Fetish and Fetishism

Listening to the previously mentioned ORE song, The Pleasure of Pain, one question of the lyrics keeps repeating on and on in my head. That question is: “WHAT IS FETISHISM?”. Never mind the fact that it gives me tingling sensations, I decided to actually search the Internet for fetish-related articles, definitions etc, though I’m sure most of the readers know what a fetish is.

For myself, I have a very simple definition: Sexual Fetishism is manifestation of erotic desire, desire triggered by an object, part of body, image etc. Almost anything that exists can be a fetish for a certain person.  Some might like high-heeled women’s shoes, other might like food, while others might enjoy a specific colour or balloons. Nonetheless, not every “like” is a fetish (if I tell you that I like wearing latex skirts, that does not necessarily mean that I have a fetish for latex). When a person has a fetish, this “like”,this  pleasure turns into adoration, strong desire which one cannot resist to.  Here I must also add that, although probably everybody has a declared (or not) fetish, this does not imply that sexual desire occurs only in the presence of that “object” (I will call it so, even if I refer to the latex fetish or to feet fetish). Sexual desire might be triggered by a certain object, but the person associated with that object is of vital importance. No person who has a foot fetish will adore all kinds of feet; they will look for something in particular (the form of the toes, nails, nail colour etc) and they will need to have a certain connection to that person. A submissive male with a leather fetish will enjoy the fact that his Mistress is dressed from head to toe in leather, but that might come secondary to the fact that he is in the presence of his Domme, to the fact that he is submitting to a Woman or only being allowed to be in Her presence.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Not every person who has any type of  fetish is  also a submissive! Many are, but many are not. For example, I simply adore extremely elegant, high-heeled shoes and I can never have too many pairs, I could sit endless hours just looking at them and trying them on, but does that make me submissive? Not really.

Now, I’m going to keep my mouth (or my writing) shut for a while and give you some definitions of the discussed terms.

Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fetish) defines fetish as:

1. an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency.

2. any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion.

3. any object or non-genital part of the body that causes a habitual erotic response or fixation.

Wikipedia, on Sexual Fetishism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_fetishism) :

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g. in psychiatric medicine, as a disorder of sexual preference or as an enhancing element to a relationship causing a better sexual bond between the partners. The sexual acts involving fetishes are characteristically depersonalized and  objectified, even when they involve a partner. Body parts may also be the subject of sexual fetishes, in which the body part preferred by the fetishist takes a sexual precedence over the owner.

Digging further on, I discovered a very surprising survey (at least for me) at askmen.com (http://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa/25b_love_secrets.html). It researched the 10 most common fetishes, so please enjoy!

10. Stomachs (I would definitely not agree with this one; just because we live in a society which deems perfectly flat abs as perfection it does not mean that our obsession with having a flat stomach means we actually have a fetish for it. I just think it’s an unhealthy obsession.)

9. Body Piercing (Again, don’t really agree, but I don’t have a clear reason for this one).

8.  Leather, rubber, vinyl, latex (OH, my goodness, HELL YEAH!)

7. Domination and submission (Did anybody expect this to be deemed as a fetish?!)

6.  Feet and hands (Couldn’t agree more. Although I do not have a fetish of this kind, clean, manicured/pedicured nails mean that the person takes good care of himself/herself, care about image, health etc.)

5. Fingernails and lipstick.

4. Hair (For men, it seems that long braided hair, pigtails, ponytails etc are a such a big turn-on that they cannot get excited without it.)

3.  Water (?!)

2. Golden Showers

1. Voyeurism and Exhibitionism.

To my mind, not a bad “Top 10”, though I for sure would have rearranged them in another order, skipped some and added some more. But that’s just me, always picky and a perfectionist.

To conclude this short incursion into the world of fetishism, I’ll leave you with some pictures of what I enjoy, be it as a fetish or not.