PHL243H1 Chapter Notes -Paraphilia, Zoophilia, Foot Fetishism
Document Summary
For there to be sexual perversions, we must assume that there are sexual desires or practice that are unnatural. Certain practices like fetishism and bestiality will be perversion if anything is, while others such as missionary sex will not be, and others will be contentious. The connection between sex and reproduction has no bearing on sexual perversion, because reproduction is psychological while sex is physiological. Sexual perversion also cannot be defined as what is acceptable in a specific society, since adultery isn"t unnatural and thusly isn"t perverted but is still frowned upon for other reasons. But even if we accept sex as an appetite, like hunger or thirst, that doesn"t necessarily mean it"s neutral and doesn"t lend itself to perversions. For example, if someone preferred eating pictures of food instead of real food, we might call this a food related fetish and thus a perversion. The object is irrelevant; only the psychological state is important for classification purposes.
