Hot Stuff? 10 Unusual Sexual Fixations

Slide 1 of 21

The World of Sex

Human sexuality is endless diverse. Nevertheless, psychiatrists categorize unusual sexual interests as "paraphilias." Having a paraphilia isn't necessarily a sign of a mental disorder, unless it causes a person distress or harms others, but plenty of paraphilias are stigmatized anyway.

In the spirit of exploring the varied world of human sex, here are some of the rarer sexual fetishes out there.

Partialism

Photo Credit: andesign101 | shutterstock

Partialism

Into feet, hands or armpits? You may have a partialism, or a sexual interest in a specific, non-genital part of the body. Foot fetishism (podophilia) seems to be one of the most common of these fixations, but any body part can be subject to partialism. Ready for a vocab lesson? If you like armpits, you may have maschalagnia. Noses? That's nasophilia. Hair? Tricophilia. Even the rear end gets its own special name: pygophilia, or a prediliction for derrieres.

Klismaphilia

Photo Credit: Regisser , Shutterstock

Klismaphilia

Receiving sexual pleasure from the introduction of liquids into body via the anus is known as klismaphilia. Practitioners use enemas for sexual stimulation and find the feeling of fullness or internal pressure from an enema pleasing.

It's a practice that can get worrisome, depending on what klismphilics use to get their jollies. A 2005 case report in the journal Gastrointestinal Images told the tale of a 27-year-old man who gave himself an epoxy resin enema. The resin hardened as soon as he inserted it into his rectum via glue gun, requiring an operation. Surgeons pulled a perfect cast of the patient's rectum from his body, measuring 6.2 inches long (16 centimeters) and weighing 0.66 pounds (300 grams).

Masochism

Photo Credit: Ioannis Pantzi, Shutterstock

Masochism

Pain is pleasure for masochists, who get aroused by beatings, bondage and humiliation. Masochism includes asphyxiophilia, or self-asphyxia, a potentially fatal habit also known as autoerotic asphyxiation in which people deprive themselves of oxygen while masturbating. Unsurprisingly, there have been deaths associated with this practice.

Among consensual masochists, however, major maladjustment appears rare. A 1987 study published in the Journal of Sex Research of men recruited through sadism/masochism support groups and a sadism/masochism magazine found that only 6 percent were emotionally disturbed by their own sexual behavior.

Urophilia

Photo Credit: Chris Townsend | Dreamstime