hawkwolf7
Posts: 85
Joined: 10/24/2004
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LuckyAlbatross
... almost always occurs in males, rarely in females,
Statements like this don't reflect the reality of the situation. To be more precise, this should say:
"... is documented more often in males, rarely documented in females"
It also doesn't reflect the reality of my experience... which is that fetishes are distrubuted about evenly between males and females. On the other hand, due to cultural conditioning, males are more likely to explore and express their fetishes openly. (Thus are more often documented.)
In terms of the common usage, the word fetish refers to any sexual behavior that falls outside the local cultural norm (i.e., vanilla culture). At one time, missionary sex was the "cultural norm" in the US, which meant that "doggie style" and oral sex were fetishes. Today, fetish includes BDSM, swinging, poly, and your standard foot, shoe, leather, latex, etc. Sometime in the future, it will be sex with machines and fucking ET.
But, there is a more general definition, that says anything that is not explicitly sexual, yet generates sexual feelings in a person is really just another fetish. These are very common in the vanilla culture, and are generally accepted as "okay". Along those lines here are some examples:
A few fairly common male fetishes that I have observed include attraction to tits, short(er) women, shapely butts and thighs, eye color, hair color, cooking skills, "bad girls", "nice girls", and docility.
A few fairly common female fetishes that I have observed include attraction to intellect, physical or emotional strength, hairy chests, tall(er) men, muscular butts and thighs, eye color, hair color, "bad boys", "nice boys", money, cars & motorcycles, shoes, security, and romance.
All of which is just to say that human beings are infinitely capable of sexualizing anything, which is simultaneously one of our strengths and one of our flaws. Whether or not it gets labeled as a "fetish" depends on what definition you choose, and the dominant cultural paradigm.
Hope that helps...
HawkWolf
By the way, SUBVERT THE DOMINANT PARADIGM!
(sorry, I just couldn't help myself 
< Message edited by hawkwolf7 -- 5/20/2007 12:46:14 PM >
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p.s. Everything I write is simply one person's opinion: mine. Feel free to take what is useful and blow off the rest.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.
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What Really is a Fetish? - 
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cius, artificial ; see factitious 
. I love a woman who is strong enough to effect a gender-role reversal... i.e., who can make me her woman. 
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