Fetish guide: Physiological
Physiological
Psychologists maintain that a fascination with feet and shoes, mentioned earlier, is the most common form of sexual fetishism in western society, so perhaps there is a more common held theory to satisfy the cause of this fetish. Dr V S Ramachandran has uncovered a possible theory for feet being symbolic of women’s sex appeal. In his astonishing book, ‘Phantom in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind,’ he explored the way different parts of the body surface are mapped onto the surface of the human brain. The map, called the Penfield Homunculus, was drawn from information which came from human brains. Penfield discovered that sensations from different parts of the body were mapped in an interesting way on the surface of the brain. The area of the brain surface corresponding to the lips, for example, occupies as much space as that involved with the entire trunk of the body. However, the map is not entirely continuous, the face is not near the neck, but is below the hand. The genitals, instead of being between the thighs, are located below the foot.
Dr. Ramachandran’s research indicates that the electro-chemical signals that the mind interprets as sensations can spill over from one brain surface region to the other. The receptor areas of the feet and genitals are immediately adjacent to each other. It is possible that many of the population have ‘a bit of cross-wiring’, which would explain why some people perceive fondling and caressing of the feet as sexually pleasureable, and why women involuntarily curl their toes in response to sexual pleasure!
This seems to be quite a convincing and likeable theory but only another of many possibilities!
Can fetishists have fulfilling sexual and/or emotional relationships?
Of course they can! However there are those deviants who believe that they are the only person in the world with this particular kink and therefore unlovable and somehow fundamentally incapable of having a “normal” relationship but this is simply not true, as you are finding out! Perfect sexual matches – where a pony girl meets her perfect pony master, or two balloon fetishists get together – may be rare, but they do exist as do couples made up of two people with different kinks. Even more common is a couple made up of one deviant and one vanilla person. You don’t have to match perfectly in the sexual arena to have a wonderfully satisfying and meaningful relationship. The key to a successful relationship – whether deviant or vanilla – is the same: trust, acceptance, joy in each other’s happiness/pleasure, and mutual interests outside of the sexual arena.
Why are there so many more male than female deviants?
While sexologists estimate that only one in one hundred fetishists is female, some fetish-oriented websites find that in fact the average is more like one in thirty, and the gap is closing rapidly. The explanations for this discrepancy are complex but here is one that you’ll find interesting!….
The primary reason why sexologists’ estimates are inaccurate is a cultural one: fetishistic women are far less likely to visit a sex clinic – and be counted in these statistics – than men are. Men with fetishes may be more inclined to seek medical advice because they feel more pressure to perform sexually than women do. Women are still discouraged from expressing their sexuality at all, let alone a deviant sexuality. And women are capable of having intercourse even if they’re not aroused – unfortunately, many women still accept this situation and simply tune out rather than make a fuss about their own dissatisfaction. They may still feel that their response doesn’t matter as much as the man’s does. But ladies it does matter!!! Your needs are just as important!
Women may be more likely than men to shut their sexuality down altogether if they find their own erotic urges strange or frightening. The shockingly high number of women who have little or no sexual response might in fact be sexual non-conformists who have repressed their erotic impulses rather than risk the dangers of exploring them more fully. Women are made to believe that if they step outside of the conventional modes of female sexuality, they will probably be rejected as whores. There is still that feeling it’s ok for men not for women, just like the opinion regarding the number of partners each sex have.
Over the last twenty years, however, women have been demanding more options for sexual expression. More and more women are consuming pornography, pursuing their erotic dreams, exploring the sexual fringes, and feeling safer doing so. The anonymity of the internet allows women to feel safer in expressing non-conformist sexualities, and allows fetishistic women to come out of the closet without risking rejection. We suspect that cultural changes in the next few years will bring the ratio of “out” female to “out” male fetishists even closer.
