What is a Paraphilia

WHAT IS A PARAPHILIA

A paraphilia is a medical/psychological condition in which an individual arrives sexual arousal and sexual gratification about the engagement in certain behaviors considered by most to be extreme and atypical. It is a disorder when it distresses the individual or when it is harmful to others. Children, underwear, and animals can be the object of the paraphilia or the person can derive pleasure out of inflicting pain, receiving pain, or exposing themselves. These become the source of most of the person’s gratification. Men have paraphilias to a greater degree than women. Most paraphilias are fixed and do not branch out to other paraphilias.

There are dozens or paraphilias as you will see. The most common ones are pedophilia, which is a sexual attraction to children, exhibitionism, which is the exposer of one’s genitals to others, voyeurism, which is the sexual pleasure gotten from watching others’ sexual or personal activities, and frotteurism, which is the need to rub one’s body against a nonconsenting individual. Less common paraphilias are fetishism, sexual masochism or arousal from being harmed or humiliated, sexual sadism or the infliction of pain upon others, and transvestic disorders or arousal from cross-dressing. There are many rare paraphilias.

Some paraphilias are illegal and many appear extreme. Most of them involve things a normal person might fantasize about but that are taken to extremes in paraphilias. If certain behaviors are practiced and shared by a couple who are consenting adults, these might not be considered paraphilias. The key features of paraphilias are psychological dependence on them, the presence of extreme distress, or the victimization of others.

There are many theories of what causes paraphilias. Psychoanalytic theory indicates that they are developed from early life experiences. Behaviorist theories indicate conditioning is a major factor in causing a paraphilia. Difficulty with interpersonal relationships is also believed to be causative. Imitation can also play a role as is deprivation from normal sexual contacts. Male hormones and aggression also play a role.