The 20 most frequent paraphilias (and their characteristics)

The world of sex continues to exist, despite the fact that we are in the XXI century and in the context of a society that advocates the sexual freedom of its individuals, surrounded by a lot of stigma and many taboos. We still have a hard time talking openly about sex and even we feel ashamed when we talk about our tastes and preferences in bed.

But if there is a concept that, within this stigma, generates even more controversy, it is that of “paraphilia”. Paraphilic disorders are thought patterns that involve frequent and intense desires and sexual fantasies of arousal type towards situations, activities, objects or people that are out of the ordinary or considered "normal".

And although it is totally true that some of them are considered pathological behaviors that, in some cases, can cause people to commit crimes, the truth is that many of them are not harmful to the person or to their sexual partners and they are, after all, part of human sexual nature.

Thus, in today's article and with the aim of both knowing the pathological paraphilias that require psychological intervention and seeing that not all of them are something that should be eradicated, we are going to explore the characteristics of the most common paraphilic disorders in the world. Let us begin.

What are the most common paraphilic disorders?

Paraphilias are thought patterns that consist of the intense and frequent presence of sexual behaviors or fantasies of arousal type towards atypical activities, people or objects. Even so, it is a complex term to define, as there is still debate as to whether these paraphilias have to be found in diagnostic manuals for psychological disorders.

And it is still not clear where the line is between a simple unusual sexual interest and a paraphilic disorder as such. Until 1987, the year in which the American Psychiatric Association modified the words, they spoke of "perversion." But since then, the concept to refer to this pattern of thought and / or behavior is that of paraphilia.

Be that as it may, we can understand paraphilias as patterns of sexual behavior where the main source of pleasure is not found in the sexual relationship itself, but in activities, people, situations or objects that go beyond what we consider normal. Generally, to speak of paraphilia, these thoughts must become obsessive. And although more than 500 different ones are known, there are some especially frequent paraphilias. Let's see some of them.

1. Sadomasochism

Sadomasochism is a type of paraphilia in which the person feels sexual arousal causing (or receiving) physical or psychological suffering in your sexual partner. As long as it is a consensual practice and the limits are clear, there is nothing wrong with it, but it consists of tying, exercising domination, whipping parts of the body, etc.

2. Smear

Smear is a type of pathological paraphilia in which the person feels sexual arousal when rubbing or brushing the genitals with the body of an unknown person that, evidently, he has not consented to said action. It is a form of sexual harassment that normally occurs in places where there are crowds of people, especially in public transport.

3. Fetishism

Fetishism is all that form of paraphilia in which sexual arousal comes from the use of some inanimate object that plays an essential role so that the person can feel pleasure, either by watching it, masturbating or using it with the partner.

4. Exhibitionism

Exhibitionism is a type of pathological paraphilia and crime that consists of the sexual pleasure that a person with this pathological condition experiences when expose and show genitalia to an unfamiliar person unexpectedly and in public.

5. Pedophilia

Pedophilia is a type of pathological paraphilia in which the person experiences pleasure by fantasizing about sexual situations involving boys or girls. In the event that the person carries out these actions and sexually abuses a minor, it is no longer considered a "simple" paraphilia and begins to speak of pedophilia.

6. Crossdresser fetishism

Cross-dressing fetishism is a type of paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual pleasure by dressing in clothing of the opposite gender. To be considered as such and not as simply transvestism, the objective of dressing in this way is not to feel identified with another gender, but the mere achievement of sexual arousal.

7. Voyeurism

Voyeurism is a type of pathological paraphilia in which the person derives sexual pleasure from observing someone naked without the person knowing that they are being watched, so it is a crime against privacy. In other sources, they refer to voyeurism as the act of observing, consensually or not, one or more people in erotic situations, such as seeing how a couple has sex.

8. Gerontophilia

Gerontofilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual pleasure when fantasizing or having sexual relations with elderly people, usually in the elderly.

9. Asphyxiophilia

Asphyxiophilia is a type of paraphilia in which sexual pleasure is obtained by intentionally interrupting breathing during sexual practice alone or accompanied with their own hands or with objects. It is a very common paraphilia, but there are people who take it to the extreme, even having a risk of death by suffocation.

10. Knismolagnia

Knismolagnia is a type of paraphilia in which sexual pleasure is obtained by tickling or receiving. To be considered paraphilia and not simply foreplay, these tickles must be the primary vehicle for the person giving or receiving them to reach orgasm.

11. Zoophilia

Zoophilia is a type of pathological paraphilia in which sexual pleasure is obtained from fantasies and even the materialization of sexual relations with animals. In most countries, this is a crime.

12. Urophilia

Urophilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person derives sexual pleasure when urine comes into play during a relationship, either by viewing a person urinating and even being urinated by another person or by drinking this urine. It should be noted that the act of introducing objects through the urethra also falls within this urophilia.

13. Coprophilia

Coprophilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person derives sexual pleasure when feces come into play during a relationship. It is sexual arousal by handling, touching, smelling, and even eating someone else's feces.

14. Necrophilia

Necrophilia is a type of pathological paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual attraction to human or animal corpses, and can even materialize having "sex" with these lifeless bodies. In such a case, we are already talking about a severely punished crime.

15. Podophilia

Podophilia is a type of paraphilia in which a person experiences sexual arousal by someone else's feet. It is a form of partialism (a paraphilia focused on a part of the human body with the exception of the genitals) in which the pleasure is mainly found when seeing, kissing, touching, caressing, sucking, licking or smelling someone's feet.

16. Agalmatophilia

Agalmatophilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual pleasure towards inflatable sex dolls. Similarly, this paraphilia is spoken of when a person feels the desire to have "sexual contact" with mannequins or statues.

17. Abasiophilia

Abasiophilia is a type of paraphilia where the person feels arousal from having sex with disabled people. Generally, it is spoken of when the person is attracted to someone with a physical handicap or who has an amputated limb.

18. Vampirism

By vampirism we understand that paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual arousal when drawing or having blood drawn. They find pleasure when, in sexual intercourse, blood is spilled on them or they spill blood on the partner.

19. Lactafilia

Lactaphilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual arousal when visualizing women breastfeeding, both for the act itself and for the image of lactating breasts. The person feels sexual attraction for everything related to the woman in her lactation stage and can even express herself with the fantasy (or materialization) of being breastfed.

20. Misophilia

Misophilia is a type of paraphilia in which the person experiences sexual arousal by handling, smelling, touching, or sucking on used underwear. In the deep web, there is a whole market for these dirty clothes or fabrics. Dirty thongs, knickers or briefs are sold and bought for large sums of money. There are even those who find sexual pleasure when a woman's underwear is stained with menstrual blood, in which case this misophilia is mixed with hemophilia understood as paraphilia.