What Fétichism ?

The word “Fetishism” appears for the first time in 1760 . Charles De Brosses (1709-1777) in his book “Of the worship of the Gods Fetishes” compares those of the ancient Egypt religion with the pertaining of worship practices of Africa. The word “Fetish”, comes from Portuguese “feitiça” a word which indicates a magic object beneficial or evil. It is Diderot which then will officialize the existence of these words in the dictionary of the Encyclopaedia. Fetishism thus is related to a worship, whether it is spiritual or sexual or both. The fetish object represents divinity and also allows to communicate with it, it is at the same time symbol and medium, and this fragmentation reduces the real or supposed danger of a direct interaction with the divinity.

The idea of a worship
In sexual fetishism, things seem a little similar, the fetishist is devoted to his phantasm, but the presence of a partner is not necessarily required, the possession and the use of the fetish object are enough to bring an excitation sometimes even sufficient to reach orgasm…
This is why sexual fetishism has been classified a long time like a perversion. The sexuality procreation purpose imposed by the religion could indeed tolerate neither the masturbation practices nor the ludic behaviors, and even less the association of both!

Fetishism and perversion

In 1816, Charles Fourier (1772-1837), more famous for his political engagements (socialist Utopia) than his sexological writings, draws up the list of what it names the sexual manias in a book entitled the “Le nouveau monde amoureux” (that can be translated “new world of love”). Charles Fourier rejects the expression of “sexual deviation”, he invents in the place that of “polymorphic pervert” who will make the delights of Freud later.

 

A perversion in some eyes

Fetishism was regarded a long time as a sexual perversion, the German physician Kraft Ebing (1840-1902), classified it thus. However, at the same time, other sexologists, relativized this evaluation, and sought to redefine the borders of normal and pathological one. It acted, inter alia, to finally cease excluding from the society people whose sexuality was different from prudery standards: homosexual and bisexual ones. The psychiatrist Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) and the English psychologist Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), contributed much to this redefinition of perversion. Concerning fetishism, Havelock Ellis wrote: ” the phenomena of erotic symbolism are those which are most specifically human”. JM LoDuca, physician, sexologist, defines fetishism as “a sexual perversion in which only one part of the body (hair, hands or feet.) or only one part of clothing excluding all the others stimulate the sexual desire.” There is perversion when a dependence settles. The fetichism exclusive nature justifies that it is qualified as a “perversion”. Perversion begins when sexual arousal exclusively depends on fetish presence.

 

All concerned?

By examining the things more closely, one realizes that we all are more or less fetishistic. Homosexual heterosexual or, men and women, all equal in front of their fetishes! It even seems that today in Europe, the tendency encourage fetishistic expression, in various aspects moreover like more sordid. Towards a redefinition of perversion philosophers and artists support the sexological ideas and, like George Battaille (writer) of Salvador Dali (plastician), or Maurice Heine rehabilitate the work of Marquis de Sade by stressing its revolutionary dimension rejecting strongly generally accepted ideas and others social and religious constraints, and his will to redefine the erotic borders.
The conceptual framework is specified with work of Alfred Binet (1857-1911), who considers sexual fetishism like a kind of religious worship. He establishes a bond between fetishism and the monotheists worships: indeed, fetishist focuses his devotion on an object separate of the whole. The admirer of the feet or the shoes is not interested in the hair, it dedicates an exclusive worship with the object elected like fetish. Alfred Binet writes: “Fetishism in love tend to separate completely, to isolate the object of his worship from all that surrounds it and, when this object is part of an alive person, the fetishist tries to make this part a independent unit.”

 

Cutters of plaits evoked by Magnus Hirschfeld were frightening fetishists. The author reports the case of a young man having in his possession of tens of plaits… Précisons that this “figaro” was not a hairdresser !!!

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Fetish and phantasm

Always according to Alfred Binet, sexual fetishism can be consider on two levels, one minor, not very elaborate or simply latent, it is this fetishism to which he refers when he puts: “everyone is more or less fetishist in love and there is a constant amount of fetishism in the most regular love.” The other level, more complex reflects the phantasm universe of fetishist. Alfred Binet seized the abstract character of fetishism perfectly because he knew how to read between the lines avoiding misunderstanding of the first appearances.
Contrary to still living believes, the fetishist is nor in the incapacity to collect the signs of communication in love nor reduced to gather them in an object, easier to handle, even if his behavior can be decoded. Fetichism could be seen as the expression of an inner world, single, individual, often of an extremely creative. Fetishism and phantasms are always in a dialogue because they solicit the imaginary. The phantasm builds a setting in scene, a history, gathers images, feelings, it starts and accompanies the desire, leads to pleasure. The fetishes objects are as many bench marks in the course of the phantasm, they mark out the paths of imagination and make it possible to turn the attention on the most erotic details.

 

How does one becom fetishistic?

First experienced event hypothesis.
It is still in Alfred Binet’s that one owes the assumption of the “first experience” associated a sexual excitation and then becomes a reference for erotic release. This idea will make its way… In an article of 1927, Freud exposes his point of view, for him, fetishism is male, it comes to mitigate anguish of castration which does not fail to emerge when the child (of male sex) notes that his mother does not have a penis. Definitely, this good man had great difficulty to integrate the even existence femininity. Freud is astonished that the fetishists that it observed find pleasure in adoring their object because he thinks that this behavior characterizes the emotional immature subjects, anxious, and self-confidence lack. Only the psychoanalytical cure could put them on the right way of an adult sexuality.

Exclusively male according to Freud

Freud adds: “Probably no male could be saved from feeling the terror of castration when he sees the female genital. For which reasons this impression leads some to become homosexual and others to deny oneself by creation a fetish, while the enormous majority overcomes this fear that, certainly, we cannot say it.”
Freud explains how the fetish is built and why certain “objects” are privileged: “The elaboration of a fetish follows processes which appears very similar to a traumatic amnesia. Here also the interest remains as left in way; last impression the worrying one of trauma some will be kept like fetish. Thus if the foot or the shoe or part of those are the preferred fetishes, they owe it with the fact that in his curiosity the boy has stared at the genital of the woman starting from the legs; fur and satin fixes - as it since is supposed a long time - the spectacle of the genital hairs which would have had to be followed of the female member ardently desired; the so frequent election of the parts of linen room like fetish is due to that this last moment is appointed of stripping, during which one still could think that the woman is phallic.  But I do not want to affirm that each time can manage to know with certainty the determination of the fetish. It is necessary to recommend the study urgently of fetishism with all those which still doubt the existence of the complex of castration or which can think that fear in front of the genital of the woman has another base that it derives from, for example, of the hypothetical memory of the trauma of the birth.”
Certain psychoanalysts dispute rightly the male exclusiveness in fetishism. It should be remembered that the at the same time fetish plays a part of representation and mediation. In the worship of the object, there is a narcissistic gratification . For this reason, one can thus regard as fetishists behaviors towards the fashion. When one endeavor to follow the fashion, one adapts fetishes objects, clothing, shoes, accessories which allow to be identified with an idol and to reinforce one’s well being, one’s narcissism.

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Fétichism worship and adoration
Jean Streff Jean Streff in his book : “Traité du fétichisme”, evokes a curious short new: A young mason who lives in a small mountain village, was stopped whereas it flew of the linen put to dry on wires. Policemen seeking to recover other catch parts came in the tiny room where the young robber lived, “it was full up to the ceiling with a mass of female linen inside which he had dug a hole to nest there.” The German poet, Goethe, were known for his fetishism, he wrote to his mistress Christine Vulpius: “On the next occasion, please send to me your dancing shoes, worn down well by your exploits and of which you wrote to me that they were like part of yourself so that I could tighten against my heart.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) in his famous book "Les fleurs du mal." dedicates a poem to hair. Does Auguste Renoir think about this poetry when he painted this gorgious haired joung woman in 1894 ? « Ô toison, moutonnant jusque sur l'encolure ! Ô boucles ! Ô parfum chargé de nonchaloir ! Extase ! Pour peupler ce soir l'alcôve obscure Des souvenirs dormant dans cette chevelure, Je la veux agiter dans l'air comme un mouchoir ! » First lines of Baudelaire's « La chevelure »

Any object which can become object of a fetishistic worship, rituals vary according to imagination and phantasms'. Thus, sometimes the fetishist of the hair is satisfied to touch it, to delight some for enhancing his desire, but also, he wants to cut it, to own and use it for his solitary pleasures. Krafft Ebing, with a very Germanic precision, quotes many cases of “cutters of plaits”, some by having tens… The worship of the fetish puts in scene all kinds of ritual, of the show, with the accomplished sex act with or in the presence of the fetish object.

Various fetish uses

Certain fetishists of bottoms or sticking, do not satisfy to admire those carried by their mistress, they want to also taste the unutterable delight to smell the caress on their skin, that belonged to the play. It can be interesting to understand how the worship is organized,does it works for reviving a former experiment, which role plays the object there, is it fully actor of the phantasm, or only element of location, does the ritual require a partner or not? Is it about a fetish object which is addressed to the sight, hearing, the touch, the taste or the sense of smell? If one wants to analyze the process, the reading axes do not lack! The fetishist is often also a collector, refer to the Riquet collection, which counts thousands of pairs of bottom. Yves Riquet, computer engineer and large nylon stocking amateur won the bet to give again a new breath with manufacturing of bottom “Gerbe” which in 1998 the last unit was just about stopping producing nylon stocking “crystal”. The machine which manufactures them, a 25 meters length monster weighing close to 40 tons is impossible to move, that's no problem, Yves Riquet founds a company of diffusion which manages to to sell thousands nylon stocking pairs… The business is profitable and the collection grows rich by new models from modest to most prestigious ones. haut de page

The fetishism of the feet, the shoes, the boots
The fetishism of the foot is undoubtedly one of the most frequent, finally, one of those which are expressed most openly. In the language, much of expressions refer to the feet by calling upon respect, the respect, or on the contrary the contempt, brutality. bowing down before the feet of his idol and kiss her feet is a sign of worship of tender and respect. To press, to trample an object expresses the rage, anger, the contempt, it means that the other not worthy of respect. Expressions as “licks boots” indicate obsequious behaviors of a person who does not have much pride and whom one can thus use like a vulgar rag.

An addictive behavior?
The desire to own multiple pairs of shoes and boots is not far from addictive behavior in some women. In a discussion in the french review ELLE, Catherine Deneuve affirmed: “if I am fetishistic, it is shoes…”. The fetishism of the foot and the shoe has very old origins , in Roman Antiquity, one quotes the case of the Senator Lucius Vetilius which dissimulated under its toga his mistress shoes in order to be able to touch them, to kiss, and smell their odor. Athenian courtesans fitted sandals whose engraved sole left a print in sand, it remained writing “follow me” after their passage.

The fairy tale “Cinderella”, puts in scene a completely fetishistic prince, he only have kept one of his “beauty” dancing shoe, the famous slipper of squirrel fur . The charming Prince, provided with the pretty small shoe, crosses his realm in the search of a girl who will be able to fit it. The analogy between the shoe and the vagina was often raised in psychoanalytical interpretation of the fetishistic phantasms and, more largely of the myths. in French the expression “trouver chaussure à son pied” ( find a shoe that fits one’s foot) is unambiguous!

The stiletto heels do not achieve the unanimity, and even initiate very opposite opinions, some see a tool of seduction, others, like the feminists of the Seventies, a tool of oppression. The stiletto heels symbolize domination, seduction, they raise up the woman who wears them, they modify the posture, make prominent legs muscles, accentuating the curve of the back, and protruding the chest. No scientific study still proved that wearing of stiletto heels could have effects on the female desire. On the other hand, stiletto seems to powerfully stimulate male imagination . Let us remember that there are also fetishists of the tennis shoe, and of bare feet.

The vertiginous heels are also a tool of submission practical, they do not allow to run, and turn woman into an object, limited in her movements, subjected to the will of who imposes wearing of such accessories. These shoes point out a little the treatment that underwent the Chinese girls to reduce their feet and at the same time make them unable to move, but worthy of worship. To be beautiful imposes sometimes cruel sufferings.

Dominating women

In the camp of predatory and other dominating women appear an accessory impossible to forget: the boot, even thigh boots. In the Eighties, the french poet Serge Gainsbourg wrote a song for Brigitte Bardot, and depicted her in leather clothes an thigh boots.

	The laced boots evoke the liontamer one, who makes cracking her whip, the rider acrobat, intrepid heroin, the huntress.
A woman wearing laced boots adds a bit of masculinity to her personality which makes her appear both dangerous and attracting, she is warlike who will be able to conquer, capture, and to flee, such Amazon, free of any links.

 

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Uniforms

It is undeniable that the uniform plays a part in the play of the seduction. It symbolizes power, force, strength, size, or even the servile condition, in most fetishistic phantasms where it plays a part of foreground. At the beginning of this century, Magnus Hirschfeld analyzes the erotic attraction that the uniform exerts, and concludes that the women resulting from the humble and poor cultured social backgrounds are more sensitive to the glamour of uniforms. Soldier, fireman, but also guard, butcher, baker, surgeon, much of women dream to fall into arms of this charming prince, wearing his “magic” costume which translates his statute. .

 

The regulation uniforms which represent the order and the law are perhaps less frequent today in female imagination , they do not remain less present about it. The uniform of soldier is sometimes completely diverted at erotic ends when it is intended to decorate the male phantasms . The camouflage clothes, made for fight, evokes the roughness, even brutality, in all the cases the virile force, it is what makes any sound charms when it is adapted to sexy purposes as this picture shows it.

The uniform, a high valued fetish in the plays of submission and domination .
The plays of domination and erotic submission very often use uniforms, or at least of the working clothes. In the male phantasms, two uniforms arrive far at the head: the maidservant and the nurse. The pretty rascal maidservant looks like an obsolete theater character, she handles with assignment a nice little feather duster and bends down to serve the tea, revealing her low neckline plunging and her pretty lower parts sexy… The maidservant is supposed to do everything that her Masters require, and this situation can involve a great excitation: wearing the uniform releases from certain inhibitions, which the maidservant accepts with delight, the woman in city dress would probably refuse it !

Incognito! When the roles are reversed, or in disguises, one can change his behaviors, to express hidden aspects, unavowed or considered to be unavowable desires. Thus, the character of maidservant is often played by a man! This situation authorizes him to receive orders, to carry out them, and to be scolded and punished for its greater excitation.

The nurse, ambiguous but so attractive !

The nurse, as for her, causes a sharp passion, because she is supposed to love sex. This is of course a phantasm, but, having access to the whole body, the nurse enters the intimacy and there is only one small step to cross so that the phantasm settles. In addition to, her trade gives her a power, to which the man cannot withdraw, the white blouse inspires the respect, but incites the transgression. Wearing a nurse dress can appear very exciting for a woman, because this uniform encourages her to play an active part in erotic relation, under her dress, she can give free run to her desires and delightfully torment her hypochondriac… Many sites for adults exploit this fetishism as a pornographic topic. .

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