Paraphilia

From Wikinfo

Jump to: navigation, search


Paraphilias are sexual desires or activities that lie outside the cultural norm, and under some conditions are considered perversions or even mental disorders, though those labels are controversial. The term was defined in its current use by the sexologist John Money.

Contents

Overview

Paraphilias are sometimes called sexual perversions or sexual deviations. Somewhat less judgmentally, and more colloquially, they are grouped together under the term "kinks." What is considered to be "perversion" or "deviation" varies from society to society. Some paraphilias have been and/or currently are crimes in some jurisdictions. Others are viewed as harmless eccentricities by many people.

Some paraphilias are defined as potential mental disorders in the DSM-IV. These are:

  • exhibitionism: deriving sexual pleasure from being watched
  • fetishism: sexual attraction to particular objects
  • frotteurism: deriving sexual pleasure from rubbing against other people
  • masochism: deriving sexual pleasure from sexual submission
  • pedophilia: sexual attraction to children
  • sadism: deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain
  • voyeurism: deriving sexual pleasure from watching others

Professional treatment is usually indicated only when such conditions lead to involvement of non-consenting sexual partners, or are clearly damaging to the physical or mental well-being of the paraphiliac.

Although homosexuality was once considered to be a paraphilia [1], it is only comparatively recently that a majority of people do not regard it as such [2]. Similarly, consensual sadomasochism, exhibitionism, voyeurism and non-psychotic forms of fetishism, urolagnia and even coprophilia are increasingly becoming culturally acceptable forms of sexuality. The fluidity and arbitrariness of such characterizations may be due to the fact that it is often very difficult to understand why some humans are predominantly aroused by certain stimuli that apparently leave the majority of the population unaffected.

Observation of paraphiliac behavior has provided valuable scientific information on the mechanisms of sexual attraction and desire, such as behavioral imprinting. Careful investigation has also led to the tentative conclusion that normal biological processes may sometimes be manifested in idiosyncratic ways in at least some of the paraphilias. For instance, for one to become sexually aroused on account of consuming human feces may appear bizarre, revolting, unnatural, inconceivable, and inexplicable to many. Consider, however, that in many animal species one or both parents will consume the feces of their infants in the process of keeping them clean. The taste for the feces of their infants must be "hard-wired" into them. They must experience it as a desirable, pleasant activity. And, most importantly, this devoted care of infants is closely associated with love--which in turn is closely associated with erotic arousal.

All of these factors, care, love, and the sexual impulse, are thus thought to be hard-wired and also to be so closely related to each other in the neurophysiology of the individual that it may be impossible to strongly activate any one of them without causing some activation of the other two. This association is manifested in a much more commonly experienced way, in the tendency of lovers to treat each other as infants and to want to care for each other. "Baby, I want to do everything for you." Finding that seemingly unfathomable behavior actually has its roots in drives or motivations shared by most or all people makes the strange behavior much less threatening. It also makes it possible to begin thinking of ways in which learning disruptive patterns of sexual interaction may be avoided or at least minimized. (See John Money, The Lovemap Guidebook, chapter 7, and especially pp. 170 ff. Continuum, 1999)

Non-consensual and criminal paraphilias

The paraphilias listed below are either non-consensual or, if acted out, criminal in most jurisdictions.

Common paraphilias

The following paraphilias are sufficiently common in the general population to be frequently observed in clinical literature, as well as being able to support entire sub-genres of mainstream commercial pornography.

Note that non-consensual sadomasochistic acts may consititute assault, and therefore belong in the list above. Some jurisdictions criminalize sadomasochistic acts, regardless of consent.

Non-consensual exhibitionism in public places, where people who have not previously consented to watch are exposed to sexual display, is also an offense in most jurisdictions. (See indecent exposure).

Note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice.

Other paraphilias

The paraphlias listed below are less common.

There are also many other rare paraphlias.

The supposed paraphilia of autogynephilia, or sexual pleasure from perceiving oneself as a woman, has been proposed as a motivation for transgender behavior, but is generally regarded as theoretical in nature. It is not well accepted.

See also

External links


References

Retrieved from "http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Paraphilia"
Personal tools
In other languages