How did you first discover you had a hypnosis fetish? Can you describe the exact moment - how old were you; was there an incident or a person from your childhood, or perhaps a book or movie which set things off; what events led up to it etc

My interest in hypnotism has been a feature of my psychology all of my conscious life. When I was seven years old, and in the third grade of my elementary education, I remember reading my first article on hypnosis in an encyclopedia that we had in the class. For the life of me, I can't really remember what it said, only that it was only about two paragraphs long and that it had captivated my attention entirely. That would be the defining instant as far as my conscious memory is concerned.

Of course, the true reasons why we do the things we do, are often more complicated than the conscious reason. For example, prior to this event that I have just related to you, I'd spent years exposed to the mass media. Television, radio, newspapers, shape our opinions, ideas and views. I couldn't possibly imagine the number of influences that the mass media could have given me.

In addition, the way that we react with other people also shapes our ideas and opinions about the world around us. I often tell people that my mother was very young when she gave birth to me. As a consequence of this, as a seven year old child becoming sexually aware of the world around me, there were often numerous attractive twenty-five year old women around me. Towering over me, attractive, and completely unattainable.

Plus, at a young age, I was constantly moving around, often attending two to three schools a year. I was often one of the youngest children in the class, if not the youngest, and constantly \"the new kid.\" It was often difficult enough to make friends with the other boys in the class, but at least I had common interests with them. Making friends with the girls often was much more difficult, yet as I started the process of entering adolescence girls occupied more of my interest.

Naturally, these are just what I remember of the environmental factors that I believe have contributed to my interest. Undoubtedly there were also a number of genetic factors that also influenced my development.

Now that you've read all that, I'll give you the simple two sentence answer to the question:

I've been interested hypnosis all my life, I can't imagine what I would be like without it being a central feature of my personality. As far as the erotic aspects go, I figured it would be a good way to get chicks naked... and it was. (But don't worry, I didn't learn this until high school)

Incidentally, the origins that most people in my age group - 20 to 30 - would attribute to their discovery of this interest are often at a young age, mid elementary school to junior high school, and usually a television or a library is involved. The older generations generally have a different perception of hypnosis based on the type of information that they were exposed to on the subject, along with the cultural influences that they were exposed to. In the 1950's and 1960's, for example, it's not uncommon to read university newspaper archives and see stories about one of their deans giving a talk on \"The Dangers of Hypnosis.\"

Going off on a tangent for a moment, it's often interesting to take a look at old publications and news stories about 50's era warnings about \"The Dangers of Hypnosis.\" Today, it's widely accepted that hypnosis is a self guided, self regulated process and that the external influence of the hypnotist is permitted within the confines of the subjects moral and belief system. There are still a few areas where the legal system, the UK comes to mind, believes that there may be risks associated with a phenomenon called hypnotic regression, but I don't subscribe to their opinion. However, in the interest of potentially not being reckless, I will often avoid hypnotic regression for casual purposes, just in case they know something that I don't. But, as I was writing, it's a curious question to ask whether all the 50's era discussion was simply the effect of national paranoia, or ignorance on the phenomenon, or a different cultural perspective - or whether they were in fact right, and we're now all slaves to our Madison Avenue Hypnotic Marketing Overlords. :-)

- What does an hypnosis fetish involve? (As much detail as possible please!)

The Erotic Hypnosis Fetish is an interesting, and constantly evolving fetish. We don't have the same coverage, exposure, or infrastructure as say the BDSM Community, or the Gay Community, but I often look to those two communities as examples of how to form a community based on sexual interest. The emergence of the Internet, and the opportunities that it provides has been key, in my opinion, to the progression of erotic hypnotism as a fetish and a community. Many people who are into it often don't even have a name for it until they discover us on the net. Often people are afraid of social embarrassment on account of their interest in hypnosis. Many people that I know often ask for advice on how to approach people like their wives and girlfriends about the subject.

I often split the Erotic Hypnosis Fetish into two main classification. The first being Hypnosis for the sake of Hypnosis. These are the people that essentially get off on the mechanism of hypnosis. The second classification would be those that see hypnotism as a vehicle to get to their true fetish. You wouldn't believe the number of foot fetishists that have a primary interest in hypnosis to complete the act of carrying out the foot fetish.

As far as the details of what the first classification involves, that's a tall order. I've spent over three years of my life on the Internet and in person attempting to fully explore and define this. I think it would be difficult to summarize in this way.

- Do you know a lot of people with the same fetish?

Of course :-). I am one of the major players in the online Erotic Hypnosis Fetish community. I run two websites that specialize in video of erotic hypnosis taking place, http://www.hypnogames.com and http://www.hypnosisfetish.com . Naturally there are subtle differences between the type of erotic hypnosis that I depict on my video websites, and the type of erotic hypnosis that I practice with my girlfriend. Publicly it's expected to be interesting from an outsider's prospective. Privately it's more about the experience of the hypnotist and the subject. I also run a public news and community website called HypnoFocus, http://www.hypnofocus.com . This website was sort of an offshoot from the Yahoo Groups community which has a lot of groups on the subject, but often falls prey to spamming or the whims of the Yahoo Corporation. As a result of this, combined with the fact that it's what I do for a living, as well as my favorite pass-time, I tend to know a lot of people with the same interest.

I try to be as public in sharing my thoughts and opinions on the matter, because I think it's very important to help keep people somewhat down to earth. A lot of people think that Hypnosis is guaranteed mind control, and that they can do whatever they want with it. Well, it's not, it requires more finesse, and there are limitations. However, mostly I like to help people understand that even if there were perfect forms of mind control, that wouldn't necessary be a good thing. It may be true that you could do whatever you want, but at the same time someone else could do whatever they wanted to you, and maybe you wouldn't like that. It's important to remember that other people are living thinking beings with their own thoughts ideas and feelings. It will often surprise other people that as an Erotic Hypnotist Pornographer I'm so concerned with the idea of free will and free choice.

As a side note, one of my favorite jokes is:

An erotic hypnotist walks into a BDSM club, looks around thoughtfully at the subs and Doms and says, \"Oh I get what you're doing!\" Then a confused look crosses his face and he asks, \"...but what is all the furniture for?\"

The BDSM community often makes use of hypnotic, or hypnotic-like techniques to achieve their goals. The idea of \"subspace\" could often easily translate to \"trance.\" However, the subtleties and the \"flavor\" can be quite different. Don't take this the wrong way, I enjoy the BDSM community, and have learned a lot from it. It's a great place for the Erotic Hypnosis people to go and find community until we have one of our own that's as robust as theirs is.

- What exactly is it about hypnosis, or hypnotizing people in general that turns you on? do you think its more about power? Is it the only way you are able to get turned on? Do you find that there's a connection with the fetish people have for sleeping/unconscious women?

That's a good question. To be honest I would imagine after nearly two decades it's become leaned/conditioned behavior. Over time the way I relate with my fetish intellectually has changed. Naturally the typical adolescent fantasy of using hypnosis to get that really cute English teacher standing naked before you willing to do anything that you want is the type of level that most people are at. Don't get me wrong, as far as fantasies go, it's definitely a keeper. However, if one leaves the fantasy stage, and actually does erotic hypnosis in real life, it quickly becomes apparent that there's a difference between fantasy and reality. Over time it becomes less of a matter of \"What Can I MAKE Someone Do?\" and more of a matter of \"How Am I Capable of Being.\"

There's definitely a power dynamic involved. Both in a real sense and in a perceived sense. Hypnotism is not Mind Control, if it were the world would be run by the 7 most powerful hypnotists, as opposed to the 7 most richest entities. However, the perception of power that a subject may believe that a hypnotist has, is a very real thing. At the same time the perception of power that a hypnotist believes he has is also a real thing. It is important to note, though, that both of these perceptions are placebo. It's the result of perception, and as such can be changed as perception changes. Human behavior is a complicated phenomenon and there are no quick easy answers, and it can often be a self contradicting and maddening example of a snake eating it's own tail to infinity.

It's not the only way that I can be turned on. However, since it's frequently available to me, I will often indulge in my fetish.

The idea of sleeping/unconsciousness associated with hypnosis is an interesting idea, and often a misconception. The idea of sleep is really only a metaphor that sets the expectation of one way that a subject is expected to behave in a state of hypnotic trance. The idea of unconsciousness is often mistakenly interpreted as the cause of the various memory related phenomenon that a hypnotic subject may experience. It's important to remember that Hypnotism is actually an enhanced state of concentration and focus.

Of course, it should also be noted that the erotic hypnosis fetish also include those who like to be on the other side as subjects, and that the hypnotist and subject roles aren't necessarily tied to gender.

- What's the furthest you've ever gone to satisfy your cravings?

I once flew 5 thousand miles round trip... Although I would imagine that's not quite the intent of the question. :-)

- How do you involve your fetish in your sex life? Do you indulge often?

I think I addressed this earlier.

- What is your ideal sexual scenario involving hypnosis?

That's a tough one. I don't really have an ideal as it's so integrated into every aspect of my life and has always been.

- Does having this fetish disturb you? or others?

No, it doesn't disturb me at all. I'm completely comfortable with it. Naturally there was a time where I wasn't completely comfortable with it, but then again most human beings go through a process of sexual maturity. We call it growing up. Some people are uncomfortable about my interest. This is something to be expected, however, as many people in our society are uncomfortable discussing sexuality at all, and in many cases aren't in touch with their own sexuality. Additionally there are people who have some strange ideas about the reality of hypnosis, and this can lead to fear - the fear of the unknown.

- Has anyone ever got hurt? Have you ever got into trouble with either the law or a loved one? Have you ever been walked into in compromising scenario, and if so, can you give details?

Like most of the other 6 billion human being on the planet, I don't live in a bubble where I exist without affecting those around me. In the normal course of our lives we fall into love and we fall out of love. We push away and we pull towards. We can be generous and we can be selfish. We can be thoughtful and we can be careless.

However, as much as we all wish we could be born into the world fully educated and fully experienced, the unfortunate truth is that is not the case. As we walk down the paths that our lives take us we sometimes make great strides and we sometimes stumble and fall. To err is human, as the saying goes, and we are not born as Buddhas or Jesus. This is why the growth of the Erotic Hypnosis Fetish Community is a good thing, as we can collectively learn from our experiences.

However, one of the interesting side effects of being open about my interest, is that I often find myself in the role of a non-religious priest. Couples will often share with me things that they would never discuss with others, and often even between themselves. Most of the time people just want to talk, and often don't feel that they have an outlet. As a Pornographer Hypnotist people generally don't worry about being judged by me, so they feel more comfortable an open. Of course, I'd be a pretty substandard hypnotist if I weren't able to help people feel at ease. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that I never represent myself as a healer or as a therapist. I'm an entertainer, I'll say, then I'll flash a grin and say tongue-in-cheek, a scum-bag if you will.

To be a good hypnotist, and to be a realistic hypnosis fetishist, I believe you need to understand. You need to understand yourself as best as possible, without falling prey to the temptation of self-deception or self-misperception. Often, when you hypnotize a subject, you enter into a state of empathic rapport with them. You try to plug in to what they are feeling, and synchronizing with that. As a consequence you tend to be gentle and considerate because it would be foolish to enter into an empathic rapport with someone and treat them poorly, you'd feel bad too.

- How do you find prospective partners respond? How easy is it to find prospective partners who are into the same thing as you? Have you ever been dumped over this?

My subjects respond quite well, actually. It's a very pleasurable experience, and often I'm able to help my partner's have a happy and fulfilling relationship by bringing all the little guilts and jealousies that we all have, out into the open and suggesting ways to overcome them.

Thanks for doing this, I will be in touch. And I'm glad you like the magazine!

You're welcome, often for my website I interview other people. Sometimes it's nice to be on this end. If you have any more questions, or would like me to expand any further let me know.