Frotteurism

Last updated

A sign outside of a bicycle parking lot in Chiba, Japan, warns "Beware of Chikan" Chikan Sign.jpg
A sign outside of a bicycle parking lot in Chiba, Japan, warns "Beware of Chikan"

Frotteurism is a paraphilic interest in rubbing, usually one's pelvic area or erect penis, against a non-consenting person for sexual pleasure. It may involve touching any part of the body, including the genital area. A person who practices frotteuristic acts is known as a frotteur.

Contents

Toucherism is sexual arousal based on grabbing or rubbing one's hands against an unexpecting (and non-consenting) person. It usually involves touching breasts, buttocks or genital areas, often while quickly walking across the victim's path. [1] Some psychologists consider toucherism a manifestation of frotteurism, while others distinguish the two. [2] In clinical medicine, treatment of frotteuristic disorder involves cognitive behavioral therapy coupled with the administration of an SSRI.

Etymology and history

Frotteuristic acts were probably first interpreted as signs of a psychological disorder by French psychiatrist Valentin Magnan, who described three acts of "frottage" in an 1890 study. "Frottage" derives from the French verb frotter, meaning "to rub". Frotteur is a French noun literally meaning "one who rubs". It was popularized by German sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his book Psychopathia Sexualis , borrowing from Magnan's French terminology. Clifford Allen later coined frotteurism in his 1969 textbook of sexual disorders. [2]

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders called this sexual disorder by the name frottage until the third edition (DSM III-R), but changed to frotteurism in the fourth edition, [3] and now uses frotteuristic disorder in the fifth edition. [4] Nevertheless, the term frottage still remains in some law codes where it is synonymous with the term frotteurism.

Symptoms and classification

The professional handbook of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, lists the following diagnostic criteria for frotteuristic disorder.

If the individual has not acted on their interest and experiences no distress or impairment, they are considered to have a frotteuristic sexual interest, but not frotteuristic disorder. [4] Some sexologists distinguish between frotteurism (as pelvic rubbing) and toucherism (as groping with hands), but the DSM does not. [5] Sexologist Kurt Freund described frotteurism and toucherism as courtship disorders that occur at the tactile stage of human courtship. [6] [7]

Prevalence and legality

The prevalence of frotteurism is unknown. The DSM estimates that 10–14% of men seen in clinical settings for paraphilias or hypersexuality have frotteuristic disorder, indicating that the population prevalence is lower. However, frotteuristic acts, as opposed to frotteuristic disorder, may occur in up to 30% of men in the general population. [4] The majority of frotteurs are male and the majority of victims are female, [8] although female on male, female on female, and male on male frotteurs exist. This activity is often done in circumstances where the victim cannot easily respond, in a public place such as a crowded train or concert. Marco Vassi's story "Subway Dick" is an example of such acts in a train. [9]

Usually, such nonconsensual sexual contact is viewed as a criminal offense: a form of sexual assault albeit often classified as a misdemeanor with minor legal penalties. Conviction may result in a sentence or psychiatric treatment. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paraphilia</span> Atypical sexual attraction

A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human partner. Paraphilias are contrasted with normophilic ("normal") sexual interests, though the definition of what makes a sexual interest normal or atypical remains controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual fetishism</span> Sexual arousal a person receives from an object or situation

Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation on a nonliving object or 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.

Transvestic fetishism is a psychiatric diagnosis applied to men who are thought to have an excessive sexual or erotic interest in cross-dressing; this interest is often expressed in autoerotic behavior. It differs from cross-dressing for entertainment or other purposes that do not involve sexual arousal. Under the name transvestic disorder, it is categorized as a paraphilia in the DSM-5.

Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia, and from ephebophilia. While individuals with a sexual preference for adults may have some sexual interest in pubescent-aged individuals, researchers and clinical diagnoses have proposed that hebephilia is characterized by a sexual preference for pubescent rather than adult partners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Freund</span> Czech-Canadian physician and sexologist (1914–1996)

Kurt Freund was a Czech-Canadian physician and sexologist best known for developing the penile plethysmograph, research studies in pedophilia, and for the "courtship disorder" hypothesis as a taxonomy of certain paraphilias. After unsuccessful attempts to change men's sexual orientation, he advocated against conversion therapy and in favor of the decriminalization of homosexuality.

Chronophilia are forms of romantic preferences and/or sexual attractions limited to individuals of particular age ranges. Some such attractions, specifically those towards prepubescents and those towards the elderly, constitute types of paraphilia. The term was coined by John Money and has not been widely adopted by sexologists, who instead use terms that refer to the specific age range in question. An arguable historical precursor was Richard von Krafft-Ebing's concept of "age fetishism". Importantly, chronophilia are technically not determined by age itself, but by human sexual maturity stages, such as body type, secondary sexual characteristics and other visible features, particularly as measured by the stages of the Tanner scale.

Gerontophilia is the primary sexual attraction to the elderly. A person with such a sexual preference is a gerontophile or gerontosexual.

Psychosexual disorder is a sexual problem that is psychological, rather than physiological in origin. "Psychosexual disorder" was a term used in Freudian psychology. The term "psychosexual disorder" has been used by the TAF for homosexuality as a reason to ban the LGBT people from military service.

Paraphilic infantilism, also known as adult baby, is a form of ageplay that involves role-playing a regression to an infant-like state. Like other forms of adult play, depending on the context and desires of the people involved paraphilic infantilism may be expressed as a sexual fetish, kink, or simply as a comforting platonic activity. People who practice adult baby play are often colloquially referred to as "adult babies", or "ABs".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Blanchard</span> American-Canadian sexologist (born 1945)

Ray Milton Blanchard is an American-Canadian sexologist who researches pedophilia, sexual orientation and gender identity. He has found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay than men with fewer older brothers, a phenomenon he attributes to the reaction of the mother's immune system to male fetuses. Blanchard has also published research studies on phallometry and several paraphilias, including autoerotic asphyxia. Blanchard also proposed a typology of transsexualism.

Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12, psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13. People with the disorder are often referred to as pedophiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DSM-5</span> 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). In 2022, a revised version (DSM-5-TR) was published. In the United States, the DSM serves as the principal authority for psychiatric diagnoses. Treatment recommendations, as well as payment by health care providers, are often determined by DSM classifications, so the appearance of a new version has practical importance. However, not all providers rely on the DSM-5 for planning treatment as the ICD's mental disorder diagnoses are used around the world and scientific studies often measure changes in symptom scale scores rather than changes in DSM-5 criteria to determine the real-world effects of mental health interventions. The DSM-5 is the only DSM to use an Arabic numeral instead of a Roman numeral in its title, as well as the only living document version of a DSM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partialism</span> Sexual desire toward non-genital anatomy

Partialism is a sexual fetish with an exclusive focus on a specific part of the body other than genitals. Partialism is categorized as a fetishistic disorder in the DSM-5 of the American Psychiatric Association only if it causes significant psychosocial distress for the person or has detrimental effects on important areas of their life. In the DSM-IV, it was considered a separate paraphilia, but was merged into fetishistic disorder by the DSM-5. Individuals who exhibit partialism sometimes describe the anatomy of interest to them as having equal or greater erotic attraction for them as do the genitals.

Martin Paul Kafka is an American psychiatrist best known for his work on sex offenders, paraphilias and what he calls "paraphilia-related disorders" such as sex addiction and hypersexuality.

Courtship disorder is a theoretical construct in sexology developed by Kurt Freund in which a certain set of paraphilias are seen as specific instances of anomalous courtship instincts in humans. The specific paraphilias are biastophilia, exhibitionism, frotteurism, telephone scatologia, and voyeurism. According to the courtship disorder hypothesis, there is a species-typical courtship process in humans consisting of four phases, and anomalies in different phases result in one of these paraphilic sexual interests. According to the theory, instead of being independent paraphilias, these sexual interests are individual symptoms of a single underlying disorder.

Erotic target location error (ETLE) is a hypothesized dimension for paraphilias, defined by having a sexual preference or strong sexual interest in features that are somewhere other than on one's sexual partners. When one's sexual arousal is based on imagining oneself in another physical form the erotic target is said to be one's self, or erotic target identity inversion (ETII).

Other specified paraphilic disorder is the term used by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to refer to any of the many other paraphilic disorders that are not explicitly named in the manual. Along with unspecified paraphilic disorder, it replaced the DSM-IV-TR category paraphilia not otherwise specified (PNOS). In the revised DSM-5-TR published in 2022 no changes have been made regarding Other specified paraphilic disorder.

Sexual sadism disorder is the condition of experiencing great sexual arousal in response to the involuntary extreme pain, suffering or humiliation of other people. Several other terms have been used to describe the condition, and it may overlap with other conditions that involve inflicting pain. It is distinct from situations in which consenting individuals use mild or simulated pain or humiliation for sexual excitement. The words sadism and sadist are derived from the French writer and libertine Marquis de Sade, who wrote several novels depicting sexualized torture and violence.

Sexual masochism disorder (SMD) is the condition of experiencing recurring and intense sexual arousal in response to enduring moderate or extreme pain, suffering, or humiliation. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association indicates that a person may have a masochistic sexual interest but that the diagnosis of sexual masochism disorder would only apply to individuals who also report psychosocial difficulties because of it.

References

  1. Cantor, J. M., Blanchard, R., & Barbaree, H. E. (2009). Sexual disorders. In P. H. Blaney & T. Millon (Eds.), Oxford textbook of psychopathology (2nd ed.) (pp. 527–548). New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. 1 2 Lussier, Patrick and Piché, Lyne (2008). "Frotteurism: Psychopathology and Theory". In Laws, D. Richard (ed.). Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment, 2nd edition . The Guilford Press. pp.  131–132, 145. ISBN   9781593856052.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Laws, D. Richard; O'Donohue, William T. (April 16, 2012). Sexual Deviance, Second Edition: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. ISBN   9781462506699 . Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 American Psychiatric Association, ed. (2013). "Frotteuristic Disorder 302.89 (F65.81)". Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. American Psychiatric Publishing. pp. 691–694.
  5. McAnulty, Richard D.; Adams, Henry E. & Dillon, Joel (2002). "Sexual disorders: The paraphilias". In Sutker, Patricia B. & Adams, Henry E. (eds.). Comprehensive handbook of psychopathology. New York: Plenum Press. p. 761.
  6. Freund, K. (1990). Courtship disorders: Toward a biosocial understanding of voyeurism, exhibitionism, toucherism, and the preferential rape pattern. In. L. Ellis & H. Hoffman (Eds.), Crime in biological, social, and moral contexts (pp. 100–114). NY: Praeger.
  7. Freund, K. (1990). Courtship disorders. In W. L. Marshall, D. R. Laws, & H. E. Barbaree (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories, and treatment of the offender (pp. 195–207). NY: Plenum Press.
  8. "UCSB's SexInfo". Archived from the original on January 18, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  9. The Giant Book of Erotica; ed. Colette Saint Germain. London: Magpie Books, 1993 ISBN   1-85487-183-8; pp. 469-77.
  10. frottophilia at SEX ED 601 Advanced Topics in Human Sexuality.