Fetishes and Paraphilias

People come in all shapes and sizes and they have their own preferences when it comes to… well, everything. Internet helped various kinds of groups to come together and discuss, explore these preferences. I believe that gay people in particular should be happy about that.

However, what I find a bit funny, different but at the same time totally respectable are the number of sex fetishes that surfaced with the freedom of speech provided by the www. And I am not talking about the simple shoe, underwear or toe fetish, I’m talking about a little bit more let’s say extravagant approach to things. TV series like CSI introduced to the public some of these fetishes, like the guy who liked to be dressed and treated like a baby or bondage fetishes.

Let’s take for example a user in gay forum called ‘Chazz’ who’s fetish is really specific. He admits having a Superhero / Supervillain feet/shoe fetish. I quote: “I like characters like Spiderman, Venom, and Spawn who have shoe soles with colors like Blue and Purple that stands out with their dark costumes and such.” For a gay comic geek person, I think it to be quite reasonable.

Then there is ‘Formicophilia’. This is deriving sexual pleasure from insects crawling on the body, specifically on the genitals. The desired effect may be a tickling or stinging sensation, or the infliction of psychological distress on another person. That one is definitely not for me…

‘Hybristophilia’, involving being sexually aroused or attracted to people who have committed an outrage or a gruesome crime. In popular culture, this phenomenon is also known as "Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome". One of the most infamous examples of this is the large amount of women attracted to Ted Bundy after his arrest.

‘Burusera’ is a Japanese term for a panty fetish. It is an extremely prevalent fetish in Japan. There are burusera shops in Japan that sell used schoolgirls' panties, and there even used to be vending machines on the streets where men could buy them. The men buy them to smell them!

‘Forniphilia’ is a form of bondage and sexual objectification in which a person's body is incorporated into a chair, table, cabinet or other piece of furniture. It is an extreme form of bondage because the subject usually is tightly bound and expected to stay immobile for an indefinite period of time. They are often gagged and/or placed in position where there is a danger of being smothered. Proper safety requires frequent checks of the submissive's well-being.

‘Vorarephilia’ (often shortened to vore) is a sexual fetish and paraphilia where arousal occurs from the idea of being eaten, eating another, observing this process, or by the general process of eating. The fantasy most frequently involves the victim being swallowed alive, and may or may not include digestion. Since the fetish is very hard to achieve in real life, it is more commonly enjoyed through pictures, stories, videos, and video games!

The list can be endless and I'm missing so many interesting cases, but I couldn’t not mention Erika, 37, former soldier who lives in San Francisco. She has the slightly unusual fetish of falling in love with inanimate objects. As seen here, she in now madly in love with Tour Eiffel. She has pledged to love, honor and obey in an intimate ceremony attended by a handful of friends. She even changed her name to Erika La Tour Eiffel! I don’t want to be judgmental and criticize her but my poor little brain cannot understand some things. I will of course respect her feelings. But imagine being her friend and receiving an invitation for such a ceremony! What do you buy as a present?

(By the way, same-sex marriage cannot legally be performed in France, though some foreign same-sex marriages are recognized and the PACS, which confers some of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage, is available to same-sex couples. However, Erika managed to 'marry' the Eiffel Tower. Go figure...)

But at the end of the day, let’s celebrate diversity!!!