Various manipulations are possible with the object of his adoration – tactile, olfactory, sexually playful. This applies to a specific object or a specific part of a person’s body.
Term in a medical context
Fetishism as a pathology takes its place in the International Classifier of Diseases (ICD-10). Listed in Diagnosis Category F65 (Class V: Mental Disorders, Adult Personality and Behavior Disorders, Sexual Disorders).
However, in the modern world, medical intervention is required only when this sexual deviation harms the social well-being of the fetishist himself.
In other words, when it brings suffering to the patient, interferes with his sex life, interaction with human partners.
Or it leads to serious social problems: dismissal from work, detention by the police, discord with the family, etc.
In this case, fetishism should itself be a “pure” diagnosis for 6 months. That is, addiction to inanimate objects should not appear under the influence of alcohol, narcotic or psychotropic drugs. Only in this case will the patient be diagnosed with fetishism and prescribed treatment in an appropriate rehabilitation center.
If a person’s behavior does not harm either himself or others, then such a deviation from normal sexual behavior is recognized as safe. And does not require psychological assistance or other medical correction.
Types of fetishes
Many things that are familiar to an ordinary person also belong to fetishes. For example, for men, this is the lacy underwear of a beloved woman or elegant shoes. Female fetishes – musculature, hands of a friend or husband. These are completely normal occurrences.
As for the most common types of fetishism, modern science knows a considerable number of deviations. Even a corresponding classification has been introduced:
Clothes.
Physical.
Subject.
Excrementophilia.
Let’s consider each of the types in more detail.
Item category
Here the sexual attraction is caused by certain clothes or shoes. The following stands out:
Fetish transvestism. This includes dressing up in garments that are more familiar to the opposite sex.
Cisvestism. Dressing up in clothes worn by people of a different age, social group, profession.
Homesvestism. Sexual attraction to clothes of a certain person of the same gender.
Physical category
A person experiences sexual attraction to some specific areas of the body, characteristics of his sexual partner:
Narcissism. A fetish is one’s own body or its specific parts, some specific own movements.
Autosexuality. Excitement comes from the fact that the patient identifies his body with the body of another person. As a rule, this is achieved by dressing up, applying makeup.
Heterochromophilia The object of the fetish is a person with a certain skin color.
Apotemnophilia. A fetishist is attracted to people with a certain physical or mental disability, an amputated limb, or a prosthesis. As for the attraction to people with amputated limbs, it is separately called acrotomophilia. Sometimes fetishists tend to self-harm themselves, voluntarily amputate their limbs.
Ozolagnia. Attraction to specific smells of a sexual partner. The second name is olfactory fetishism.
Subject category
Here, sexual pleasure is provided by certain inanimate objects – from examples of art to tools. The following deviations stand out:
Retifism. This type of fetish is a pathological addiction to leather goods. In extreme pathological cases – to objects made of human skin.
Pygmalionism. A certain sexual pleasure is given by the possession of certain objects of art. One of the varieties of deviation is voyeurism – collecting various images of the human body. The fetishist enjoys seeing them, touching these objects.
Pornography. A person experiences vivid sexual emotions when viewing pornographic products – photographs, videos, drawings.
Pyrolangia. Here sexual pleasure is achieved by contemplating a flame or even a fire. The type of deviation is dangerous because the patient experiences a pathological passion for arson, since he is pleased with the sight of burning objects, and sometimes the actions of firefighters to extinguish them.
Here human excreta becomes a fetish – feces, urine, saliva, blood. The most popular varieties:
Coprophilia. Unpleasant sexual behavior in which sexual satisfaction is achieved by manipulating a partner’s feces.
Urophilia. Getting sexual pleasure is associated with the production of the act of urination.
Reasons for deviations
Why does such a deviation occur? The specific reasons for the fetish have not yet been established by science. However, the overwhelming majority of researchers agree that a person’s sexual experience, his personal preferences and sexual characteristics are of great importance. Until now, the question of neurobiological disposition remains open.
The alleged causes of sexual conduct disorder are as follows:
Violation of psychosexual personality development. In particular, there is a child’s psychological trauma, a random association of emotional arousal with an object at an unconscious age. This memory remains subconscious and bears fruit in adulthood.
First sexual experience. Objects that caused vivid experiences (not only positive, but also negative) become in the future a source for sexual satisfaction. A person cannot imagine him without such an incentive.
Low threshold of sexual arousal. As a result of neurophysiological studies, it was found that some children are able to receive vivid sexual emotions at a very early age. The fetish tendency here, again, is associated with associative experience.
Fetishism is not only a form of ancient beliefs. In psychology, this is the name for sexual attraction to inanimate objects. It can be both within the framework of the norm and act as a pathological phenomenon.
