D. and Mellyloon hosted a decade-or-so ago. In ALL cases that I've ever met any looner, it's only happened because of some type of presence on the internet (e. go. that get-together), or deliberately looking up a looner in my travels.



                      One looner (who I don't think I've seen in here) lives only 90 miles from my downstate Illinois location, which I'm in the process of vacating and selling this summer, in favor of being in Chicago year-around and permanently.


                      I have NEVER met a looner "in the wild" without any previous publicity or correspondence of some kind.
                      You're in Illinois?? Sweet, I'm in Rockford right now!! I wonder if we're close

                      Comment

                      • BallonBTP
                        Member
                        • Apr 2020
                        • 40

                        #12
                        Re: Encountering Other Looners

                        Hi.

                        I have never met another looner. Actually until recently I have been quite alone with my fetish. My wife is the only one who knows about it.

                        I think it would be really cool meeting a likeminded person though, and maybe I will in the not so far future.

                        Greetings
                        BalloonBTP

                        Comment

                        • Loonorm
                          Senior Member
                          • Mar 2019
                          • 214

                          #13
                          Re: Encountering Other Looners

                          Originally posted by Roye
                          You're in Illinois?? Sweet, I'm in Rockford right now!! I wonder if we're close
                          I am in the western suburbs of Chicago...

                          Comment

                          • TooBigToFail
                            Junior Member
                            • Feb 2019
                            • 26

                            #14
                            Re: Encountering Other Looners

                            Originally posted by BusterBill
                            .
                            As the most senior member of the looner community - - I've been communicating with and meeting other looner's from all over the world for 54 years - - I have 2 answers to your question about how common the balloon fetish is. First answer is that it is more common than most people realize but until recent years was not widely known because looners have a tendency to feel guilty, embarrassed and weird about their fetish. It's more widely known and accepted now that the Internet has provided fertile ground for scores of web sites and thousands of videos, photos and stories. Second answer is that no social scientist or psychological researcher has, to my knowledge, formally studied the prevalence of our particular fetish and therefore any estimate of how common it is would be a wild guess. If my 50+ years of observation is of any value I'd say that probably 1/2 of 1% of men have some sexual response to balloons. I think it's about the same for women but I'm less confident about that. By "some sexual response" I mean some people experience a mild arousal and others intense arousal and even obsession. There is definitely a spectrum that ranges from people who experience casual arousal to people who are enthusiasticslly obsessed loones.

                            I have met others and made friends with folks who are all across the spectrum.
                            It's interesting to hear that it's that surprisingly high. That does make sense given how many performers report the profitability of targeting balloon fetishists.

                            Also, you probably hear this a bunch but thank you so much for all the work that you've done with the Balloon Buddies. Helped me make sense of myself growing up and come to terms with this

                            Comment

                            • BusterBill
                              Founder, Balloon Buddies
                              • Nov 2016
                              • 251

                              #15
                              Re: Encountering Other Looners

                              Originally posted by TooBigToFail
                              you probably hear this a bunch but thank you so much for all the work that you've done with the Balloon Buddies. Helped me make sense of myself growing up and come to terms with this
                              .
                              I deeply appreciate your gratitude. I have heard it before but it never fails to make me feel as if I've made some small contribution to the happiness and comfort of fellow looners who otherwise felt that they were "all alone in the world and weird", to quote a fellow looner. So thanks and you're welcome. You comment makes me feel great.


                              Comment

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