Sexual fetishism

From WikiMD's Food, Medicine & Wellness Encyclopedia

Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation on a nonliving object or nongenital body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has a fetish for that object is a fetishist. A sexual fetish may be regarded as a non-pathological aid to sexual excitement, or as a mental disorder if it causes significant psychosocial distress for the person or has detrimental effects on important areas of their life. Sexual arousal from a particular body part can be further classified as partialism.

Definition[edit | edit source]

While medical definitions restrict the term sexual fetishism to objects or body parts, fetish can also refer to sexual interest in specific activities in common discourse.

Diagnosis[edit | edit source]

In order to be diagnosed as fetishistic disorder, the arousal must persist for at least six months and cause significant psychosocial distress or impairment in important areas of their life.

Types[edit | edit source]

Fetishes can involve body parts, such as breasts (mazophilia), buttocks (pygophilia), or feet (podophilia). They can also involve non-human objects, such as leather (leather fetishism) or latex (latex fetishism).

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]


Template:Sexology Template:Psychiatric diagnosis

Sexual fetishism Resources
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