Reliance on special objects in order to achieve sexual arousal. The objects need not have an obvious sexual meaning; they may include shoes, rubber or leather garments, and parts of the body, such as the feet or ears.
Fetishism usually has no obvious cause.
According to psychoanalysts, the origin may be a childhood fixation of sexual interest upon some aspect of the mother’s appearance.
Treatment is necessary only if the behaviour is causing distress or persistent criminal acts.
This is a form of sexual deviation in which the person becomes sexually stimulated by parts of the body, such as the feet, which are not usually regarded as erotogenic. Some people are sexually aroused by items of clothing or shoes.
n. sexual attraction to an inappropriate object (known as a fetish). This may be a part of the body (e.g. the foot or the hair), clothing (e.g. underwear or shoes), or other objects (e.g. leather handbags or rubber sheets). In all these cases the fetish has replaced the normal object of sexual love, in some cases to the point at which sexual relationships with another person are impossible or are possible only if the fetish is either present or fantasized. Treatment can involve *psychotherapy or behaviour therapy using *aversion therapy and masturbatory conditioning of desirable sexual behaviour.
Any type of pleasurable sexual practice which society regards as abnormal. Deviation may be related to the activity, such as EXHIBITIONISM or sadomasochistic sex (see SADISM; MASOCHISM); or to the sexual object, for example, shoes or clothes (fetishism). Di?erent cultures have di?erent values, and treatment is probably not required unless the deviation is antisocial or harmful to the participant(s). Aversion therapy, or the conditioning of a person’s behaviour, may help if treatment is considered necessary.... sexual deviation
A form of sexual behaviour, most common in men, in which intercourse between adults is not the final aim. Forms of sexual deviation include exhibitionism, fetishism, paedophilia, and transvestism.... deviation, sexual
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