Some more musings on the topic of WAM/Splosh.

One of the most interesting things about it to me is how it is a gateway. Through WAM it's possible to encounter any number of permutations and combinations of messes and other fetishes that WAM can have a role in.

Starting with things within the WAM world, early on, like most, there was simply the awareness of mess. Mud, pie fights etc, but they were rather simple. Combinations of messy stuff was more out of necessity sometimes (what you had extra of you could sneak from a kitchen) rather than out of a fixed desire for that combination. Interestingly enough, coming onto the web it was interesting to see how there were different "camps", those that were all about the quicksand/mud element, those with pies. I will admit it felt odd wandering between these different "silos" of WAM. I mean it's one thing to learn you're not alone with a fetish, it's quite another to wonder if within that group you're odd simply because you don't belong in one slot or another within it. Messyfun was good when I found it because it had slices of all of them, and even added new ideas like paint into the mix. I know paint should have been obvious, but it wasn't to me as a WAMming substance at that time, probably due to availability and questions about how easy it would be to clean up.

Splosh and the Aquantics stuff always was more of a draw, especially the descriptions of the different messes; savoury mixed with sweet and all of it mixed with paint or wallpaper paste or some other goo. When I started writing I did start with stories with a mix of things, and it still amazes me how a trip down a grocery store aisle leads to a secondary analysis of "how could this be used?" for a lot of items. Whether it's a chocolate milk powder which means you can vary the thickness of the resulting sludge, through to using coffee grounds as some sort of punishment in more of a BDSM style scenario or for someone that likes WAM that's more out on the edge. Really, when you're open to it, the range of items that can be used in WAM are incredible when you start factoring in making substances to resemble grease or playing around with a recipe for TV style slime to get the thickness *you* want.

Even just turning to "Wet and Messy", and seeing posts in the forum of clean-up from messy shows that it's not exactly a self-limiting fetish. Where does milk fit in? Baby oil? Olive oil? Some form of substance being used as "motor oil"? I can see how the purists on each side might argue that one doesn't relate or should pollute the other, but to be honest I don't believe that to be the case. In my case, wetlook is of secondary importance to me in a scene. I don't really "do" that one myself. I can appreciate what it does to clothes, especially on an attractive woman so I realize that there is an element of turn on there even if it's not quite something that is the alpha and omega of my interest in the fetish. As much as the visual of a girl getting filthy or soaked appeals to me, there is something about the sensations and textures that result through WAM play that does more for me. Things can be sticky, smooth, they can take a fabric and change the consistency and the transparency of it and even the colours can change. It does seem odd that with the like of texture that wetlook doesn't do more for me, but that's just my way of looking at the Universe apparently and is neither here nor there.

This is where it feels right to move out from just the WAM world into the larger context. What is it about WAM that gets people into it? Just being naughty, daring to defy society? Control/dominance of a submissive? Punishment for the arrogant? Reward to the inner child? The look? The feel? When you think of it when taken individually these can all align with other fetishes like BDSM, but if you look at pet play, cosplay, pvc/leather/latex fetishes, boot fetishes, cross dressing and so on and so on. WAM as the reason to punish someone because they stained their clothes, making someone eat their spaghetti out of a bowl like an animal to humiliate them, boots splattered with mud, or a catsuit being doused in custard. I'll be honest in that my eyes have been opened to a lot of other kinks over time with WAM acting as sort of the basis. When you take the time to listen to others describe what they like you can find the threads. In some cases even the fact they can't breathe, and trapped under a layer of goo are what turn them on whether it's mud or chocolate cake or a full gimp mask.

(Author's note: If I did miss your particular kink in that previous paragraph, it's not out of being malicious, just not trying to belabour the point.)

With the richness of substances that can be used in WAM I guess I feel it's an important thing to stress that tolerance is sometimes required. Different fads come and go in WAM. Sometimes it's mud in classy outfits, the next it's green gunge where girls are topless and hopping, or it's some form of "grease"/sludge staining and ruining blonde hair and white outfits. Odds are though that there are areas (thanks to Rule 34) that haven't been mined. If WAM is a part of your kink, you shouldn't feel out of place. If you fit a bunch of the categories here, you shouldn't feel out of place. If you only like one aspect of WAM, you shouldn't feel out of place. The key message though is, based on everything I've seen if you can at least understand that not everyone will like things exactly the way you might, there's lots to talk about.

Maybe in the future WAM as a community will be mainstream enough to split into different factions, but I will say that the day that happens will be a sad one. One of the inherent charms of the fetish will be lost, at least in my mind. The day it stops being fun and whatever you want it to be is the day whether or not WAM in some form gets you off or not is the day the soul is out of this fetish and community.