Object sexuality

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Pygmalion by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1786, Musee national du chateau et des Trianons Chateau de Versailles, salon des nobles, Pygmalion priant Venus d'animer sa statue, Jean-Baptiste Regnault.jpg
Pygmalion by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1786, Musée national du château et des Trianons

Object sexuality or objectophilia is a group of paraphilias characterized by sexual or romantic attraction focused on particular inanimate objects. Individuals with this attraction may have strong feelings of love and commitment to certain items or structures of their fixation. Some do not desire sexual or close emotional relationships with humans. Object-sexual individuals also often believe in animism, and sense reciprocation based on the belief that objects have souls, intelligence, feelings, and the ability to communicate. Questions of objectophilia's legality or ethical provenance have not arisen, given that inanimate objects are inert and not harmed through object sexuality. Public sexual consummation of object sexual desires may be dealt with through public nudity or anti-exhibitionism legislation.

Contents

Research

In 2009, Amy Marsh, a clinical sexologist, surveyed the twenty-one English-speaking members of Erika Eiffel's 40-strong OS Internationale about their experiences. [1] About half reported autism spectrum disorders: six had been diagnosed, four were affected but not diagnosed, and three of the remaining nine reported having "some traits." [2] According to Marsh, "The emotions and experiences reported by OS people correspond to general definitions of sexual orientation," such as that in an APA article "on sexual orientation and homosexuality ... [which] refers to sexual orientation as involving 'feelings and self-concept'".

The first empirical behavioural study was conducted in 2019 by neuropsychologist Julia Simner and her colleagues. [3] Their data suggests that objectophilia is likely to arise when two separate neurodevelopmental traits co-occur: autism and synaesthesia. Rates of diagnosed autism were up to 30 times higher in their objectophile group, particularly linked to differences in social skills (finding human social situations unenjoyable). At the same time, the objectophile group were 14 times more likely to have synaesthesia. This included the variant known as personification synaesthesia, which makes inanimate objects feel imbued with personalities or genders (due to neurodevelopmental differences in regions of the brain involved in social processing). The researchers concluded that OS often encapsulates autism and synaesthesia within its phenomenology, and they also discussed society's marginalization of objectophiles.

Sociolinguistic researcher Heiko Motschenbacher has developed the concept of humanonormativity to describe the marginalization of objectum sexuality. Humanonormativity is "the belief that people normally and naturally engage in sexual practices and romantic relationships with other human beings." [4] It arises as a discourse that pathologizes objectum sexuality. This concept has been referenced in relevant academic fields, including research on fictosexuality. [5]

OS awareness and advocacy

In 2009, Erika Eiffel appeared on Good Morning America [6] and The Tyra Banks Show [7] with Amy Marsh to discuss her "marriage" to the Eiffel Tower and how her object love helped her become a world champion archer. Marsh shared the results of her survey and her belief that OS could be a genuine sexual orientation, reasoning that if childhood trauma were a factor in being OS, there would be more OS individuals. Eiffel, who had adopted her surname after a 2007 "marriage" to the Eiffel Tower, [6] founded OS Internationale, an educational website and online community for those identifying or researching attraction to objects.

Literature

Marsh sees OS-like behavior in classic literature. [1] In Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame :

[Quasimodo] loved [the bells], caressed them, talked to them, understood them. From the carillon in the steeple of the transept to the great bell over the doorway, they all shared his love. Claude Frollo had made him the bell ringer of Notre-Dame, and to give the great bell in marriage to Quasimodo was to give Juliet to Romeo. [1]

Describing his passion for sculptures, Horace Walpole commented in 1791 that "Sir William Hamilton had actually married his Gallery of Statues". [8]

Real life

Music

Cinema

Television

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, although 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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foot fetishism</span> Sexual fascination with feet

Foot fetishism, also known as foot partialism or podophilia, is a pronounced sexual interest in feet. It is the most common form of sexual fetishism for otherwise non-sexual objects or body parts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agalmatophilia</span> Inanimate object fetishism

Agalmatophilia is a paraphilia involving sexual attraction to a statue, doll, mannequin, or other similar figurative object. Agalmatophilia is a form of object sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vorarephilia</span> Sexual fetish

Vorarephilia is a paraphilia characterized by the erotic desire to be consumed by, or to personally consume, another person or creature, or an erotic attraction to the process of eating in general practice. Soft vore fantasies are separated from sexual fantasies of cannibalism, also referred to as "hard vore", because the soft vore victim is normally swallowed alive and whole. The word vorarephilia is derived from the Latin vorare, and Ancient Greek φιλία.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breast fetishism</span> Sexual interest focused on female breasts

As a paraphilia, breast fetishism is a sexual interest that focuses exclusively on the female breasts, and is a type of partialism. The term breast fetishism is also used in the non-paraphilic sense, to refer to cultural attention to female breasts and the sexuality they represent.

A crush fetish is a fetish and a paraphilia in which sexual arousal is associated with observing objects being crushed or being crushed oneself. The crushed objects vary from inanimate items, to injurious and/or fatal crushing of invertebrates, or vertebrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nijikon</span> Attraction to two-dimensional characters

Nijikon (二次コン) or nijigen konpurekkusu (二次元コンプレックス), from the English phrase "2D complex", is a sexual or affective attraction towards two-dimensional anime, manga, and light novel characters, as opposed to an attraction towards real human beings. It has been interpreted by some observers as a genuine sexual orientation. This attraction is primarily directed towards the non-realistic characteristics found in manga and anime styles. One of its sub-attractions is Lolicon. Initially discussed as male otaku sexuality in Japan, it has more recently been examined within the context of queer studies, extending beyond Japan, and referred to as a form of fictosexuality.

Acrotomophilia is a paraphilia in which an individual expresses strong sexual interest in amputees. It is a counterpart to apotemnophilia, the desire to be an amputee.

Hair fetishism, also known as hair partialism and trichophilia, is a partialism in which a person sees hair – most commonly, head hair – as particularly erotic and sexually arousing. Arousal may occur from seeing or touching hair, whether head hair, armpit hair, chest hair or fur. Head-hair arousal may come from seeing or touching very long or short hair, wet hair, certain colors of hair or a particular hairstyle.

Nose fetishism, nose partialism, or nasophilia is the partialism for the nose. This may include the sexual attraction to a specific form of physical variation of appearance, or a specific area. The fetish may manifest itself in a desire for actual physical contact and interaction, or specific fantasies such as the desire to penetrate the nostrils with a penis, tongue, or with a finger. Nose fetishism can also include the desire to ejaculate into the nostrils or onto the nose. Some people with this fetish masturbate while looking at someone with a nose they find extremely attractive. Some people with this fetish also enjoy pinching someone's nose so that they open their mouths to breathe.

Doll fetishism is a sexual fetish in which an individual is attracted to dolls and doll like objects such as figurines. The attraction may include the desire for actual sexual contact with a doll, a fantasy of a sexual encounter with an animate or inanimate doll, encounters between dolls themselves, or sexual pleasure gained from thoughts of being transformed or transforming another into a doll. Doll fetishism is a form of agalmatophilia, which is itself a form of object sexuality. Doll fetishism may be accompanied by other types of fetishes such as BDSM or latex.

Attraction to disability is a sexualised interest in the appearance, sensation and experience of disability. It may extend from normal human sexuality into a type of sexual fetishism. Sexologically, the pathological end of the attraction tends to be classified as a paraphilia. Other researchers have approached it as a form of identity disorder. The most common interests are towards amputations, prosthesis, and crutches. As a sexual fetish, attraction to disability is known as devotism, and those with the fetish are known as devotees.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sexual ethics:

Human sexuality covers a broad range of topics, including the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, philosophical, ethical, moral, theological, legal and spiritual or religious aspects of sex and human sexual behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanophilia</span> Sexual attraction to machines

Mechanophilia is a paraphilia involving a sexual attraction to machines such as bicycles, motorcycles, cars, helicopters, and airplanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Eiffel</span> American archer (born 1972)

Erika Eiffel, also known as Aya, is an American competitive archer and advocate for object sexuality. She "married" the Eiffel Tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to human sexuality:

Fictosexuality is sexual attraction towards fictional characters. Romantic attraction towards fictional characters is called fictoromantic.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Marsh, Amy (2010-03-01). "Love Among the Objectum Sexuals". Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality. 13.
  2. ↑ N.B. There are only 20 responses, though the author claims 21 respondents.
  3. ↑ Simner, Julia; Hughes, James E. A.; Sagiv, Noam (2019-12-27). "Objectum sexuality: A sexual orientation linked with autism and synaesthesia". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 19874. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56449-0. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   6934473 . PMID   31882730.
  4. ↑ Motschenbacher, Heiko (2018). "Language and Sexual Normativity". In Hall, Kira; Barrett, Rusty (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.14. ISBN   978-0-19-021292-6.
  5. ↑ Matsuura, Yuu (2023). "対人性愛中心主義批判の射程に関する検討――フェミニズム・クィアスタディーズにおける対物性愛研究を踏まえて" [Humanonormativity and Human Oriented Sexualism: A Discussion Based on Objectum Sexuality Studies from a Feminist and Queer Perspective]. 人間科学共生社会学 (Human Science Sociology and Anthropology) (in Japanese). 12 (13). Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University. doi:10.15017/7151776.
  6. 1 2 3 Snow, Kate; Brady, Janann (2009-04-08). "Woman Proves Love for Eiffel Tower With Commitment Ceremony". ABC News .
  7. ↑ Filip, Kristyn (February 15, 2012). "The woman who married the Eiffel Tower". The Fulcrum.
  8. ↑ Barker, C.; Trussler, S. (1997). New Theatre Quarterly 49: Volume 13, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 5. ISBN   978-0-521-58902-4 . Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  9. ↑ "Hasselhoff marries Berlin Wall". The Irish Times. April 1, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Inanimate attachment: Love objects". The Globe and Mail. Aug 21, 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  11. ↑ "10 Romances Between People and…Things". 12 April 2010.
  12. ↑ "A Man in a Relationship with His Car". Anderson. February 10, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14.
  13. ↑ "Jodi Rose bridges differences to marry Le Pont du Diable Bridge in France". 6 July 2013.
  14. ↑ "Man sues Utah County clerk for refusing to issue license to marry computer". 29 June 2016.
  15. ↑ Matthew Meadow (3 August 2015). "Keys N Krates - Save Me". YourEDM. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (2023-10-19). "Christine review – Stephen King's evil car still has a one-track mind". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  17. ↑ Armistead, Claire (9 July 2021). "'I know it's weird' – Jumbo: the film about a woman who falls in love with a funfair ride". the Guardian . Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  18. ↑ Barber, Nicholas. "Titane: The most shocking film of 2021". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
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