Inside the world of the burping fetish community

For many people, burping is disgusting and rude. But for some, belching is a major sexual turn on.

People with the unusual fetish can find it arousing to watch other people burp, or to burp themselves.

Those who are turned on by burping seek each other out and share their desires and links belching videos on the website Burp Fetish Forums, which contains thousands of posts. Gifs and images of people burping as their profile photos are not uncommon on the website.

One 42-year-old user RobbyBoy0 revealed that he “likes guys who can burp on command”. On the same thread, a 25-year-old fetishist called Burpboy wrote: “I do some very good burping of my own!” and invited others to contact him.

Users also share their tips on how to create the best-sounding belches, including in a post called “best drink to get the burps flowing”, filled with useful advice about soft drinks.

But the Burp Festish Forum is also a source of moral support and advice for people with a fetish that is rare and misunderstood.

“There's not as much new content these days and superb belchers no longer surprise me like they used to,” said one troubled user.

Finding burping arousing can also cause problems in relationships, as Stanley 18 revealed.

“Guys, what do I do my girlfriend hates burping as she gets so grossed out by it she has to leave the room and calm down, we've been together a year and I haven't told her about the fetish but we are very much in love. HELP :((" he begged.

Belching Fetish101, meanwhile, quizzed users over whether it’s “wrong” to coax burps out of gifted friends.

“I have a friend that I just found out is an amazing burper. He showed me his ‘talent’ and yeah it was pretty exciting to say the least. I had to sort of, shift my position to hide my shame.”

“Would it be OK to record someone burping without them knowing if it’s just a one time thing?” asked one anonymous user.

Describing a girl in his class who “out of nowhere lets out these huge burps”, he asked other members of the community if it is “wrong” to get a recording of her.

“I've never heard anyone burp like she does. NEVER. before and obviously it's a major turn on. I kept shifting around in my seat and I could barely control myself. I couldn't take it anymore so at the end of class I took out my phone and started a recording (discretely, no one saw) and quickly put it back in my bag while it was recording. Sadly, she didn't do it again.”

“It's just really hot and obviously I'm not going to straight up ask her. It’s weird and I don't even want anyone to know I have this fetish. It's extremely embarrassing to me but it's beyond my control.”

“Don't do it man it’s just wrong,” stressed Trappin, adding that he also recorded a girl burping but “couldn’t even enjoy the recording because I felt so damn guilty. That guilt will eat you up bro.”

Another similarly frustrated person wrote: “I’m honestly starting to hate it… Can’t find the perfect person I have to find a cure,” admitted one user on the “So bored with fetish” thread.

In a blog post about burping, Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University, who is an expert in obsessional behaviours, wrote that burping is one of the “strangest and perhaps one of the least commonplace” fetishes he has come across.

“There is (perhaps unsurprisingly) absolutely nothing in the academic or clinical literature on burping fetishism,” he said.

“The ‘loudness’ aspect appears to be an important element to burp fetishists,” he argued, adding: “In this sense, it is the noise made rather than the action itself that appears to be what is sexualised and or interpreted by the fetishist as sexually pleasurable and arousing. In sexual behaviour more generally, hearing quite clearly influences sexual arousal and response.”