Sexual fetishism: a sexual physic disorder or harmless fixation?

The police of the Japanese city of Yokohama arrested the 46-year-old man called Katsyo Miyake this August. The police discovered about 2.5 thousand panties while conducting a search in his tiny apartment. The panties were reportedly stolen by the suspect in last ten years. The detectives were amazed to find hundreds of panties scattered all over the place. The most treasured items were hidden under the mattress on which Miyake slept. The suspect admitted to having stolen the panties. He also said he could not but steal them since he was a fetishist…

	Fetishism was introduced as a psychological scientific term in 1887
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The case of Katsyo Miyake is not unique. One can regularly come across various articles about fetishists in the media. But there is more in it than meets the eye. Many a fetishist do not look like some crazy maniacs. On the contrary, many of them are well-behaved individuals who regard their fixation perfectly normal and legal.

The International Convention of Fetishists took place in Amsterdam in April 2006. The event looked like a regular official gathering of like-minded species. So who are they, the fetishists? Should they be diagnosed and treated or they would be better off left alone?

From stone idols to panties

Fetishism as a sexual culture phenomenon was first described by scientists in the late 19^th century. The term fetishism had been in use before though its use was mostly restricted to a certain form of the primitive religion involving the worship of inanimate objects e.g. stone statutes of the deities otherwise known as fetishes (Fr. Fetiche, an idol).

Fetishism was introduced as a psychological scientific term in 1887 by Alfred Binet and meant sexual admiration of an inanimate object, mostly bodywear amd shoes. By then, fetishism was considered pathological. In time, the term’s meaning was extended, e. g. in 1912 Richard von Krafft-Ebing referred to fetishism as the admiration of body parts. He cited the case of a patient who had the fixation on women with broad nostrils. One day the patient sighted a woman of his dreams while riding on a streetcar. The patient experienced a great deal of sexual arousal and proposed to the stranger on the spot. The woman with a large beak apparently did not like the idea and called the police. The patient ended up in hospital where he had to explain to a doctor his deep-rooted admiration of broad nostrils.

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