Here is a woman with attitude! An artist from Nevada, she has her own website focusing on thumb sucking, hers and her feelings about it. But, more than that, she's outraged at the prevalent attitudes of the world at large regarding our gentle habit. Check out her site!
Here's some photos taken from another site of hers, also loaded with tons of candid shots taken mostly while she was asleep. Below these photos look for some biographical information, etc. written in her own hand. If you'd like, write her.
I have posted some pictures at my website as part of an ongoing art project dedicated to my thumb sucking gift and how people deal with it. I haven't had many of the typical responses and experiences that i read about here and I am very interested in sharing what I have experienced . . . this web art is heavy with graphics, though I will be adding more words about my thumb and society's issue with it . I look forward to spending time here and getting to know all of you and your perceptions and experiences with this fabulous thing we all have in common.
"It makes me so sad that anyone has to feel that way about thumbsucking! so many people are not in touch with their bodies . . . they ingore hunger pangs, they deprive themselves of sleep . . . and i do the same things, but there is one time when i am completely in touch with myself, I feel balanced . . . when I suck my thumb . . . it's why I still do, I suppose . . what other reason would there be that could overcome society's 'issue' with it . . . I want to start a revolution where we all come out from under the blankets and are not afraid . . . *sigh* words of encouragement(?): it's your thumb, tell anyone who has a problem to get their own.
"Viva la thumb!!!!"
An Interview from ...And Then Thumb
Webmaster: Did it take time to become comfortable tsing in public, did you have doubts, how did you deal with that?
Cydniey: I honestly can't remember giving any conscious thought to it. I don't know that I am confident . . . I am arrogant and self centered, but I have self-esteem issues like any other girl . . . I want to be popular, I want to be pretty and thin . . . or at least see myself this way. I think that because I was never at risk for becoming any of the above, I never saw my thumb sucking as a hindrance to my social life. I really only hid it when my family was around, it seemed to really upset them for a while.
Webmaster: Can you describe how you deal with the public and the public reaction to your method of dealing with them when your tsing is receiving negative attention?
Cydniey: I really had no idea that people had such problems with it . . . I can't imagine fearing losing my job or friends over it . . . I have to reiterate here that by the public finds out about my thumb, they have already figured out I am a little 'off'. Should anyone ever try to interfere with it, I imagine I would react the same way as if someone tried to tell me how to wear my hair or clothes.
Webmaster: How has this played out at your job?
Cydniey: Up until four years ago I couldn't do it at work because I was a chef and there were sanitation issues, as well as not wanting to suck on some of the stuff I prepared . . . later on, when it was discovered at work, the subject was always dropped once I wasn't embarrassed by it . . . mean people feed on our fear and doubts, if we don't have any, they are naked and unarmed.
Webmaster: I ask this because most people feel that tsing on the job may threaten their hireability.
Cydniey: I had to read that a few times over to make sure I was actually seeing it. That is the most obnoxious concept I have ever heard of . . . and it really pains me to think that people in a 'modern society' have to have a fear like that over something as innocuous as a person trying to find some balance without hurting anyone else . . . would that the Columbine boys were thumbsuckers . . . your thumb always loves you.
Webmaster: You indicated that "feel outcast at times", though you also said that your tsing is the least of the reasons. I hope you wouldn't mind detailing your thoughts on this also.
Cydniey: I have always been different . . . it's very hard to explain and is the quest of my life. As I mentioned above, by the time I am bored enough to suck my thumb in mixed company, they've already passed the point of being shocked by me . . . I am a very animated person, who would rather speak in front of a crowd than one on one, and that kind of extroversion comes out in everything I do somehow . . . either that or people are so scared of me by the time they notice it, they dare not mention it . . . who can say with people?
Webmaster: You had an analyst who described you as having an addictive personality yet you indicated that you haven't any other addictions. Do you feel that your tsing enabled you to avoid other addictions? If so, how?
Cydniey: I'm not sure it was my thumb . . . but I jones without it . . . true, I'd rather suck my thumb than do bong hits or have a beer, and I never feel icky the next morning . . . thumbsucking is a zen thing . . . your breathing becomes regular and the motion of your mouth sets up a rhythm for your whole body, it's very easy to meditate and relax like that . . . maybe not as efficient in a panic attack as xanax, but it's instant and needs no prescription or money to aquire. My thumb is always mine, I will never steal to aquire more thumbs. I will never plow down 6 people because of sucking my thumb. I will never go broke sucking my thumb. To me, it's the perfect drug.
Webmaster: You also indicated strong ideas about dating preferences, stating, "I don't date people who have a problem with it [tsing]. . . it seems to indicate much deeper issues in people. I also don't date people who are mainly interested in it . . . I am more than a thumb." What kinds of problems involving tsing have you experienced with dates and how did you handle it?
Cydniey: Real simple, I either explain that I am not a fetishist . . . or I explain that the thumb is connected to me and can be ignored or dealt with. Period. 30 years of trauma and joy this thumb have gotten me though . . . no amount of great sex or free food is worth that.
Webmaster: Have you had dates in which others were mainly interested in your tsing? If so, how did that play out, i.e., how did they invoke their interest; what did they want to do and/or how did they express their feelings in this regard and if they saw you as "more than a thumb" (this is a humorous way of putting it) but found your tsing sexually provocative would that bother you also and, if so, why?
Cydniey: I've been approached out of nowhere on a couple of occasions by older gentlemen who gave me a real pedophile vibe from them . . in one instance I was polite, but quick to leave and in the other I seem to remember just leaving without saying anything in response . . . I think there are people who believe that if you look different from the norm, or do something different from the norm (such as having blue hair or tsing . . or, heaven forbid, both), then you must be a real freak in bed . . . I feel about that the same way I do about someone wanting me just for my nipple rings, or just for my hips . . . there is so much about a human to adore, I get uncomfortable with people who chose to limit themselves to one part or another. I think it looks damn cute. But I wouldn't want to be with a person because of ONE trait . . .
In Conclusion, Cydniey wrote:
I'm going to put a gallery of my thumbsucking pics up at fabulousdisaster, and I will let you know as soon as it's done. [She has, check it out.] I am also working on a screensaver of the same images, and if you have any interest in distributing it for free, I would be greatly honored.
You have made me aware of some things that I never imagined. I'm building a soapbox . . . society has absolutely no right to keep people in the closet over adoration of their opposable digit . . . now that I know that there are people who are scared about who they are, when it's something so simple and private . . . I want to do whatever I can. Right now that seems to just be making noise about it, but if there is anything else that you can think of, please let me know. That's the main reason I want my name on this . . . I'm not at all embarrassed and if I could help inspire just one person to be their own thumbsucking selves the next time they are at the movies, or after a good meal (it's a fact that thumbsucking after a wondrous meal will not ruin the experience like a cigarette will, and I should know, I have served thousands of wondrous meals, and no thumbsuckers ever complained) I will be completely overjoyed .
I will also, on my misadventures with my vid cam, be on the lookout for thumbsuckers and start collecting ts-er on the street pics for you . . . I've recently acquired a publicity guy, and at a meeting the other night we decided that all of my public pics will be either of me sucking my thumb or smoking (I am putting more emphasis on the thumb, since it won't kill anyone) . . . the idea being that as long as I have my thumb in my mouth, I can't put my foot there, and when you have a mouth like Courtney Love, this is an important consideration . . . so I will start forwarding them to you once we get them . . . because of your contacting me, I plan to make my ts-ing as public as possible . . . thank you, I never knew that making myself feel at ease could help other people . . . now, that is a habit to have.