Episode 28 - Competitive Tickling + P.T. Barnum

Unscrupulous

Do you like being tickled? Of course you don't, but could you like it for $1500? This is the dilemma Bec (they/them) takes us on as we explore the world of competitive tickling. Going through David Farrier's documentary "Tickled", we are introduced to a group of young boys who were often filming these videos under false pretences, they are desperate for a bit of cash and the people behind the production company Jane O'Brien Media takes advantage. The deeply internalized homophobia in this is nausiating. If anyone asks for the videos of them being tied down and tickled to be taken off of the internet, they are met with a wall of hate, often doxxed, and their personal lives ruined. All over tickling! And if they say it once, they say it a thousand times, it's not gay!
Next Adam (he/him) takes us to the circus! But don't get too excited, because he pulls back that white and red striped curtain and shows us how awful the whole thing really is. Why is P.T. Barnum sometimes remembered fondly? Is it because we now just associate him with Hugh Jackman? Probably. Get ready to have all romantic notions of circus life set straight. From his humble beginnings of using people and animals as objects to get himself money, to his peak popularity, where he used people and animals as objects to get himself money; we learn about possible arson crimes, what people were really saying about his acts and of course you can't forget the part where he used people and animal as objects to get himself money. You have never heard Adam so angry on a topic before!
Bec's Sources:

• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tickled-movie-david-farrier-tickling_n_5768203fe4b015db1bca0aa7
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K88xF9mOUjc
• https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/19-06-2017/life-after-the-tickle-kings-death

Adam's Sources:

• Contemporary New York Times article about the fire at Barnum's American Museum in 1865
• 150 Years Ago, a Fire in P.T. Barnum's Museum Boiled Two Whales Alive | Smart News
• P.T. Barnum Isn't the Hero the 'Greatest Showman' Wants You to Think | History| Smithsonian Magazine
• 150 Years Later: Who Burned Down P. T. Barnum’s American Museum? | ASHP/CML
• P. T. Barnum - Wikipedia
  • Phineas Taylor Barnum, P.T. Barnum

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