We weren’t all designed to like and love the same way, and different cultures find
different physical attributes attractive.
Generally we like the same things: a clear complexion, symmetrical facial features, wide
hips (in women), and a general appearance of health and cleanliness.
Thankfully for those of us who fall short of the universal code of attractiveness, we
are all built to find different weird and wonderful things attractive.
But sometimes our loves and sexual desires just seem a little, well, weird.
Today, we take a look at the strangest desires people out there harbor.
From the people who fall in love with trees, to those who have unhealthy interests with
human bodily fluids, to those who just want to dress up like a baby and be mothered for
a few hours a day.
We researched the most unusual sexual desires, so you don’t have to.
Be warned, this episode does contain adult content, so if you are under 18, please switch
to another Infographics Show Episode.
With that said, welcome to this episode of the infographics show, The Weirdest Types
of Paraphilia or Sexual Attractions.
So just what is paraphilia?
Philia is the opposite of phobia.
It is something we are drawn towards rather than disgusted by.
It’s the love of or sexual attraction to a particular object, person, or subject that
is considered extraordinary.
The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
illustrates the criteria of paraphilia as “sexual urges arousing fantasies generally
involving nonhuman objects, the suffering or humiliation of oneself or partner, or children
or other non-consenting persons.”
Anil Aggrawal in his 2008 book collected a list of 547 terms describing paraphilia sexual
interests.
People are not limited to one paraphilia and those who are prone to strange obsessions
are likely to exhibit other personality disorders such as substance abuse problems.
Now, we don’t have time to list every one of these in today’s episode, and we are
saddened to have to miss out on a few of these bizarre fetishes, but let’s take a look
of some of the more common and bizarre paraphilia.
First up is Frotteurism.
This term derives from the word frottage which is a technique of the visual arts of obtaining
textural effects or images by rubbing lead, chalk, charcoal etc over paper on a granular
or relief-like surface.
But that’s not the definition.
It is also the overwhelming urge to rub up against an unwilling person in public for
purposes of sexual gratification.
This behavior can be observed on busy commuter trains in cities, and seems more popular in
Asia than in the West.
The act involves non-consensual rubbing and touching.
But hold on.
If you see two lovers on a train touching each other, they are probably not engaging
in frotteurism but are merely exhibiting signs of consensual attraction.
Next up, Exhibitionism.
This seems more of a Western thing.
This is simply the recurrent compulsion to remove one’s clothing and expose one’s
genitals to an unsuspecting person or group of people.
Sometimes known simply as flashing, this behavior is quite common and has been known to ruin
the career of a celebrity or two.
Although exposing one’s genitals is often a sign that some one wishes to participate
in sexual activity, this is not exhibitionism.
The exhibitionist is gratified sexually by the display of his or her private parts only,
and will usually pursue the act no further.
And now we come to the human body.
Acrotomophilia is the sexual attraction to amputees and is rather rare, as far as we
can fathom.
Apotemnophilia, on the other hand, is the desire to have one of your own limbs removed,
and is perhaps even rarer.
Macrophilia is the sexual attraction to big people, and Microphilia is, by reverse, the
sexual attraction to smaller people.
So, it’s nice to know that there really is someone for everyone in this weird and
wild world.
There’s even love for objects that look like people; Agalmatophilia is the sexual
attraction to mannequins or persons immobile.
This may also cross-over to sex dolls and love robots but only, we would imagine, in
their stationary mode.
Celebriphilia is the pathological desire to make love to a celebrity.
Although we may all have had, at some point, a crush on a celebrity, note the use of the
word pathological.
These people hang outside celebrity’s homes, go through their trash, and generally stalk
with a pathological urge to procreate.
Obsessive, relentless, and usually mad as a parakeet, these people are best avoided,
particularly if you’re a celebrity.
Dendrophilia is the sexual attraction to trees and other large plants.
Yes, the lovers of foliage.
This takes tree hugging to a whole new level, and was made popular by the movie “Superstar,”
starring Molly Shannon.
If you are, yourself, a lover of flora, and find yourself uncontrollably hanging around
trees in horticultural gardens, you may be exposed to another potential sexual quirk.
You’re bound to encounter a few bugs while in the bush, and may well develop a case of
Formicophilia.
This is the desire to have insects crawl all over your body.
Diaper Fetishism is, as you may have guessed, an infatuation with diapers (soiled or otherwise),
and infantilism is the sexual pleasure gained from dressing up as a baby and having someone
else treat you like a baby.
Plushophilia is the attraction to stuffed toys or those dressed in animal costumes.
So if you find yourself attracted to the dude dressed up in your local theme park, you may
well be suffering from Plushophilia.
And how about bodily fluids and functions?
Surely they make the list?
Yes.
They surely do, and to be honest, it is rather disgusting.
Vomerophilia is a sexual attraction to vomit.
Eproctophilia is a sexual attraction to farts.
Haematophilia or Hematolagnia is the sexual attraction to blood.
Mysophilia is the love of soiled, dirty, decaying or generally foul material.
Urolagnia is the loving attraction to urine.
Auto-haematophilia is the thrill from making oneself bleed.
Fetishism is simply the employment of usually non-sexual objects for sexual gratification.
Examples include – fur, balloons, leather, shoes, dental braces, neck ties, hand-cuffs,
pencils, various vegetables, and even guns and firearms.
But folks can also have a breast fetish or a genital fetish too, so it’s a broad term
covering many of the other paraphilia.
In fact, the line between a paraphilia and fetish is a thin one, and many step from one
to the other.
A fetish can become a paraphilia if it becomes both harmful and obsessive to themselves or
others.
An example is that of pedophilia.
This is not just a fetish about young children.
It is a paraphilia, as it is harmful, or at least potentially harmful to others in society.
Paraphilia can be related to an attraction to crime.
Harpaxophilia is the sexual arousal of being the victim of a burglary or robbery and Hybristophila
is the sexual arousal by and attraction to those who have committed crimes.
The worse the crime the stronger the pull with this condition.
Lust murder is the sexual gratification from committing murder and is often the motivation
behind serial killings.
The thrill of being in life-threatening situations is known as Autassassinophilia.
Now we move into the truly sick and bizarre.
Necrophilia is the sexual attraction to corpses and necrozoophilia, also known as necrobeastiaility
is the love of dead animals.
Spectrophilia is the sexual attraction to ghosts.
Telephone scatologia is the arousal from making obscene telephone calls to unsuspecting listeners.
One paraphilia that at first glance might appear harmless is Xenophilia.
This is the opposite of xenophobia and is the sexual attraction to foreigners, or those
from other races.
This can be extended to also mean a love of aliens from other galaxies.
Where this condition becomes dangerous is under the advent of urges towards other races
being so strong that incidents of rape occur.
Crimes of this type make popular news stories and do little to unite races.
Transformation fetish is the arousal from the depictions of transformations of people
into objects or other beings, and Teratophilia is the attraction to deformed or monstrous
people.
Think David Lynch movie.
Vorarephilia is the urge to be eaten by another person.
Think any George A. Romero Zombie movie.
Anthropophagolagnia takes it one step further, being the urge to rape and then cannibalize
another person.
And Anthropophagy is the basic love of ingesting human flesh.
Voyeurism is the sexual arousal through the watching of others participate in episodes
of sexual conduct and cuckoldism is one who gets their rocks of seeing an outsider make
love to their long-term sexual partner.
This is not to be confused with Forniphilia, which is the arousal from posing as a piece
of furniture in a room.
So while there is some science to why most men and women are attracted to each other-
attributes such as good looks, a charming sense of humor, fertility, wealth, and social
status among them- some of us can be just as easily sexually attracted to an old boot…
this is known as retifism, after the French novelist Nicolas-Edme Retif.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher explains that we each have ‘love maps’ that determine
who we gravitate towards.
She explains in Psychology today, “These love maps vary from one individual to the
next.
Some people get turned on by a business suit or a doctor’s uniform, by big breasts, small
feet, or a vivacious laugh.
But averageness still wins.”
Well, some people are, it seems, just off the map.
So, there you have it.
What’s the weirdest sexual quirk that you’ve ever heard of?
If it’s not in our show, tell us more about it in the comments!
Also, be sure to watch our other video called – Crazy Laws that Still Exist around the
World.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don't forget to like, share and subscribe, see you
next time.