Stockings, pantyhose, tights, leggings…. What do all these things have in common? If your brain automatically goes to your loins, then we share degeneracy in unity. On this week’s NSFW journey I want to take a look at the pantyhose fetish. While leggings and tights are also pretty hot, those articles of clothing are made of thicker material. I am specifically focusing on stockings and pantyhose, those sheer little numbers that’ve become a very popular fetish in Japanese anime and kinky culture.

I’ll start by saying I’m a fairly vanilla person regarding the fetish world. It wasn’t until I was introduced to the illustrations of Yomu Shoten, Japan’s king of the pantyhose craze, that sheer stockings became something that elevates my brain activity. Do I instantly want to pop off when I see it? Nah. But I think of the mini rush of adrenaline as similar to when someone sees a work of art. Is that weird? Fuck no. Do you want to give a lil’ fap when you see a hot person or significant other giving a little panty peek underneath that taunting nylon? Fucking do it! I ain’t here to judge. 

So why stockings, though? What makes them so sexy on 3D and 2D hotties? Kayla Lords, writer for fetish.com, asks fans of the stocking fetish why it appeals to them; I have to agree with a lot of their answers. For one, stockings define the already sexy qualities of legs. From the curvature of beautiful squishy thighs, to the muscular contour of one’s calves, stockings envelope that skin and sensuality. They are also mysteriously alluring. Your imagination can follow from their curled toes to what the nylon might be hiding underneath. The illustrator Yomu is especially good at capturing this sexyness in anime form, from a small tear revealing the true skin, to the quick flash of cute panties hidden under various shades of color. 

There’s also the actual wearing of nylon. Like, damn, have you ever put them on? They feel awesome. All genders are encompassing here. The texture on the outside is a turn on for those peeps that are lucky enough to touch dem legs, and the feeling of actually wearing stockings is comforting. It is a gentle hug, an alternate skin that makes you feel sexy, look sexy annnnd…keeps your legs warm when it’s cold, lol. 

Of course, with all fetishes comes a bit of controversy. Specifically, Japan’s pantyhose craze usually encompasses high-school girls: Goatius talks about this in his review “I Can’t Believe School Uniforms Are This Cute”. I’m not going to get into the grey area of anime girl ages versus real life women, but in my exploration of this particular fetish, of-age women who do gravure shoots are usually sporting the typical Japanese high school uniform. I don’t know how to feel about the high school thing. I have definitely enjoyed the sexy styling of high-school uniform role play or anime figures, but in real life, the thought of an actual high school girl being fetishized for her stockings freaks me out. So there’s that. Maybe someday Goatius and I will have to address the crazy parallels of how anime can bend our mentality with confusing the idea of maturity. For now, enjoy some personal fave figure recommendations below and dance your heart away in your sexy stockings.