Have you ever sexually felt drawn to a certain bodypart? I mean, besides the dick, obviously? Then you may got a paraphilia called
Partialism
Sexual interest with an exclusive focus on a specific part of the body other than the genitals.
This is actually more common than you think. One that is particulary liked and you probably know if you’re into BDSM is, of course, Feet.
Podophilia
“podo”= feet ; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
Pronounced sexual interest in feet.
The causes that can lead to developing such an interest are actually still very unclear. Some state a natural sensitivity, others significant events… there seem to be many, and most of the studies are very focused on individuals or speculative.
The interest itself varies in intensity for everyone as well. For some it is merely fun play to experiment, for others it’s fairly developed and a focus in it. Others again have such specific interest that they want it in a certain way, else they can’t get off. That often combines in such a focus that it trumps that of the interest in penises and common sex.
Foot fetishism does, funny enough, also extend beyond the feet themselves. They also include their wear, so socks, sneakers and boots etc.
As for what practices exist, the most common one, according to a study made 1994, is sniffing. Almost half the study group stated the smell of feet (or also socks) as one of the sources of arousal. If you belong to that group btw you not only got a partialism fetish, but also are into Olfactophilia, a sexual interest into specific smells 😉
Of course, there also exist other practices, such as footjobs, or tickling, massaging, inserting the toes (or for people very experienced in fisting, also the whole foot) into the pleasure holes…
Another fairly common practice, often used in BDSM, is foot worship, which includes among other things kissing, licking the various parts and sucking the toes for example.
There are also people who are very sexually focused on worshipping, and derive pleasure from caring from them intensely, including manicuring and other things.
The sensation of such play can be very intense. As the feet are an area with a lot of nerve endings, despite its thick skin, they can be very sensitive if focused on. For many, it is even first needed that they get themselves used to any part of worshipping/teasing/caring, as they experience it as ticklish due to being overwhelmed with it.
As for the giving party, in oral activity for example, it is more of a experience similar to a blowjob, focussing on the nerves inside the mouth and tongue. Whether they can orgasm from such, is fairly dependant on how much they connect it to their horniness, and also dependant on their sexuality, and their nerve connections, their mind in general and of course their foot fetishism intensity/focus.
The sensitivity also can be used as a punishing practice in BDSM, to be specific, Bastinado. In this the sub is tied down with the bare feet exposed, which then are caned by the dom.
The chinese seem to have the longest history of foot fetishism in their culture. The practices for back then… well actually not that far back as for when they ended, because this binding practice kept on from the 10th century all the way until 1930. Anyways, some fetishized them so much, they wanted their lovers (or rather women/boy toys, as it was mostly rich influental men who practiced it or wanted such a one) feet to look a certain shape deemed as appealing.
Back then it was particulary small feet they liked. So they bound the women’s and menlover’s feet from young on to hinder the growing of the feet, and keep them from excessive moving, keeping the soles soft. They took especial care of their feet, perfuming them, bathing them in various herbal baths, covering them in soft materials such as silk etc. Sometimes in their relations their feet were never ever revealed, because they were deemed too intimate to show.
For playing the ones into such things did all kinds of things with feet, from the classic ones mentioned above to also more articulate things that usually hands are used for, such as having the lover feeding the top with treats picked up with the feet, or massaging their body with them etc.
Speaking of hands, of course those can also very much be a partialism. It is often not seen as one though, unless you really have a very specific and focused interest in them, as most of the tasks we humans do use them. It is called
Cheirophilia
“cheiro”= hand; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
the sexual fetish for hands
The interests for cheirophilics can be for the whole hand area, or also be focused on specific parts of it, from the fingers, to the nails (or the decoration thereof, most found in heterosexual culture), or also the palms.
It also can be tied to a specific task done by the hands that isn’t usually seen or connected to as sexual. Dishwashing was put in as an example in wikipedia, though they didn’t state a case for this sadly.
The practices are as you could expect fairly normal, even for non-fetishists. They include handjobs, fingering, and also maybe more unusual to some, licking the fingers and palms.
For some into more painful play, and again more often found in the heterosexual world, they also include the use of the nails, such as in scratching, cutting or putting on pressure on bodyparts in them, like the back or butt.
The butt. Or ass. One of the most glorified parts of the body for gays. It is truly something that many of us could identify as being partialistic to. If you do belong in that group, you can say you got
Pygophilia
“pygo”= posterior/rump/buttocks ; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
There is likely nothing that is inherently more sexual in the mean of erotic appeal to us than butts. Alfred Kinsey suggested that the buttocks are the primary sexual presentation site in primates. The buttocks of women are genetically developed to be more voluptious and appear appealing to the males, whereas they again are shaped to be appealing to their sexual interests.
It is therefore understandable that they are fetishized and often a predominant sexual interest, and worshipped by many. The sexual practices are as many as there exist in sex and bdsm. It’d be a long list and dwelve into many other topics, and I don’t want to write this all out here.
The history of it is as long as gays and interests in male gender exists. The greeks and romans made statues with glorious and glorified male butts. There were mentions of them in detail in poems, and more. It is sufficient to say there’s lots of material, if you just look for it.
Armpits are also deemed to be an arousing part of the body for a fair amount of fetishists. This is called
Maschalagnia
“mascháli”= armpit ; “lagnia” = sexual intercourse; lasciviousness (greek/latin)
sexually attracted to armpits (also called Axillism )
This one is heavily connected to Olfactophilia. The majority exclaim that the arousal of the armpits come from the odor they exude. Naturally, this is to a big part connected to pheromones. But there is so much material to talk about in this area that they will likely fill more than one large article itself, so I will go into that deeper another time. For now, let’s say that they play a large part and can have various effects, depending on the body chemistry of the partners, from stimulating and energizing to calming and relaxing.
Of course, naturally the most used practice is sniffing. But the armpits are also another very sensitive area due to being protected and covered a lot of the time. This makes them a good body part for being used in practices like tickling, licking, and therelike. Frotting also can be done.
There is quite a debate for armpit fetishists between the like of hair and the lack thereof. One party likes their partners to keep it, due to it capturing more of the smell, the other party likes them to shave, as they prefer the clean look and smoothness when worshipping, and sometimes also prefer a less intense smell. Funny enough though there seems to be a consensus between most that the 3 days grow, as with beards, seems to be the worst, due to the scratchiness. The love of such hair has an own name and is called
Hircusophilism
“hircus” = the odor of the armpits ; “–philism” = combining form to form abstract
nouns ending in -phile
Moving on to the next bodypart, we go further up to the … nose. Yes, that also is a partialism. It is called
Nasophilia
“naso”= nose ; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
In the case of this partialism it is very much tied to the like of a specific shape, size or form the individual nasophile is interested in.
Other forms of this fetish also include the fantasies of transformation of this bodypart, like elonguating it (keyword: Pinocchio),
or transforming it into an animal shape like a pig,dog or cat snout, or completely removing it in place of a smooth surface, either as a humiliation, furry, or morphing interest.
The practices here include everything from light touching, to penetrating them with fingers or objects or also body modifications such as tattoos, piercing or cutting.
Moving even further up, we got the eyes.
Oculophilia
“oculus”= eye ; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
There is not really much documentation on this topic. It seems as the eyes are very much our main perceiving organ with which we define our world, and are also seen as window to the soul, the interactions between two partners thereof and the focus on them are not really seen as fetishistic.
Additionally I also assume that since it is also always the source of peripheral focus of the partner, and it is very difficult to long take it in focus (especially without landing in the one of the other target) and it is therefore rarely done so, it is very rare that one becomes focused enough on this bodypart in his mind for it to develop into a fetish.
The most I could find about practiced Oculophilia was a rumour about it being popular Japan with a practice called Oculolinctus, though that seems to be agreed upon by most to be a hoax.
Oculolinctus is the practice of licking one’s eyeballs. It is highly discouraged as it tongues are a heavy source of microorganisms, and licking the eyes will very likely end in their inflammation or scratches to the surface of the eyes, styes, std’s or also blindness.
Last but not least, we got the hair.
Trichophilia
“tricho”= combining form of hair ; “philia” = love (greek/latin)
Experiencing hair – most commonly, head hair – as particularly erotic and sexually arousing.
I honestly don’t know where to begin here. In western heterosexual culture, hair is seen as something intensely sexy depending on the colour/shape/length and the individuals likes. However, while there is some focus on it for most, it mostly is part of the all around look of the person as an individual in total. Despite that though, there is definitely a significance in erotic appeal.
For men, especially in gay circles, it is also noteworthy that bodyhair falls into the same category, and has the same significance as head hair, depending on the person even higher one.
A fetishist may enjoy seeing or touching hair, pulling on or cutting the hair of another person, and generally interacting with it. For some it can also be a hot thing to wrap one’s dick in someone’s hair and jack of with it. And hair has a big significance, so has the lack thereof and the deed of doing so. For some hair fetishists, the act of shaving can be an intimate thing as well.
As some dread the loss of hair, shaving one’s head can also be an act of humiliation in BDSM.
The sensations of hair intimacy are reported similar to that of being at the hairdresser, likely with added intimacy and sexual stimulation. There is also the feel of hair on skin for the one wanting such contact, which is, well, like feeling hair on skin. Some like that feel so much they like to wrap themselves in fur for adding sexual stimulation for themselves. It also gives a sense of security, as it is likely primaly connected in one’s head to being close to partners of the own pack apparently.
And that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed learning about the human body in this way 😉
