Socially acceptable obsessions

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None, but I know plenty who could talk at people all day for a living

Remember Criteria C. Does the obsession interfere with functioning? Does it prevent you from 'ocialising'? In that case, no special interest does if the other person shares it, because they'll be willing to discuss it. Hence, you are 'socialising'.

*sigh* okay... LAZYTOWN.

I do like the Boosh though but it's a common teen thing here. And I am NOT male takk fyrir!

Heh, sorry. Was too lazy to check your profile.

I obsess on cats waay more than I should. It's not my fault I cope with them better than with people.

I'm obsessed with the internet and being on it.

I think it has a lot to do with how an interest fits into your life. I tend to have serial obsessions with various branches of the fiber arts, but that works out well because I'm a fiber artist, as are most of the people I know. As long as you confine talking about an interest to other people who share that interest, pretty much any interest can be socially acceptable. Because I talk about Doctor Who with other Doctor Who fans and shibori with other fiber artists, neither group sees me as odd. If I was constantly telling the fiber artists about Doctor Who or the Doctor Who fans about shibori, it wouldn't go over so well.

Lazytown is way cool.

But on topic, I think that most obsessions are such that even on socially acceptable subjects, they are still perceived as strange. Now, if it is in science, then you may become characterized as a very smart person and that will be that. If it is in a specific subject, then few obsessions are socially acceptable. Even something such as sports, if taken far enough to be considered an obsession, would only be acceptable by other people interested in sports. (These happen to be many people, but a large part of the population also views obsessions with sports as odd)

Rock music.

Give a geeky, unco-ordinated aspie teenager an electric guitar and watch him instantly transmogrify into a sultry sex god whom all the girls suddenly fancy.

Well, I'm overstating the case somewhat, but you get my drift...

Me and you both. Have you seen some of the pics of rock stars in their formative years? Huge glasses, bad cardigan and pudding-basin haircut, think Duane Dibbley done even worse.

Of course, some of these carry this on into their rock careers. I'm looking at you Jarvis Cocker...

I agree that it is alright to be obsessed with almost anything as long as it isn't to specific.

Something that's popular i.e Harry Potter.
If you know a lot about it, then you're just considered a really good fan.

"Something that's popular" is a pretty safe answer, actually. You are all right in the eyes of the public as long as you aren't different. Obsessing over the big three sports, or whatever reality TV show is on, or whatever Hollywood had released recently, or a very popular book, and no one is going to think twice about it. Even certain nerdy obsessions have become mainstream: science fiction, video games, Internet.

Stray from what the society is expecting, and then you'll be tagged as weird.

I know a 30 year old obsessed with the original Wizard of Oz movie. Yeah he's probably one of us. His co-workers think he's weird, of course.

What if one of your special interests/obsessions is... speacial interests/obsessions? *raises hand* What? It's fascinating how people can become so absorbed into subjects. I suppose that would be a more specialised interest in Psychology.

Speaking of psychology... I had a really interesting conversation on MSN Messenger with someone who's interested in psychology, about the DSM criteria for Aspergers. She agrees there should be a criteria specifically for NTs, despite the fact that she is, technically, an NT. One of the good ones, though, who realises that Aspergers is not a disorder.

Going by the "something" that's popular rule I found out that an obsession with drugs and all things mind-altering is not a socially-acceptable interest...
I ended up being the go-to advice giver for all sorts of questions about all sorts of drugs from all sorts of people for my entire Freshman and Sophomore years and was labled very poorly by those who disapproved and those in positions of authority despite the fact that I backed up all my statements with research, had no biases and my assurances that I abstained from such substances.

My special interest in fashion was always socially accepted.

My interest in manga and art in general is usually frowned on when I mention it, but as soon as people see my drawings they accept it. Maybe this is only acceptable if people are good at it?

It's different with my interest in science and especially mineralogy. Apparently this would be perfectly okay for a man but not for a woman. Sort of confusing. (Obviously, at university there isn't any problem regarding this, but my parents sure are getting strange looks when they mention my field of study.)

Any obsession is acceptable, with success.

I'm lucky. My obsession has become a lot more socially acceptable since 2005.

... yes, I'm a Doctor Who geek

I'm not sure. Even if it's popular, you can still - outside of online fan communities - be viewed as 'weird' for knowing too much about it or discussing it too much, even by people who actually like it.

When the Lord of the Rings movies were coming out, they were of course very popular and many people I spoke to had seen them. Yet even those who enjoyed them still seemed to think it very peculiar that I knew so much about the characters, the cast*, etc., and very peculiar that I should want to or be able to analyze them in detail.

*Knowing a lot about an actor - i.e., more than you can find out from a gossip rag - also seems to be seen as weird, and the more obscure the actor, the weirder it is that you know a lot about them.