When it comes to kink, the balloon fetish seems to be about pure, playful fun. If you’re new to the niche, you will eventually come across Emmanuelle, one of a handful of people producing balloon-specific content online. She runs Balloon Directory and seven other sites geared towards balloons and vinyl inflatables. Her experience working in the Balloon community since 1999 has helped her get a better understanding of the fetish as a whole. She, in turn, helped us get a handle on the intricacies of this fantastic kink. We were wondering what it’s like to track down models who are willing to pose with the wide array of shapes and sizes of balloons but Emmanuelle says that finding models for fetish sites may be easier than you might expect.

“I think that with any fetish, especially softcore ones . . . it’s a lot easier to get the girls because it’s less important that she’s nude, gaping or anything like that,” said Emmanuelle. “In fact, the majority of our content is lingerie with a cute, sexy girl interacting with the balloons.”

Cute and sexy seems to be a good way to sum up the fetish as a whole. Although there can be many different interests, there seems to be division between two specific camps – poppers and non-poppers. Poppers are attracted to the balloons as they explode. There are many ways to burst a balloon but some of the more common have their own fetish terms such as blow2pop, ridepop and nailpop. Non-poppers prefer the balloons and interaction without the special exploding ending. Whatever the interest, it seems the Internet has shed new light on the fetish for fans.

“They find a certain solace in finding likeminded people,” Emmanuelle said, “because it’s so unusual and because it’s not the kind of kink where you can walk in to a video store and buy videos. Many people start to worry, ‘hey, am I the only one in the world who’s turned on by this.’ So when they meet other likeminded people on the Internet, they’re grateful.”

It is hard to imagine a day when you couldn’t access anything that you wanted with a few clicks of the mouse – but fans remember. Emmanuelle says that the genuine appreciation from members is a definite bonus to working in a niche that has a very narrow market.

“You can never get enough (people telling you they appreciate your work) and that’s probably the reason we’ve stuck around so long,” she said. “The money isn’t so great. It certainly covers the expenses and reimburses us for our time and efforts, but because it’s a smaller niche, the financial rewards aren’t as great as they could be in other niches. But we like what we do and we like hearing we’re doing a good job.”

If you’re new to the niche and are interested in learning more about the resources available for fans, you’re in luck. We’ve found the perfect tour guide to get you started and her name is Emmanuelle.

“Email me privately at emma@emmasballoons.com and I’ll send you a couple of links!”