Sometimes people know about their special needs, sometimes they don't and the search goes on unconsciously - meaning the fetish, the desire for a very special thing, an object, a material, a peculiarity, a certain physical attribute.
The most diverse and intense emotions go hand in hand with a fetish. The scale ranges from beautiful and fulfilling feelings to oppressive and unpleasant sensations. As a rule, a fetish does not conform to the usual social conventions, so that this fact alone is a potential source of conflict.
While some fetishes are more tolerated in general understanding, others enjoy a rather bad reputation. It is therefore obvious that personal fetishes are rarely spoken about openly and freely and that many people often carry hidden passions around with them as a firm and safe secret for the rest of their lives.
The Podcast Test: Do You Have a Fetish?
How does a fetish develop?
The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud must have taken great pleasure in putting forward all kinds of theories for this, because for a long time fetish, like homosexuality, was considered a disease to be treated.
If we look back in history, it is reasonable to think that becoming aware of a fetish was accompanied by a great deal of shame and probably also disgust with oneself. The secrecy ultimately served to be able to continue to participate in social life and, at worst, not to be arrested and locked away in a psychiatric hospital. It sounds horrible, but in retrospect it was a reality for people for a long time.
Not only at that time, researchers and scientists up to doctors and psychiatrists dealt with the question of how a fetish actually develops. Why does it affect some people and not others? Why can feet or a certain material gain such a great influence on our sexual life?
Latex Toys to get started with fetishism
A fetish is understood to be a form of sexual desire in which a particular material, item of clothing, object, body part, etc.... gives rise to extreme arousal and only through these conditions can real satisfaction be experienced.
If the fetish is very strong, it can lead to a sexual desire.
In very strong manifestations, only sexuality can be experienced and felt through the fetish. In weakened manifestations, sexuality can also be practised without the fetish, but usually with less intense sensation.
There are also forms of sexuality that can be experienced without the fetish.
There are also forms of fetish that lead to addiction and thus take up so much space in everyday life that a normal and independent life is no longer possible. As with any other addiction, professional help should be sought in this case.
How does a fetish come about?
First of all, we are all individuals who are different and have different sexual preferences. No two people are exactly alike. This individuality also reflects different erotic fantasies and preferences.
Nevertheless, experts and researchers dealt with exactly this topic of analysis and came to astonishing results. They also addressed the question of whether a mental illness is present in people with fetish sensations and may be a decisive factor in why some find bondage, humiliation, adult nappies or latex exciting and incorporate them into sexuality.
The results of the analysis were surprising.
In this context, it was also about the fact that a fetish often concerns objects or body parts that normally have no erotic attribute attached to them. For example, it means various materials such as lacquer, leather, latex or nylon, body parts such as hands, feet or hair, or objects such as cars.
Studies also looked at why some people develop a preference for a certain lifestyle that allows for dominance and submission, bondage, role-playing and sadomasochism (BDSM). In this context, alternative erotic lifestyles and fetishes come in a wide variety of forms, ranging from the general to the extreme.
Is a mental illness a cause for the formation of a fetish?
Are people who have a particularly strong fetish or with particularly severe fetish feelings mentally ill? The research came to the following conclusion: some people in this very category may possibly be mentally ill or may have experienced trauma.
Psychological illnesses are the most common form of fetish.
However, mental illness is clearly and decidedly not a predictor of fetishes. For all the paraphilic disorders or matters of sexual interest that do not involve usual and normative behaviours and attributes, the question remains in the room as to how such fetish behaviour may develop or what this may mean for a lifestyle.
Many of these questions and issues remain.
Many of these questions and theories on this are still open and not clearly defined or answered. In general, it must be stated here that this is to be observed individually and cannot be led to generalised theses.
Having unusual sexual or creative fantasies and seeking their realisation does not make a sufferer a mentally ill person. This would do people a great injustice and only feed prejudice and intolerance. This is exactly what fetish and BDSM enthusiasts have to struggle with in society and are often confronted with exclusion, insults and discrimination. It is also ignorance and preconceived notions that lead to this discrepancy and to this unacceptable and unattractive attitude.
Most people who have a fetish and nurture it and accept it as an important personal facet are psychologically perfectly healthy and often in the middle of life. In every sexual form of expression there will be a few exceptions in percentage terms. However, this can also be found in the same frequency in sexualities that are not unusually lived, i.e. also outside of fetish and BDSM.
Now to the original question:
When does a fetish originate?
In the vast majority of cases, a fetish forms during puberty. However, these are very unconscious processes that those affected cannot clearly recognise, verbalise or even accept at this time. Since puberty in itself is a very eventful time with many different and exciting impressions, character formation matures and there is usually rebellion against existing circumstances, the time of growing up is not a consciously reflected time.
Sexual fantasies are all still very new and unknown during this time, and it is seldom accepted that, for example, a certain object or specific material is arousing. The whole spectrum is very different here. Therefore, fetishes could be an element of our individual diversity in terms of sexual interest and arousal. As with food, this is also true for the development of different tastes and preferences.
Not impossible.
It cannot be ruled out that a fetish may not develop until adulthood, just as our tastes can change and develop in different directions in the course of life.
How do you find a fetish partner?
Summarising, it can be said that a fetish develops at the earliest during puberty. However, it can just as well emerge and develop in adulthood. A fetish is therefore in most cases a completely normal thing, not unusual and in no case a symptom or an accompaniment to a mental illness. Get rid of these thoughts, don't give so much importance to people's talk and live your life your way, because you only have that!
