Paraphilic Sexual Interests Research Articles

Elaborating and Testing Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory in Three Paraphilic Samples.

Some men sexually attracted to types of persons (e.g., women) or things (e.g., animals) also have internalized sexual attractions: sexual arousal by the idea of being the type of person or thing to whom they are attracted. Consequently, some of these men develop erotic target identity inversions, in which they imitate, yearn to be, or identify as an instance of their erotic target. Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory predicts that for every external erotic target to which men are attracted, a subset of men will develop an internalized sexual attraction, which may cause an erotic target identity inversion. We examined these predictions in Internet surveys of three samples of men with paraphilic sexual interests: 322 men attracted to amputees, 1501 men attracted to animals, and 402 men attracted to severely obese persons. All samples included substantial minorities of men reporting internalized sexual attractions and erotic target identity inversions specific to their external sexual attractions (e.g., men attracted to amputees who are also aroused by the fantasy of being amputees and wish to become amputees). The correlation between degree of each internalized sexual attraction and degree of its corresponding erotic target identity inversion was approximately 1.0 after correction for attenuation. In each sample, participants' specific internalized sexual attraction was positively correlated with autogynephilia, likely the most common internalized sexual attraction in men. Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory can potentially explain a variety of otherwise puzzling phenomena, including transgender identity among female-attracted natal males and men seeking amputations of healthy limbs.

Attachment Styles and Paraphilic Sexual Interests in Users of Online Dating Sites in COVID-19 Pandemic

Attachment Styles and Paraphilic Sexual Interests in Users of Online Dating Sites in COVID-19 Pandemic

Stigmatization of Paraphilias and Psychological Conditions Linked to Sexual Offending

ABSTRACT Except for pedophilia, little is known about public attitudes toward paraphilias and psychological conditions that are considered risk factors for sexual offending. In the present study we sought to compare the stigma attached to pedophilia with attitudes toward sexual sadism and antisocial tendencies (Study 1, N = 720) and with attitudes toward necrophilia and zoophilia (Study 2, N = 210) in convenience samples of community individuals. When investigating social distance intentions both studies explicitly referred to people with paraphilic sexual interests or antisocial tendencies who had not committed any crimes. In both studies, people with pedophilia emerged as highly stigmatized even though most participants showed awareness that pedophilic interests cannot be chosen or changed at will. The present studies solidify the evidence that pedophilia occupies a place in the public consciousness as less deserving of acceptance than most other sexual offending risk-relevant conditions, including ones that compare in terms of rarity.

The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests in the Czech Population: Preference, Arousal, the Use of Pornography, Fantasy, and Behavior

ABSTRACT The number of population-based studies focused on the prevalence of paraphilic sexual interests in men is very low and for women, the subject remains largely unexplored. The two main aims of this study are to investigate the prevalence of paraphilias and to explore sex differences in an online representative sample of Czech men and women using various dimensions of sexual experience. We collected data about sexual motivations and behavior from a representative online sample of 10,044 Czechs (5,023 men and 5,021 women). In a standardized online interview, participants answered questions about selected dimensions of sexual experience within specific paraphilic patterns: sexual preferences, sexual arousal, sexual fantasies in the past 6 months, pornography use in the past 6 months, and experience with paraphilic behaviors. Our results show that 31.3% of men (n = 1,571) and 13.6% of women (n = 683) admitted to at least one paraphilic preference. Moreover, 15.5% of men and 5% of women reported more than one paraphilic preference. Except for beating/torture and humiliation/submission, in terms of real experience with such behaviors almost all paraphilias were more common among men than among women. Our results indicate that the high prevalence of some paraphilic patterns might render their pathologization problematic.

Paraphilic Sexual Interests and Sexual Offending: Implications for Risk Assessment and Treatment

Paraphilic Sexual Interests and Sexual Offending: Implications for Risk Assessment and Treatment

Autism-spectrum disorders in adolescence and adulthood: focus on sexuality.

The combination of the core symptoms, characterizing individuals with autism-spectrum disorder (ASD), can lead to problems in romantic relationships and sexual functioning. The purpose of this article is to review studies on sexuality in individuals with ASD published since January 2016. Individuals with ASD and especially women show a higher diversity in sexual orientation in comparison with the non-ASD population. Furthermore, ASD women are more frequently in a relationship and usually report more previous sexual experiences. Up to now, sexual education programs specifically addressing the needs of the ASD population were scarce, which was criticized by patients, their parents, and caregivers. With the development of the Tackling Teenage Training program, a psychoeducational intervention designed specifically for ASD individuals was introduced, leading to significant improvements in psychosexual functioning and knowledge. Such programs are needed because a considerable rate of problematic sexual behaviors, including public masturbation and paraphilic sexual interests were found in the ASD population. Just like their typically developing counterparts, individuals with ASD show the whole range of normal-to-problematic sexual behaviors. Improving sexual knowledge could lead to less inappropriate sexual behaviors and could improve sexual health as part of a healthy and satisfying life.

The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General Population: A Provincial Survey

Paraphilic sexual interests are defined as unusual or anomalous, but their actual occurrence in nonclinical samples is still unknown. This study looked at desire for and experience of paraphilic behaviors in a sample of adult men and women in the general population. A secondary goal was to compare the results of two survey modes—traditional landline telephone versus online. A total of 1,040 persons classified according to age, gender, education, ethnic background, religious beliefs, area of residency, and corresponding to the norm for the province of Quebec were interviewed. Nearly half of this sample expressed interest in at least one paraphilic category, and approximately one-third had had experience with such a practice at least once. Voyeurism, fetishism, frotteurism, and masochism interested both male and female respondents at levels above what is usually considered to be statistically unusual (15.9%). Interestingly, levels of interest in fetishism and masochism were not significantly different for men and women. Masochism was significantly linked with higher satisfaction with one’s own sexual life. As expected, the online mode generated more acknowledgment of paraphilic interest than the telephone mode. These results call into question the current definition of normal (normophilic) versus anomalous (paraphilic) sexual behaviors.

Paraphilic Sexual Interests and Sexually Coercive Behavior: A Population-Based Twin Study.

Prior research with selected clinical and forensic samples suggests associations between paraphilic sexual interests (e.g., exhibitionism and sexual sadism) and sexually coercive behavior. However, no study to date used a large, representative and genetically informative population sample to address the potential causal nature of this association. We used self-report data on paraphilic and sexually coercive behavior from 5990 18- to 32-year-old male and female twins from a contemporary Finnish population cohort. Logistic regression and co-twin control models were employed to examine if paraphilic behaviors were causally related to coercive behavior or if suggested links were confounded by familial (genetic or common family environment) risk factors. Results indicated that associations between four out of five tested paraphilic behaviors (exhibitionism, masochism, sadism, and voyeurism, respectively) and sexually coercive behavior were moderate to strong. Transvestic fetishism was not independently associated with sexual coercion. Comparisons of twins reporting paraphilic behavior with their paraphilic behavior-discordant twin further suggested that associations were largely independent of shared genetic and environmental confounds, consistent with a causal association. In conclusion, similar to previously reported predictive effects of paraphilias on sexual crime recidivism, paraphilic behavior among young adults in the general population increases sexual offending risk. Further, early identification of paraphilic interest and preventive interventions with at-risk individuals might also reduce perpetration of first-time sexual violence.

Assessment of female sexual arousal in forensic populations.

Sexual offenses cause significant harm to victims, their families, and society as a whole and thus are an important social concern. While it is commonly assumed that sexual offenses are committed solely by males, research has shown that approximately 5% of sex crimes in the USA and Canada are committed by females. Penile plethysmography (PPG) is a method to measure male genital arousal, which is commonly used in the assessment and treatment of male sex offenders and men with paraphilic sexual interests. Similarly, vaginal photoplethysmography (VPP) is a test to measure female genital arousal and is commonly used to assess female sexual dysfunctions. Although VPP is currently the most validated method to measure genital arousal in women, its use with female sex offenders or females with paraphilic sexual interests has been almost nonexistent. One explanation for this is that some research has suggested that female genital arousal may not be category-specific, meaning that women will respond to any sexual cues, not just those involving their preferred sexual interests. However, not all research supports this finding. Due to the potential benefits of using VPP in the assessment and treatment of female sex offenders or females with paraphilic sexual interests, it is important that further research be done before dismissing the use of VPP in forensic populations. The purpose of this article is to review the current research on VPP and its applicability to female sex offenders and females with paraphilic sexual interests.

Paraphilic Interests

Little research has been conducted to examine paraphilic sexual interests in nonclinical samples. The little that exists suggests that atypical sexual interests are more common in men than in women, but the reasons for this difference are unknown. In this study, we explored the prevalence of paraphilic interests in a nonclinical sample of men and women. We expected that men would report greater arousal (or less repulsion) toward various paraphilic acts than women. We also examined putative correlates of paraphilias in an attempt to explain the sex difference. In all, 305 men and 710 women completed an online survey assessing sexual experiences, sexual interests, as well as indicators of neurodevelopmental stress, sex drive, mating effort, impulsivity, masculinity/femininity, and socially desirable responding. As expected, significant sex differences were found, with men reporting significantly less repulsion (or more arousal) to the majority of paraphilic acts than women. Using mediation analysis, sex drive was the only correlate to significantly and fully mediate the sex difference in paraphilic interests. In other words, sex drive fully accounted for the sex difference in paraphilic interests. The implications of these findings for understanding the etiology of atypical sexual interests are discussed.

Is Homosexuality a Paraphilia? The Evidence For and Against

Whether homosexuality should be described as one among many paraphilic sexual interests or an altogether different dimension of sexual interest has long been discussed in terms of its political and social implications. The present article examined the question instead by comparing the major correlates and other features of homosexuality and of the paraphilias, including prevalence, sex ratio, onset and course, fraternal birth order, physical height, handedness, IQ and cognitive neuropsychological profile, and neuroanatomy. Although those literatures remain underdeveloped, the existing findings thus far suggest that homosexuality has a pattern of correlates largely, but not entirely, distinct from that identified among the paraphilias. At least, if homosexuality were deemed a paraphilia, it would be relatively unique among them, taxonometrically speaking.

Anatomic Autoandrophilia in an Adult Male

Some men are sexually aroused by impersonating the individuals to whom they are sexually attracted, or by permanently changing their bodies to become facsimiles of such individuals. Blanchard (J Sex Marital Ther 17:235-251, 1991) suggested that these paraphilic sexual interests, along with fetishism, represented erotic target location errors, i.e., developmental errors in locating erotic targets in the environment. Because the desire to impersonate or become a facsimile of the kind of person to whom one is attracted can have significant implications for identity, Freund and Blanchard (Br J Psychiatry 162:558-563, 1993) coined the term erotic target identity inversion to describe this type of erotic target location error. The best-known examples of erotic target identity inversions occur in men who are sexually attracted to women and who are also sexually aroused by the idea of impersonating or becoming women; these paraphilic interests manifest as transvestic fetishism and as one type of male-to-female transsexualism. Analogous erotic target identity inversions have been described in men who are sexually attracted to children and to female amputees. In theory, erotic target identity inversions should also occur in men who are sexually attracted to men. There have been no unambiguous descriptions, however, of men who are sexually attracted to men and also sexually aroused by the idea of changing their bodies to become more sexually attractive men. This report describes such a man, whose paraphilic interest would appropriately be called anatomic autoandrophilia. The demonstration that anatomic autoandrophilia exists in men is consistent with the theory that erotic target location errors constitute an independent paraphilic dimension.

Neurodevelopmental Correlates of Paraphilic Sexual Interests in Men

The etiology of anomalous, or paraphilic, sexual preferences in men is unclear although a growing literature points to their prenatal neurodevelopmental ontogenesis. The present study explored whether this was also apparent in a community sample of 200 heterosexual men by examining their sexual fantasies using the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire (WSFQ) and several demographic and somatic neurodevelopmental markers, including sibling sex composition, handedness, maternal and paternal age at birth, second to fourth finger length ratios, and fluctuating asymmetry of finger lengths and wrist widths. Responses to the WSFQ were used to quantify the extent of paraphilic interest by computing a variance-quotient (or VQ) previously shown to differentiate paraphilic from conventional heterosexual males. High paraphilic scorers had a significantly greater number of older brothers, higher right-hand 2D:4D, and a trend for lower Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) scores compared to low-paraphilic scorers. Correlational analysis revealed a significant positive association of VQ scores with number of older brothers and significant negative associations with number of younger brothers and EHI scores (elevated paraphilic interests were correlated with elevated non-right handedness). Correlations between VQ scores and other variables were not significant. It is suggested that processes such as developmental instability and maternal immunity may play a role in variant sexual preferences among otherwise healthy heterosexual men.

High Rates of Sexual Behavior in the General Population: Correlates and Predictors

We studied 2450, 18-60-year-old men and women from a 1996 national survey of sexuality and health in Sweden to identify risk factors and correlates of elevated rates of sexual behavior (hypersexuality) in a representative, non-clinical population. Interviews and questionnaires measured various sexual behaviors, developmental risk factors, behavioral problems, and health indicators. The results suggested that correlates of high rates of intercourse were mostly positive, whereas the correlates of high rates of masturbation and impersonal sex were typically undesirable. For both men and women, high rates of impersonal sex were related to separation from parents during childhood, relationship instability, sexually transmitted disease, tobacco smoking, substance abuse, and dissatisfaction with life in general. The association between hypersexuality and paraphilic sexual interests (exhibitionism, voyeurism, masochism/sadism) was particularly and equally strong for both genders (odds ratios of 4.6-25.6). The results held, with a few exceptions, when controlling for age, being in a stable relationship, living in a major city, and same-sex sexual orientation. We conclude that elevated rates of impersonal sex are associated with a range of negative health indicators in the general population.