Expert: XR - 8/14/2008

Question
My boyfriend has this thing for blood, and I'm not *quite* sure what makes a fetish a fetish. I'm not as into it as he is, but I do enjoy playing around in it.

He's asked me to cut him, but he won't push it because I'm not comfortable with the idea; but I do let him make small cuts on me, it doesn't bother me at all. He LOVES to have sex on my periods, and as long as theres a towel on the sheets I don't mind that either.

Recently we've talked about getting needles to draw blood & play with it, but I'm only about 105pnds and a little worried about how much is safe.

I'm not sure how common this is - so I'm not sure... are there safe alternatives?

And how "abnormal" is this, is it a fetish?

Thanks in advance !  

Answer
It's only really a fetish if he can't come without it, but fetish has been cheapened in common usage to mean a strong sexual preference, so we'll call it blood fetish for the sake of this question.
 To the question of safety. I used to donate blood on a semi-regular basis. They generally only let you donate blood every eight weeks, regardless of your weight. My research says that you can regenerate a pint of red blood cells in 4-6 weeks. That's actually quite a long time. For my conscience, I can't really recommend that you in any way try to play anywhere close to that limit. Perhaps you need to look into turning the tables and cutting him a little bit too, so as not to have all of the blood loss on your side. Also, don't try dieting or going vegetarian during this. You don't want to risk anemia. Some people get anemic from a heavy period, so please don't push it.
 As for alternatives, there is fake blood. You can buy it by the pint from Halloween supply stores or theater and film supply stores. It's not all that expensive either. It may not be the same, but you can go through a whole pint in a play session without worrying about the consequences. It all depends on what the turn on factors are for your boyfriend in blood play. Even if it sounds like it might not be the same, I think you should buy a bottle of the halloween blood, and some stage blood, and try it out. See how it works for you. What have you got to lose? 20 bucks?
 As for the normality, there are plenty of people out there doing it. Many are tied in to vampire culture which is either awesome or lame, depending on your point of view. I don't think I'd worry about it too hard.