Fetish guide: What Fetishes Are There?
So what fetishes are there?
Well there are lots, to help make this more comprehensive I’ve categorised the fetishes I’ve chosen to write about, into three main groupings, this also aids the explanation of their origins. Read on to stimulate your mind and perhaps you’ll find something you might like to try!
Animal Transformation
Human-into-animal transformation is the stuff of shamanic ritual and children’s fairytales. It’s also one of the core metaphors of two of the most popular niche fetishes around today, PONYPLAY and FURVERTS. In both of these fetishes, people dress up in animal costume and behave like animals. Animal transformation is also one of several overlapping themes of the hybrid fetishes CRUSH FREAKS and VORE, which combine the animal theme with a foot fetish and an oral fetish respectively.
Animal transformation fantasies enable their ‘fans’ to temporarily escape from the often repressive rules of human social behaviour. Animals are free from the human burdens of shame and sin. Pretending to be an animal makes it possible to exist for the pleasure of the moment in a guilt-free, playful way.
Ponyplay
The ponyplay crowd generally gravitates to the BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Sadism and Masochism) scene, because play involves one person taking the dominant human role of “master” “owner” or “trainer” and the other person playing the submissive role of “pet”. Ponyplay equipment has a natural parallel to equipment associated with BDSM: corsets translate into saddles, blindfolds into blinders, high heels into hoofboots, handcuffs into mitts, and buttplugs into ponytails. Many ponyplayers have a leather fetish, and get a special thrill from the odours and textures of their costumes.
Ponyplay may be growing in popularity because the conventional BDSM slave/master metaphor is both too politically incorrect and too historically distant to have any real connection to our lives. While few of us know real slavery (or find the concept sexy,) most people have had some sort of charged childhood contact with “real” equestrian culture and equipment. Women who had a childhood obsession with ponies may grow up to become ponygirls or pony mistresses.
Furverts
The furvert crowd emerged in the 1980s from the worlds of “furry” fandom, a non-sexual fan subculture devoted to cartoon animals from comic books and animated TV shows. The difference between a “furry” fan and a “furvert” is that furverts sexualize their cartoon characters. While outsiders find the combination of cute childhood imagery and sexuality to be disturbing, furverts have no interest in sex with children. This is about “growing up” childhood dreams and fantasies. Furverts might imagine themselves as a cute rabbit inspired by Bugs Bunny or a unicorn from Disney’s Fantasia.
Interestingly, a very high percentage of the furvert scene is comprised of gay men. This is partially because one of the original convention organizers was a gay man who promoted it to the general gay community. There may be other reasons as well: There has long been an affinity between some gay men and Disney animated movies and characters. Creative costuming and performing are more acceptable among men in the gay community than in the straight community.
Vore
Vore fantasies usually involve the erotic scenario of being eaten alive. Although there are a few vore fans who take the role of predator, the most common role is that of prey. It’s a kind of rape fantasy that substitutes oral engulfment for sexual intercourse. Vore fans may act out their fantasies through role-playing, but most often they find satisfaction from sharing their own stories and illustrations with each other.
