Inside the sensual world of ASMRotica

asmrotica

We've written about Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) on Boing Boing several times in the past couple of years. (See "The brain-tingling world of ASMR collides with science fiction" and "The whispery world of ASMR enters virtual reality"). People with ASMR say that soft soothing sounds – whispers, gentle tapping, breathing, crinking – can produce pleasant tingles in their body (though some people are claiming ASMR is not a real phenomenon. I don't know. I don't have ASMR, but if people feel euphoric frissons when they hear softly spoken words, I believe them.)

Kathryn Lindsay has written a piece of Vice's Broadly about a recent ASMR trend called ASMRotica, which she describes as a "a soft, sensual, and therapeutic alternative to mainstream porn."

"Several months ago, through ASMR groups and forums, I started to notice an emerging demand for erotic ASMR," explained Laila, who goes by Laila Love ASMR on YouTube. I had sent a few emails out to ASMR creators who publicly brand themselves as catering to the more sensual side of the genre. I wanted to know just what this subgenre was, and how it carved its place inside this community. What I found was, despite adamant insistence to the contrary, once these videos starting hitting subscription boxes, viewers ate it up. "After uploading my first video, I was seriously overwhelmed with all the attention that it got," Laila continued. "Several videos and several hundred subscriptions later, my channel just kind of blew up and I've been doing it ever since. It's been a lot of fun."

Possibly NSFW video from Laila Love ASMR: