The Politics of Kink
I want to resume the exploration of fetishes. I find fetishes fascinating and I find their advocacy important.
Fetishes - or "paraphilias" - were once (and in some select cases, still are) a serious mental health diagnosis. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) is a guide to the mental health professions that provides structure when diagnosing mental illnesses. Throughout history, the DSM has revised its language drastically on the topic of sexual fetishes. Originally, paraphilia was labeled as "pathological sexuality," but with the first edition of the DSM in 1952 they were categorized under "sexual deviancy." While using the DSM-I professionals could not "diagnose" someone with a specific fetish. To date, there are 549 documented paraphilias. The old-school analysts could, however, label someone a sexual deviant should their strange desires not appear to be a symptom of any other preexisting disorder. The DSM-II followed a similar paradigm in regard to atypical sexual behavior and it wasn't until the DSM-III (1980) that paraphilias were no longer considered facets of personality disorders.
In fact, it was in the DSM-III that the word paraphilia was introduced for the first time. The DSM-III-R of 1987 was the first time individual fetishes even began being mentioned by name under a broad category of "sexual disorders." The DSM-IV (1994) officially removed homosexuality as a diagnosis but invented "gender identity disorder" instead. The DSM-IV-TR made the important distinction that disorders were only disorders if they brought distress to someone. Therefore, when it comes to fetishes they needn't be documented in a mental health setting unless they "cause clinically significant distress or impairment." This includes any and all situations of nonconsent. The DSM-IV-TR distinguishes between thinking about disturbing desires and actually acting on them.
This year the DSM-V was released and therapists everywhere are rolling their eyes at the obnoxious nature of having to re-do, update, and re-think entire systems of creating diagnoses. This document, however criticized, maintains that while "normative" and "non-normative" sexual behavior is an important distinction for the purposes of research, distress is the qualifying factor to anyone's bedroom antics being used as evidence of a pathological disorder.
Paraphilia is a greek word meaning "beside of love." So a good simplified definition of a fetish is any attraction to an object not designed to be sexual. Key words: designed to be sexual. Therefore, you can't technically say you have a fetish for sex toys because sex toys were designed to give sexual pleasure. When discussing this recently, my class was divided on weather or not someone could or could not have a fetish for carrots and cucumbers. They're designed by nature to be phallic... but are meant to be eaten. ..? An even simpler definition of a fetish is, "focus of erotic interest."
When I said that I think advocacy for kink is important, I was referring to the fact that within modern history, there has been strong stigma against anything sexually atypical. I mentioned sodomy laws before briefly. This stigma was virtually universal in that it was in our laws, in our religion, and in the way we thought about mental health. Imagine showing up to a therapist because you are depressed. You need real help, but upon mentioning your attraction to feet, you're forced to walk out of the therapists office being diagnosed a sexual deviant. Well, that hardly helped your feelings of depression, did it?
Due to the history of this happening, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom exists. Their purpose is to unite the kink community against any discrimination that disclosure of their preferences would unjustly bring them. The NCSF also admins the Kink Aware Professionals database. This is a list that has evolved over decades and grew out of a need for those in marginalized communities to meet with therapists that wouldn't label their sexual practices as evidence of mental illness.
Certain labels should be reserved for those who think about, and act on, urges of nonconsent. It is for those who wish to engage in activities that could bring themselves or others harm because they find it sexually arousing (even the definition of "harm" is debatable in some kink communities!). It is damaging to society to wrongly put people in this category who do not deserve to be there.
... And just for fun, a list of strange named paraphilias:
Agalmatophilia: An attraction to statues, mannequins or immobility.
Autagonistophilia: Being turned on by being on camera or onstage.
Autozoophilia: Imagining oneself as an animal.
Dendrophilia: An attraction to trees.
Oculophilia: An attraction to eyes or sight-related functions.
Trichophilia: An attraction to hair.
Its a wild and crazy world out there,
- The Sexpert
Fetishes - or "paraphilias" - were once (and in some select cases, still are) a serious mental health diagnosis. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) is a guide to the mental health professions that provides structure when diagnosing mental illnesses. Throughout history, the DSM has revised its language drastically on the topic of sexual fetishes. Originally, paraphilia was labeled as "pathological sexuality," but with the first edition of the DSM in 1952 they were categorized under "sexual deviancy." While using the DSM-I professionals could not "diagnose" someone with a specific fetish. To date, there are 549 documented paraphilias. The old-school analysts could, however, label someone a sexual deviant should their strange desires not appear to be a symptom of any other preexisting disorder. The DSM-II followed a similar paradigm in regard to atypical sexual behavior and it wasn't until the DSM-III (1980) that paraphilias were no longer considered facets of personality disorders. In fact, it was in the DSM-III that the word paraphilia was introduced for the first time. The DSM-III-R of 1987 was the first time individual fetishes even began being mentioned by name under a broad category of "sexual disorders." The DSM-IV (1994) officially removed homosexuality as a diagnosis but invented "gender identity disorder" instead. The DSM-IV-TR made the important distinction that disorders were only disorders if they brought distress to someone. Therefore, when it comes to fetishes they needn't be documented in a mental health setting unless they "cause clinically significant distress or impairment." This includes any and all situations of nonconsent. The DSM-IV-TR distinguishes between thinking about disturbing desires and actually acting on them.
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This year the DSM-V was released and therapists everywhere are rolling their eyes at the obnoxious nature of having to re-do, update, and re-think entire systems of creating diagnoses. This document, however criticized, maintains that while "normative" and "non-normative" sexual behavior is an important distinction for the purposes of research, distress is the qualifying factor to anyone's bedroom antics being used as evidence of a pathological disorder.
Paraphilia is a greek word meaning "beside of love." So a good simplified definition of a fetish is any attraction to an object not designed to be sexual. Key words: designed to be sexual. Therefore, you can't technically say you have a fetish for sex toys because sex toys were designed to give sexual pleasure. When discussing this recently, my class was divided on weather or not someone could or could not have a fetish for carrots and cucumbers. They're designed by nature to be phallic... but are meant to be eaten. ..? An even simpler definition of a fetish is, "focus of erotic interest."
Due to the history of this happening, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom exists. Their purpose is to unite the kink community against any discrimination that disclosure of their preferences would unjustly bring them. The NCSF also admins the Kink Aware Professionals database. This is a list that has evolved over decades and grew out of a need for those in marginalized communities to meet with therapists that wouldn't label their sexual practices as evidence of mental illness.
Certain labels should be reserved for those who think about, and act on, urges of nonconsent. It is for those who wish to engage in activities that could bring themselves or others harm because they find it sexually arousing (even the definition of "harm" is debatable in some kink communities!). It is damaging to society to wrongly put people in this category who do not deserve to be there.
... And just for fun, a list of strange named paraphilias:
Agalmatophilia: An attraction to statues, mannequins or immobility.
Autagonistophilia: Being turned on by being on camera or onstage.
Autozoophilia: Imagining oneself as an animal.
Dendrophilia: An attraction to trees.
Oculophilia: An attraction to eyes or sight-related functions.
Trichophilia: An attraction to hair.
Its a wild and crazy world out there,
- The Sexpert
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