Many On Social Media 'Fetish Cloth Fetish', What Is A Fetish?

Illustration (Sergey Zolkin / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Thursday, July 30, netizens were shocked by a thread on Twitter telling a story about someone who has a fetish on jarik. From the thread, a person named Gilang fulfills his sexual desire by asking the target people to take a picture of himself wrapped in a cloth.

Predator "Jarik Cloth Fetish" under the guise of academic research from PTN Students on SBYA Thread pic.twitter.com/PT4G3vpV9J

- mufis (@m_fikris) July 29, 2020

For those of you who don't know, a fetish is a sexual object or act that is fulfilled so that someone experiences arousal. For example, if you have a foot fetish, you will look at the feet to fulfill your desires.

Reporting from Greatist, fetish comes from the Portuguese word, feitico which means obsessive attraction. Although the equivalent is general, the word fetish refers more to sexual fanciful things. Fetishes are also not limited, they can be body parts, objects, or certain activities.

Someone who has a fetish is not someone who is strange because it is one of sexual behavior or it is called paraphilia. Therefore a fetish towards something can take many forms and behaviors.

Who likes Fetish?

Sex therapist Dr. Ian Kerner thinks fetishes are common in men. As many as 2 to 4 percent of men have a fetish of something and most people accessing pornographic content related to fetishes are men.

There is no definite reason why someone has a fetish, because it could be through classic reasons such as childhood trauma or other problems.

Is it okay to have a Fetish?

A person is allowed to have a fetish as long as he does not use force, children, public places, and other things that harm others. When someone's fetish is unhealthy, they usually do it in secret and feel embarrassed.

On the other hand, there are those who think that fetishes do not exist, and people who experience such things should be treated by a psychologist.

Researchers Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition revealed, sexual attraction occurs in two categories, normal and paraphilia.

"Some paraphilia interest in more common things than people think, not only fantasy but also desires and behavior," said Christian Joyal, author of the study quoted from The Independent.

In The Journal of Sex Research, paraphilia is not only about fantasy but also passion and treatment. The study also found that many people choose to fulfill fetishes online over the phone.

Research explains, it is true that men have more fetishes than women. But that doesn't mean women really don't have fetishes. So that from this research, it is common that even though it sounds strange, fetishes are common.

Quoting from the Twitter account @bintangwirayasa, he listed a number of types of fetishes.

Fetish is a condition in which a person will do certain things to fulfill his sexual desire and lust. There are several kinds of fetishes in the world: 1. ZoophiliaFetish towards animals2. XylophiliaFetish against wood3. AgalmatophiliaFetish against the statue pic.twitter.com/zqYAc0qmoa

- Chairman of the Dear Mother Party (@bintangwirayasa) July 30, 2020