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A fetish is an item that is essential for a person to achieve sexual satisfaction. There are many types of fetishes. This could be your partner’s abundant breasts, stockings or high heels, for example. A certain situation or partner’s character type can also become a fetish.
What is a fetish?
The word “fetish” has not always meant the object or quality by which the fetishist satisfies the sex drive. In primitive cultures, fetish was defined as objects, e.g. wooden figures, having an alleged magical power and the related ability to protect against evil. The word “fetish” probably comes from the Portuguese word “feitico” which means … a charm, a charm or an amulet.
Currently, a fetish is defined as the object or element of the environment by which the fetishist achieves full sexual satisfaction. For example, contact with such an object or the mere sight of it causes excitement in a fetishist and makes him obsessed with it. When the lack of a fantasy object obscures the pleasure of sexual intercourse, a fetish can be referred to as a sexual disorder.
The mere fact that a given woman or man likes, for example, an item of clothing or an element of the body, is not something unnatural. Everyone is sensitive to different sexual stimuli. The problem begins when the lack of an object makes the partner sexually unattractive as a result. Even if the wife feels excited at the sight of her husband in an elegant suit, she will also love him in typical home attire. On the other hand, for a suit fetishist, a man is no longer attractive when he is dressed differently.
What are the causes of fetishes?
Many sexologists say that the formation of fetishes is related to the first sexual experiences. For example, when during the first sexual experiences a man pays attention to a specific item, e.g. a piece of a woman’s clothing, the result may be an association of a sexual act and the aforementioned item of clothing. There is also an opinion that fetishists are people with big complexes.
Who is most prone to fetishism?
Fetishists are mostly men due to the different psychosexual development process than in the case of women. For many women, what makes a man attractive are qualities such as resourcefulness, caring, and emotional stability. However, women are also fetishists. When a woman feels a strong emotional bond with her partner, she may get used to, for example, his smell and sexual experiences, which can be stimulating even after the breakup – this mechanism works on the principle of association.
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Is fetishism dangerous?
Opinions on the subject are divided. Some people believe that fetishism is not a bad thing, as long as the fetishist does not hurt anyone or begin breaking the law to satisfy his sexual needs. Nevertheless, the line between fetishism and deviation is fine. There are types of fetishes that can be described as perversions, such as exhibitionism – it breaks the rights of other people as it is forcing them to watch nudity.
In fact, anything can be a fetish, including non-sex items and things. Undoubtedly, there are types of fetishes that should be considered sexual dysfunction, such as necrophilia and pedophilia, and treatment is indicated in these cases. Interestingly, from a religious perspective, and more precisely from certain branches of Christianity and Judaism, fetishes (understood as, for example, figures and objects with magical powers), from the beginning were and are still considered harmful to healthy spirituality.
What are the types of fetishes?
- Ablutophilia – the sexual stimulus is water, hot bath, shower or just imagining them.
- Doraphilia – the sexual stimulus is animal fur or skin,
- moriaphilia – the sexual stimulus is dirty jokes,
- zoofetishism – the sexual stimulus is a partner wearing leather or animal fur,
- narratophilia – sexual stimuli are sexual conversations, causing sexual reactions.
- Altocalciphilia – high heels are the sexual stimulus,
- coprophilia – the sexual stimulus is feces and excretion.
- Pygmalionism – the sexual stimulus is photos, sculptures, paintings that cause sexual arousal.
- Necrophilia – sexual deviation consisting in sexual intercourse with a deceased person.
There can be as many fetishes as there are people. Common fetishes are sexual interest in body modification, certain parts of the body such as the feet, legs, lips, and nails. Hair is also fetishized, but also objects such as pacifiers and diapers. Among them there are also disgusting ones, e.g. menophilia, i.e. sexual interest in menstrual blood, and urophilia, i.e. sexual interest in activities related to urination.
What is fetish transvestism?
Transvestism is about conforming to the opposite sex through clothing. The word was introduced by the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld and comes from Latin (“trans” – means “behind”; “vestitus” – clothed). These tendencies are displayed by approximately 1% of the male population. There is a theory that women are not affected by this problem due to the current culture, which allows women to engage in many once typically male activities.
Fetish transvestism is a sexual preference disorder. These people change into clothes of the opposite sex to achieve sexual fulfillment. This is a source of excitement – fetish transvestites do not always dress up in women’s or men’s clothes, sometimes they are satisfied with only clothes. Research on the discussed phenomenon has shown that fetish transvestites, who are mostly men, after achieving sexual satisfaction feel disgusted with both themselves and this sexual preference.
What is transsexualism?
The term was introduced in 1949 by David Oliver Cauldwell, an American sexologist. The talk of transsexualism became louder in 1952 in connection with the first sex reassignment surgery performed by Danish doctors on George Jorgensen. Transsexualism was initially considered a gender identity disorder – it appeared in the third edition of the DSM, the classification of mental disorders of the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.
The criteria for recognizing transsexualism are established in DSM-IV, and they are:
- feeling uncomfortable with biological sex and a sense of inappropriate role related to it,
- disruptions causing suffering and limiting social and professional functioning as well as activity in other areas of life.
- strong identification with the opposite sex.
Transgender people often identify with the opposite sex. They wish to be treated and named according to this need. They also believe that they have reactions and feelings that are typical of the opposite sex. In the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), behaviors such as these were recognized as a gender identity disorder – the characteristics of this disease indicate that transsexualism includes, among others, a desire to live and be accepted like a person of the opposite sex.
The presence of these disorders for at least 2 years is considered a diagnostic criterion for transsexualism. They cannot result from mental disorders, e.g. schizophrenia or other disorders related to e.g. genetic or intersex abnormalities. Transsexualism is more broadly defined as gender indetity disorder (GID).
In May 2019, the World Health Organization recognized that transsexualism should no longer be considered a disorder. At a meeting in Geneva, it was found that the phenomenon has little to do with mental health. Consequently, in the eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases and Health Problems (ICD-11), transgender was removed from the “disorders” category and moved to the “sexual health” category. Despite this, the decision was considered controversial in many circles.
What is the treatment of transgender people?
Treatment is aimed at ensuring that the body of the transsexual person acquires the biological characteristics of the sex with which that person identifies. These are long and multi-stage treatments that are not reimbursed. However, before that happens, the patient takes part in a psychological examination, on the basis of which the doctor determines how great the discrepancy between biological sex and psychological gender is. An essential element of the study is the opinion of a sexologist-psychologist. The treatment includes treatments such as:
- hormone therapy
The goal of hormone therapy is to produce the tertiary sex characteristics of the sex with which the transsexual person identifies. If it is possible to remove the tertiary features formed during sexual maturation, this procedure is also performed. Hormone therapy can be performed after determining a person’s gender identity – an appropriate specialist is responsible for this activity.
- Genital surgery
Sex change surgery, or transition, is a long and complicated procedure – it is especially demanding in the case of sex change to male. Procedures performed on people in transition towards a woman’s direction include:
- vaginoplasty – a procedure aimed at restoring the original state of the vagina or its reconstruction. It involves the almost complete removal of the cavernous body of the penis and the creation of the inner walls of the vagina using the outer skin of the penis. The testicles are also removed during the operation. Possible complications in the case of the procedure are: infections, bleeding, anomalies in urination, disorders of the urinary system.
- Voice change surgery – during feminization laryngoplasty removes part of the larynx and fuses the cartilage together. The vocal path is shortened, making the voice more feminine. As a result, the base tone becomes higher. It is a highly invasive surgery. Another operation is voice feminization, but it can even result in the death of the patient
- aesthetic treatments, vocal training, psychotherapy.
Aesthetic treatments performed during the transition are facial hair removal, eyebrow shaping and makeup. They can be complemented by vocal trainings that teach pronunciation typical of women, changing the place of voice resonance and speaking with a smaller area of the mouth. Psychotherapy has a supportive function – a psychologist or psychotherapist may refer you to pharmacological treatment.
In turn, the transition towards the male consists in lowering the timbre of the voice, enlargement of the clitoris, suspension of menstruation, loss of breast tissue.