"The how's and why's of what makes people get into this field of balloon fetishism can be interesting. Many of the active members talk about having extreme fear of being around balloons as children. Often it was a fear of the unexpected bang that can come in public situations including balloons. Many members had rather traumatic events that scared the shit out of them and that fear had stuck with them into adulthood to some degree. The oddity is that what scares us, seems to draw us in and even can develop into something that sexually arouses us.

So for many that mention their previous fears of being around balloons, the arousal seems to develop as they gradually conquer their fears and take over control of this thing that used to make them run and hide or put their fingers in their ears. The young responses to our previous fear of balloons is where our fear of ridicule now likely comes from, I suppose. Unless you had this fear as a kid, you have no idea how awkward it was to be seriously teased by the other kids that couldn't possibly understand how you could be afraid of something so seemingly harmless as
balloons. Today, most of the looners are still afraid of ridicule should someone they know find out that they get sexually aroused by the presence of balloon play.

I've explained those that got into arousal from the devolvement of prior fears. But the other part of the group got to be looners because their very first experience with balloons was a very positive experience and was quite possibly associated with a person of the opposite gender. Interestingly, many of the stories that come out mention getting turned on with balloon play at a young age because of seeing someone much older playing with the balloons. But also, the story often has to do with the young guy seeing the cute girls their age blowing up and popping balloons.

So what is it about balloons themselves that we tend to like so much. This, I would think, is quite obvious. In many ways, balloons can represent a substitute for so many things generically sexual. First, the inflated rubber balloons feel similar to the consistency of human skin.
As you squeeze or poke a balloon, the feel is not that different than squeezing or poking your girlfriend. As a matter of fact, when cupping your hand around a round balloon of 9" or 12" diameter, it feels similar to cupping the girlfriends butt cheeks or even her breasts. When wetted or smeared with KY jelly, the latex can become even more skin-like.

When the ladies sit on classic pear-shaped balloons, the neck of the balloon shoots out, simulating an erect penis that they can then grasp as it bulges in their crotch. By bouncing on these balloons until they pop, it's not that different than the same chick giving her best energy to ride the guy of her dreams from on top until he "pops".

The squeaky sounds made by balloon play can be a turn-on for some because the pitch of the squeak indicates directly, how tightly the balloon is inflated. Typically, the tighter the inflated balloon is, the greater the turn-on because the balloon is that much closer to the bursting point. The smell of latex is arousing for many. Whether the smell itself is a natural aphrodisiac or not is not known but I'm sure it conjures memories of previous balloon experiences. And by the way, many latex balloons have distinctly different aromas to where the make of the balloon can be determined by its smell alone.

Looners cover the full span of ages. Forums are contributed to by looners from the legal age of 18 all the way up into the sixties. I myself am now 50 and have been praciticing balloonism since the age of 15 or so. And it doesn't look like I'll be stopping at all until I die. Even then, I'll likely request that there be latex helium balloons decorating my wake and funeral.

One trend I forget to mention previously. As a person ages from a child into adulthood, it seems the desire for larger balloons takes hold. Where 7" or 9" balloons were once OK for balloon play as a kid, they just seem too ridiculously small to deal with now. Most looners see 12" diameter balloons as almost tiny and many will only play with 16" diameter balloons and larger. For some, weather balloons are not even too big to play with.