ParaphiliaD.M.O.CHRISTLEY

PSYCHOLOGY/R.CHANDLER

PREFACE WHAT IS PARAPHILIA? THE DSM AND PARAPHILIA. WHY DO WE USE THE DSM-IV THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PEREFERENCE AND PARAPHILIA.

CLINICAL PARAPHILIA. OTHER PARAPHILIAS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Notions of sexual perversions have a long history in philosophy, dating back at least to those two pillars of Western thought: Plato and Aristotle. This position advanced by Aristotle, who understood all phenomena within a framework of a teleological universe, has been particularly influential.  The telos of sex has traditionally been taken to be reproduction, and hence all uses of the sexual organs outside this purpose were thought to be unnatural and condemned as perverse. When the Catholic Church adopted the basic conceptual framework of Aristotelianism, via St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, it also adopted this view of sex and turned perversions into sins. This view is, of course, still with us today. But in the past century or so, there have been attempts to alter fundamentally our conception of sexual desire and of sexual perversion. 

I shall explore several current philosophical and psychological conceptions of perverse sex, broadly construed to include sexual disorders as well as paraphilias. As we shall see, these conceptions of perversity overlap in significant ways. Both disciplines have presented a normative and ‘perfectionist’ view of sex that defines normophilic sex as reciprocal, affectionate and interpersonal, and have derivatively defined sexual perversions, paraphilias, and dysfunctions as failures to attain this end. In this, while it’s true that contemporary versions of these concepts has avoided talk of sin, they continue to retain a teleological framework in which ‘normal’ sex has to attain its ‘proper end’ – in this case, reciprocal, affectionate, and interpersonal sex. Though there is nothing wrong with such sexual relationships, I suggest that this conception of sexual normality and perversion is deeply problematic when failures to match the ideal are viewed as forms of mental illness standing in need of medical correction.

In 1969, the American philosopher, Thomas Nagel, published “Sexual Perversion,” which was part of a trend that attempted to understand perversion. Borrowing heavily from Sartre, Nagel maintained that paradigmatic cases of sexual desire begin as self conscious desires for another that can only be completed in mutual desire. That is to say, sexual desire must not only involve awareness that another feels sexual desire towards you, but also that that awareness increases your sexual desire, and vice-versa: it is, then, a “multi-level interpersonal awareness” of escalating desire. (Nagel, 1969)  By this account, sexual perversion is any incomplete version of this complex of mutual desire thus making all narcissistic practices sexual perversions which could include many of the sexual paraphilias listed in the DSM.

THOMAS NAGEL

“It is not clear that unperverted sex is necessarily preferable to the perversions. It may be that sex which receives the highest marks for perfection as the sex is less enjoyable than certain perversions; and if enjoyment is considered very important, that might outweigh considerations of sexual perfection in determining rational preference” (Nagel, 1969). 

What is Paraphilia

“Para” meaning abnormal and “philia” meaning attraction, literally abnormal attraction

A paraphilia is a condition in which a person's sexual arousal and gratification depend on fantasizing about and engaging in sexual behavior that is atypical and extreme. A paraphilia can revolve around a particular object (children, animals, underwear) or around a particular act (inflicting pain, exposing oneself). Most paraphilias are far more common in men than in women. The focus of a paraphilia is usually very specific and unchanging.

A paraphilia is distinguished by a preoccupation with the object or behavior to the point of being dependent on that object or behavior for sexual gratification.

Paraphilias include sexual behaviors that society may view as distasteful, unusual or abnormal. Some of these behaviors are illegal and those who are under treatment for paraphilias have often encountered legal situations surrounding their behaviors. There is also a category called Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified to cover paraphilias not falling into the seven main diagnoses.

Paraphilias all have in common distressing and repetitive sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors. These fantasies, urges, or behaviors must occur for a significant period of time and must interfere with either satisfactory sexual relations or everyday functioning if the diagnosis is to be made. There is also a sense of distress within these individuals. In other words, they typically recognize the symptoms as negatively impacting their life but feel as if they are unable to control them.

DSM-IV on : Paraphilia Definition

The DSM-IV classifies paraphilias as an Axis II disorder.

This means they are viewed as clinical syndromes or symptomatic personality functions that are evidenced in long lasting symptoms. Typically, all Axis II conditions are believed to affect all parts of the individual's way of interacting with the world, and are called pervasive. The DSMIV identifies paraphilias as Axis I disorders. The only disorders recorded on Axis II are Personality Disorders and Mental Retardation.

Before the introduction of the term paraphilia in the DSM-III (1980), the term sexual deviation was used to refer to paraphilias in the first two editions of the manual.

A clinical diagnosis of a paraphilia can therefore be made using either ICD-10 classification codes, from F65.0 – F65.8 or from DSM-5 However, ICD-10 does not specifically give a definition for paraphilia; therefore, a common definition used worldwide comes from the DSM-IV (which was not redefined in DSM-5)

WHY WE USE THE DSM-IV

The interpretation of the DSM-5 definition leads one to believe that “normal” is sexual behavior that is age and maturity appropriate, consensual, humanly exchanged or in some way shared and geared to feeling and/or arousing oneself and/or another. The DSM-5 uses the term “phenotypically normal” as part of its definition of sexually normal interactions. Anything else is a paraphilia or “any intense and persistent sexual interest” other than normal sexual interests as described above. Nonetheless, and in special cases, “intense” can “be defined as any sexual interest greater than or equal to normophilic sexual interests.”

SO WHAT IS NORMAL?

DSM criteria: all mental disorders must “… be associated with present distress … or disability … or significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom, (DSM IV).

Yet some paraphilias don’t require this:

Inconsistency in the DSM

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PEREFERENCE

AND PARAPHILIA

Paraphilias are considered to be a component of the person's entire psychological makeup. They cannot be "fixed", but their effects can be suppressed. They should not be looked at as mere preferences. They are seen as being pervasive, as mentioned above, affecting all components of a person's lifestyle, thinking, and emotional states.

A person with a paraphilia has varying levels of difficulty in becoming aroused when their specific trigger is not present. A "standard" pedophile might be able to become aroused by adults of the gender they are attracted to. An “focused" pedophile is unable to become aroused at all except by a pre-adolescent child.

A person with a standard paraphilia is very strongly aroused by the subject of the paraphilia, but can still find at least some level of arousal through more conventional methods. A masochist may achieve a higher level of arousal through pain, but can still be aroused normally. This is the lowest functional level of paraphilia, and is the most common. However, indulging in the paraphilia results in the activity becoming more and more preferred. Most fantasies involve the paraphilia, but they are rarely acted on, or if acted on are kept hidden and quiet.

A person with a preferred paraphilia is extremely aroused by the subject of the paraphilia, and achieves primary arousal through that means. They can only achieve arousal through conventional methods with great difficulty, and sexual relations may fail if conducted without referral the paraphilia. A masochist with this level of preference experiences most of their arousal through pain, and has difficulty without it. The person has a harder time not indulging in their preferences on a regular basis, even in a non-sexual way. All fantasies involve the paraphilia. The person may change their lifestyle to more closely fit their needs, and may act on their desires.

A person with focused paraphilia is uncontrollably aroused by the subject of the paraphilia. Their entire thought process begins to focus on their desires. They are incapable of arousal except through the subject of their paraphilia. Interpersonal relationships that are not founded on their desires will also fail. The person will usually begin becoming anti-social or uncommunicative. Sexual addictions and obsessive compulsive disorders are common at this high level of paraphilia.

To be diagnosed with one of these noncriminal sexual disorders, the person must “feel personal distress about their interest.”

Simply put, the DSM V will say that happy kinksters don’t have a mental disorder. But unhappy kinksters do.

The primary characteristic in this category is the impairment in normal sexual functioning due to uncommon distressing and repetitive sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors. This can result in an inability to perform or reach an orgasm in the absence of these factors, a strong repulsion of sexual activity outside of the factors that attract, or an exaggerated sexual response cycle or sexual interest.

 

Clinical Paraphilias

There are seven clinically recognized paraphilias. These are considered to be the most common paraphilias, and each one is distinct. 

Pedophilia: sexual arousal by and strong sexual attraction to children and adolescents.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

Exhibitionism: sexual arousal by revealing one's body or performing sexual acts in public.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

Frotteurism: sexual arousal by rubbing one's body against an unwilling person

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

Masochism: sexual arousal by having pain inflicted on one's self.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAUwrote an autobiography and revealed his need to be spanked to reach sexual arousal.

"He who loves well, punishes well." Further more, he reveals that this indiscretion started off in childhood when he was spanked hard by his headmistress and he knew then he felt more affection than fear of her hand.

◦Sadism: sexual arousal by inflicting pain on another.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

Transvestic Fetishism: sexual arousal by dressing and acting as the opposite sex.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

Voyeurism: sexual arousal by watching others engage in sex without their knowledge.

THE 7 CLINICAL PARAPHILIAS

The DSM-IV is not precisely clear on fetishism. According to the DSM-IV, fetishism is the use of inanimate objects or parts of the human body as a stimulus to achieve sexual arousal and satisfaction. This means that some paraphilias are not clinical paraphilias but do not qualify as fetishes either, particularly "action" based paraphilias like biastophilia or lust murder. For the purposes of this presentation, fetishism will include the so-called "Other paraphilias not otherwise specified", code 302.81.

Fetishism

Fetishism the use of inanimate objects, actions with living or non-human beings, actions taken, or parts of the human body as a stimulus to achieve sexual arousal and satisfaction.

What is fetishism?

*Abasiophilia - People with impaired mobility

*Acrotomophilia - People with amputations

*Agalmatophilia - Statues, mannequins and immobility

*Andromimetophilia - Female-to-male transsexuals

*Asphyxiophilia - Asphixiation or strangulation

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Apotemnophilia - Having an amputation

*Autagonistophilia - Being on stage or on camera

*Autassassinophilia - Being in life-threatening situations

*Autoandrophilia - Arousal by a biological female imagining herself as a male

*Autoerotic asphyxiation - Self-induced asphyxiation, sometimes to the point of near unconsciousness

*Autogynephilia - Arousal by a biological male imagining himself as a female

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Biastophilia - Arousal based on the rape of an unconsenting person

*Chremastistophilia - Being robbed or held up

*Chronophilia - Partners of a widely differing chronological age

*Coprophilia - Feces; also known as scat, scatophilia or fecophilia

*Dacryphilia - Tears or crying

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Dendrophilia - Trees

*Emetophilia – Vomit*Erotic asphyxiation - Asphyxia of oneself or others*Erotophonophilia – Murder*Formicophilia - Being crawled on by insects*Gerontophilia - Elderly people*Gynandromorphophilia - Women with penises, men cross-dressed as women, or m-to-f transsexuals

*Hebephilia - Pubescent children (ages 12-14)*Hybristophilia - Criminals, particularly for cruel or outrageous crimes

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Infantophilia - Children five years old or younger*Kleptophilia - Stealing; also known as kleptolagnia

*Klismaphilia – Enemas*Lactaphilia - Breast milk*Liquidophilia - Attraction, or desire to immerse genitals in liquids

*Macrophilia - Giants, primarily domination by giant women or men (generally in the person's imagination)

*Mammaphilia - Breasts; also known as mammagynophilia and mastofact

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Menophilia – Menstruation*Morphophilia - Particular body shapes or sizes

*Mucophilia – Mucus*Mysophilia - Dirtiness, soiled or decaying things

*Narratophilia - Obscene words, colloquially known as "talking dirty“

*Nasophilia – Noses*Necrophilia – Cadavers*Olfactophilia - Smells

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIASParaphilic infantilism - Being a baby; also referred to as autonepiophilia

*Partialism - Specific, non-genital body parts

*Paedophilia - Prepubescent children, also spelled pedophilia (ages 5-11)

*Peodeiktophilia - Exposing one's penis*Pictophilia - Pornography or erotic art, particularly pictures

*Pyrophilia – Fire*Raptophilia - Committing rape

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Pedovestism - Dressing like a child

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZARTSO WHY IS HE A PERVERT?Just take a look at his sterling repertoire and you’ll find one particular unsung gem, Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber (translation: Lick me in the ass nice and clean). That's right, he wrote a song pre-dating Ludacris that gets this dirty. If this would have been written today it would've been called Lick My Ass (Nice and Clean) featuring ‘Lil Wayne.

*Salirophilia - Soiling or dirtying others*Somnophilia - Sleeping or unconscious people

*Sthenolagnia - Muscles and displays of strength

*Symphorophilia - Witnessing or staging disasters such as car accidents

*Telephone scatologia - Obscene phone calls, particularly to strangers; also known as telephonicophilia

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

*Stigmatophilia - Body piercings and tattoos

*Trichophilia – Hair*Troilism - Cuckoldism, watching one's partner have sex with someone else, possibly without the third party's knowledge; also known as triolism

*Urolagnia - Urination, particularly in public, on others, and/or being urinated on

*Ursusagalmatophilia - Teddy bears*Vampirism - Drawing or drinking blood*Vorarephilia - Eating or being eaten by others; usually swallowed whole, in one piece (I'm guessing in the person's imagination...)

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

OTHER PARAPHILIAS *Ursusagalmatophilia - Teddy bears

*Zoophilia - Animals (actual, not anthropomorphic, meaning, not furries)

*Zoosadism - Inflicting pain on

or seeing animals in pain

OTHER PARAPHILIAS

The number and taxonomy of paraphilias is under debate; one source lists as many as 549 types of paraphilias. Several sub-classifications of the paraphilias have been proposed, and some argue that a fully dimensional, spectrum or complaint-oriented approach would better reflect the evidence.

Is not meeting the ideal a perversion? The “judgment of what constitutes reciprocal, affectionate sexual activity is clearly value laden and suggests an underlying, implicit, theoretical orientation. There is no data to suggest that individuals diagnosed with a paraphilia have any more difficulty maintaining relationships than “normal” heterosexuals, who have staggering divorce rates.” (Moser and Kleinplatz 2005, 102)

“Perfectionist” Conception of Sex

In conclusion, the definition of various sexual practices as paraphilias has been met with opposition. Advocates for changing these definitions stress that there is nothing inherently pathological about non-criminal paraphilic practices, and they are stigmatized by being lumped together with crimes. Those who profess such a view hope that, much as with the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, future psychiatric definitions will not include most of these practices, or that consensual paraphilias will be clearly separated from nonconsensual paraphilias.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paraphilias

http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Paraphilic%20Disorders%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=556&sectionid=41101785

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nagel http://www.slideshare.net/MrPallanza/sexual-disorders-abnormal-psychology

http://prezi.com/ick2-i6b-fog/review-sexual-perversion-thomas-nagel/

REFERENCES

http://neprimer.com/ePress/SexOrientationList.htm

http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/sexual-deviance.htm

http://philpapers.org/rec/NAGSP