Object sexuality

Object sexuality

Object sexuality or objectum sexuality, in German objektophil (OS), [1] is a pronounced emotional and often romantic desire towards developing significant relationships with particular inanimate objects. Those individuals with this expressed preference may feel strong feelings of attraction, love, and commitment to certain items or structures of their fixation. For some, sexual or even close emotional relationships with humans are incomprehensible. Object-sexual individuals also often believe in animism, and sense reciprocation based on the belief that objects have souls, intelligence, feelings, and are able to communicate.[2] Contrary to sexual fetishism, the object to an OS person is viewed as their partner and not as a means to an end to enhance a human sexual relationship.


Contents

Community

Röda Staketet - OS Internationale logo

In Feb 2008, Erika Eiffel, an object-sexual living near San Francisco, California founded OS Internationale, an educational website and international online community for those identifying or researching the condition to love objects. The website generated a flood of international media interest.

Eiffel, whose name derives from her marriage to the Eiffel Tower in 2007,[3] has been featured as a spokesperson in a variety of international articles, radio talk shows, and television programs and documentaries worldwide.[4]

The logo for the OS Internationale is the Swedish Red Fence, Röda Staketet, and represents the fence of Mrs. Eklöf Berliner-Mauer who was the first acknowledged OS person to go public. The fence symbolizes transparency and division.[5]

Research

Prior to 2009, object-sexual relationships were treated as curiosities and sensationalized in the media. Medical, psychological, and sexological professionals categorized OS as a paraphilia, though without specific data or inquiry into this condition.[citation needed]

In February 2009, Dr. Amy Marsh, a clinical sexologist, contacted OS Internationale with questions about objectum sexuality. With the consent and cooperation of Erika Eiffel and twenty-one English-speaking members of the OS Internationale organization, Dr. Marsh conducted a survey designed to provide the membership with data which could be given to interested professionals and media representatives. This is the first known instance of quantitative and qualitative data collected from this community, and provided insights which encouraged Dr. Marsh to accept object sexuality as an orientation, not a paraphilia. The research results were published as "Love Among the Objectum Sexuals" in the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality.[6]

Awareness

Objectum Sexuality flashed into mainstream and has been the subject in a wide variety of international media stemming from ABC News Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks Show where they featured Erika Eiffel and her "marriage" to the Eiffel Tower discussing how her object love empowered her to become a two time world champion in archery and her role as a spokesperson for OS.[3]

Also featured was clinical sexologist, Dr. Amy Marsh to whom ABC News raised the question about objectum orientation versus paraphilia[7]. Dr. Marsh shared insights from her recent survey research and revealed that she supported OS as a legitimate orientation with further study required.

When questioned by Tyra Banks regarding childhood trauma being a factor in being objectum-sexual, Dr. Marsh revealed that her research does not indicate trauma being a factor. She stated there would be more OS individuals if that was indeed the case.

In the summer of 2009, Erika Eiffel was invited to give a one-hour presentation to sexology students and sex therapists and educators at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality[8] in San Francisco, CA. The presentation took place during the eight-day Sexual Attitude Restructuring (SAR) program given annually at the Institute. The presentation was moderated by Dr. Amy Marsh and it was taped and is now preserved in the Institute's library archives.

Dr. Marsh, writing a weekly column called "Love's Outer Limits"[9] for Carnal Nation, began with three columns called "People Who Love Objects".[10][11][12] She has also published "Love Among the Objectum Sexuals" in the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, March 2010.[6]

In popular culture

The character of Leigh Swift from the television comedy drama Boston Legal, is a self-proclaimed “objectophile”.

Richard Burgi made a guest appearance on Nip/Tuck portraying a plastic surgeon with a strong sexual and emotional attraction to furniture (couches in particular), referring to himself as someone with object sexuality and quoting text from the OS Internationale website.

In July 2010, The Music Theatre Company produced a musical stage play titled "Erika's Wall"[13] telling the love story of Erika Eiffel and her long-time relationship with the Berlin Wall.

See also

References

External links



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Object relations theory — Part of a series of articles on Psychoanalysis …   Wikipedia

  • Sexuality of William Shakespeare — The sexuality of William Shakespeare has been debated numerous times over the years. Even though he married Anne Hathaway and had three children, circumstantial evidence suggests he had affairs with other women or may have taken an erotic… …   Wikipedia

  • Human male sexuality — The shield and spear of the Roman god Mars represents the male sex. Human male sexuality covers physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and political aspects of the human male sexual response and related phenomenon. It encompasses a broad …   Wikipedia

  • History of human sexuality — The social construction of sexual behavior mdash;its taboos, regulation and social and political impact mdash;has had a profound effect on the various cultures of the world since prehistoric times. Sources Sexual speech and by extension, writing… …   Wikipedia

  • Adolescent sexuality in the United States — relates to the sexuality of American adolescents and its place in American society, both in terms of their feelings, behaviors and development and in terms of the response of the government, educators and interested groups.According to the US… …   Wikipedia

  • Lesbian — This article is about the sexual orientation. For other uses, see Lesbian (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • Sexual fetishism — Classification and external resources Foot fetishism is one of the most common fetishes ICD 10 F …   Wikipedia

  • Sadomasochism — This article is about aspects of BDSM. For other uses, see Sadism (disambiguation). Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure often sexual from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates …   Wikipedia

  • Gay — This article is about gay as a term. For homosexuality, see Homosexuality. For other uses, see Gay (disambiguation). Part of a series on Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people …   Wikipedia

  • Conversion therapy — Conversion therapy, sometimes called reparative therapy or reorientation therapy, is one type of sexual orientation change effort that attempts to change the sexual orientation of a person from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual.[1] These… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”