Object Fetishism

By Mistress Michelle Peters

CHAPTER ONE

While it may seem to he a completely redundant statement to label a chapter "Object Fetishism," I do so here to make the distinction between animate fetishism, which involves parts of the body. and inanimate fetishism, which involves objects. As we know, there is often an intertwining of both forms: however, it is impossible to go about the study of a particular phenomenon without breaking it down into various areas of study.

Along with Krafft-Ebing. the French psychologist Binet was one of the first to recognize object fetishism as a sexual manifestation. In a work first published in 1888. he maintained that the choice of a fetish is an after-effect of some sexual impression which is received, as a rule, in early childhood. This derivation becomes particularly obvious in cases, he went on... where there is simply a fetishistic condition attached to the sex object. From this he drew the assumption that in the life of every fetishist, there must have been some event which determined the association of lustful feelings with the single impression. Eventually, the exact circumstances under which this primary association arose are usually forgotten. but the result of the association is imprinted and oftentimes it becomes the single theme upon which the fetishist will build his sexual fantasies.

The antithesis of fetishism is anti-fetishism, and this too can condition an individual to patterned response in mature life. Just as it is possible for a man to become obsessed by the sight of a shapely leg or breast, so too is it possible for him to be repulsed by a sagging breast, or flabby leg lined with varicose veins. This type of experience may actually make a fetishist out of the anti-fetishist " that is to say. in seeking refuge from real women which have repulsed him, he may seek out sexual idols in magazines where he will he likely to find pictures of enticing women. Many of today's feminists strike out at such publications as Playboy for this very reason, the Women's Libbers stating that men may he turned off by the reality of their wives, as they are no competition for the air-brushed Aphrodite imprinted on paper, whose only flaws may be two creases and a couple of staples.

Just as each individual vastly differs in his or her own responses to sexual stimulation, so too are there virtually innumerable fetishes which may appear to be rare and obscure. However, we must limit ourselves to the more common forms in this work. The most common forms of object fetishism found today leather, rubber, undergarments. etc. will be discussed at length in later chapters. In the day of Kraft- Ebing and Wilhelm Stekel, another early researcher into fetishism, it was not so easy to find patterns running throughout the world of fetishism as it is today, now that we have collected infinitely more data. Then too, the types of clothing have changed quite a bit since then.

There is a distinct dividing line between physiological and pathological fetishism that we must make before starting out.

Generally, this line is defined as a sociological one "at the point when a person's actions become a threat to himself or the community, he has entered into a dangerous pathological state. Oftentimes, compulsive murderers, such as the infamous Boston Strangler, are fetishists who were never able to function well in society. When the fetish overrides the normal heterosexual urge. or when the individual is incapable of arousal because the fetish object is not present, we begin to get into the realm of the pathological. But, fortunately, just as most forms of human behavior are usually kept within limits of order, so too are most forms of fetishism. It is within these fields we seek to explore for the subjects discussed in this work.
Even in so-called `normal' intercourse. any doctor will tell you the dividing line between sanity and insanity, real and unreal, is very slender at the moment of orgasm. And yet it is safe to assume that the vast majority of individuals who have experienced orgasms in their lives are not murderers. While we do tend to find a higher Incidence of antisocial behavior in correlation with individuals whose sex lives tend to be deviant, the great number of them too.

Fetishists included, can be expected to live a relatively sane life.

Oftentimes. these individuals will not adjust to their sexuality without the aid of a therapist, and then it depends to what degree his or her anxiety and guilt have "bottled" them up, as to how long it will take them to readjust to their sexual environment. I tend to go along with many of today's leading psychologists, psychiatrists and sexual researchers in taking a liberal view of such deviations as fetishism, using function as a keynote. That is. if a person is functioning well with his of her sexual partner, and is free from worry and guilt, then he is functioning as a human being. If a person is malfunctioning, it is often easy to get them to realize their capabilities and readjust to their own feelings about themselves after they have gained some insight into their problems.

Probably one of the most common forms of fetishism in this country today goes unnoticed as such. This is the use of erotic art, either text or pictures. While most people who utilize erotic literature and drawings do not usually do so as a primary form of sexual gratification, that is to say they are using the material in a transient fashion to gratify temporary sexual needs. there are those who depend totally upon such material.

While we do realize that there is nothing wrong with masturbation, another old wives' tale that terrified many a youth in his puberty, as a secondary outlet for sexual release in adults, those who become completely onanistic tend to lead rather insulated lives. While pornographic literature does serve as a rather useful outlet for these individuals. it at the same time can become a habitual pattern, sometimes bordering on fetishism. While a number of my patients have used such materials to enhance their sexual lives, utilizing them in concert with their love partner either to gain insight into sexuality, or using them as a mutual stimulant. the fetishist whose only method of arousal comes from pornographic drawings. etc. is often a guilt-ridden. lonesome individual. In the more isolated cases. I have found evidence of individuals who have become fixated on one particular drawing. In one instance, a thirty- two-year-old bachelor would masturbate while looking at a drawing of a semi-clad beauty spanking a naked young man, whom she held across her lap. Here is a case of sadomasochism combining with fetishism— the man's fixation upon one particular drawing was so intense as to become his only means of achieving orgasm.

Another form of object fetishism that is often overlooked is mirror fetishism. While many couples have found that the utilization of mirrors can help their sexual potency. there are those whose reliance upon mirrors borders upon fetishism. While it is a long way from Narcissus, the man of mythology who fell in love with his own reflection. to the completely mirrored bedrooms of some orgiastic swingers of contemporary America, some of the roots of mirror fetishism do strike similar chords of narcissism. And yet, there are some striking differences. The primary difference is the lack of self interest on the part of the mirror fetishist. Although the mirror becomes an object of voyeuristic adoration for the true narcissist, he never loses his own identity in it, never loses the awareness of his projected self. On the other hand, the true mirror fetishist is not concerned with the act he sees reflected in the mirror as it relates to him personally. Rather, he is simply involved with the act itself as reflected in the mirror.

Even when a mirror fetishist sexually gratifies himself through masturbation, he is more concerned with the image of his onanistic behavior he is creating. Therefore. the narcissist loves the reflection of himself as it reverts back to him, while the mirror fetishist has established a form of love for the mirror itself because it enables him to see a sexual performance while simultaneously engaging in a sexual act.

Many fetishists of this nature who can afford it have constructed vary elaborate systems in their bedrooms. Some of these utilize very complicated networks which allow the fetishist to view his sexual activities from every conceivable angle. Still others have the walls and ceilings of ot her rooms equipped with mirrors. in order to participate in reflected sex with their mates in many rooms of the house. Oftentimes, the fetishist will rig up lighting systems that can change the hue oft he room, or use Mylar mirrors what reflect the lights in various patterns.

Statues, busts and sculptures are another source of sexual excitation and release for the object fetishist. Today, the smaller statuettes are more popular among such fetishists. probably as they are more mobile and less expensive than life-size renderings.

While the story of Pygmalion. the sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created, is part of Greek legend, we must remember that art merely imitates life, or so they say. There are, to be sure, evidences of statue fetishism throughout the world today. While the statues themselves do not spring to life as in the myth, the statues can spring the fetishist's fantasies to life.

The statue fetishist can often lead a happily married life, oftentimes disguising their particular fetish. The statue of their affections not to be confused with statutory rape) may be at close hand by the bedside, while the fetishist makes love to his wife. She may never know that the statuette plays any part in her husband's sex drive. unless. alas and alack. she might break it while cleaning.

Some statue fetishists. however, need more than the sense of sight to stimulate their libido. This need makes their particular fetish quite obvious to others, and it is very seldom that such a fetishist would find a partner tolerant enough to allow him to caress and fondle a statue while having intercourse with her. Consequently, this type of fetishist is often condemned to a solitary life, collecting his objects of worship and masturbating in front of them.

While we mentioned that most fetishistic behavior is developed in early childhood, many psychologists have recently observed fetishistic behavior that fails to appear until the individual is well into adulthood. Most of this behavior is related to the new sexual aids on the market today. While they may relate to some long- dormant fetish, these adult manifestations usually take on a new form.

For example, there is the waterbed. The waterbed may be a big stimulant for the average hedonist, but for one who becomes fetishistic about it, it may trip some long latent form of imprinting. For instance. one girl who came to my office for treatment stated that she had been unable to achieve orgasm with her boyfriend until he had purchased a waterbed. While the natural rhythms established by a waterbed can prove to be an aid in sexual encounters. I soon found that this girl was particularly intrigued with the fact that it was made of plastic. The first time she had experienced an orgasm on the waterbed occurred when there were no sheets on the bed. and the feeling of her rubbing against the plastic lining triggered a long suppressed desire towards fabric fetishism.

It seems that she had been forced to sleep on rubber sheets as a child to protect against bed-wetting. and when she first felt the lining of the waterbed during intercourse, her hidden passion had been released.

The artificial sex aids recently introduced to the public have also led to fetishistic behavior on the part of some individuals. Such items as dildos, penis extensions, artificial vaginas and the like are growing in popularity. While there is an obvious connection between certain object fetishism and the use of some of these items by the fetishist, many couples use those items to enhance their routine sex lives. But in the hands of a fetishist, there is obvious significance in the utilization of a rubber vagina. which is just a way of bettering a tactile fetishism towards rubber. The dildo, to many women, is the closest symbol they can find to the real thing, when one remembers how many of our ancient totems are regarded to he symbolic of the penis.

Even though the sexual aids may also he a recent phenomenon, at least in their general availability to the mass public, we can see that many of those aids can be utilized by the fetishist as a sexual tool. While their first imprinting towards fetishistic behavior may not have been towards the particular sexual aid, it may have borne a close enough resemblance to the original stimulus to activate the motor functioning that unlocks pleasure as to lead them towards the new object. While it is impossible to categorize all the many forms of sexual objectry, we should gain a general insight into at least a few of the objects which fetishistic individuals incorporate into their sexual lives.

Whether it be an object that is deeply ingrained during the individual's youth, or an object that is similar enough to trigger this early conditioning. we do know that the use of objects for sexual gratification is a means for the fetishist to substitute a surrogate of some form or another for the genitalia of the opposite sex. If. as Freud believed, we express in our dreams our hidden desires, then those that surface may become nearly infinite in the twentieth century—a time in which we find technology providing more and more items that could possibly become objects for the fetishist.

All of us may be at some time or another influenced by fetishistic materials. It is only through the excessive utilization of such sexual objectry,. a possibility that is more readily accessible in our times, that can lead an individual into an isolated and frustrating trap. It is said that practice makes perfect. But in the case of the compulsive fetishist, wherein one might find oneself increasingly relying upon the more expedient and convenient way of releasing sexual anxieties, it could be said that practice makes imperfect.