by Peter Baltensperger
(11/18/09)
Paraphilias are officially defined as sexual perversions or deviancies characterized by powerful and persistent sexual interests other than in regular sex between ordinary consenting adults. Among them are such well-known aberrations as exhibitionism and voyeurism, fetishism, pedophilia, sexual masochism, and sadism. While these are some of the more common deviances, the complete list of paraphilias has grown to more than five hundred defined disorders over the decades of sexual research, particularly during the 20th century. Needless to say, the list contains some extremely obscure and rarely encountered deviations such as agalmatophilia (attraction to statues, mannequins, and immobility), formicophilia (attraction to insects and small animals), nasophilia (attraction to noses), and trichophilia (attraction to hair).
One of the more interesting and increasingly more public of these disorders is objectophilia, the sexual and emotional attraction to inanimate, usually man-made objects. Objectophiles, as the individuals are called, are deeply drawn to and aroused by an endless variety of items, from small everyday household articles such as vases and portable radios, to larger but still private objects like musical instruments, electronic gadgets, furniture and appliances, to public outdoor structures such as walls, fences, buildings, bridges, and towers.
Objectophiles generally subscribe to animism, the belief that plants, rocks, natural phenomena like thunder and other natural entities are imbued with souls just as people and animals are. They do, however, take the belief one step further by including all objects in their belief system, and see souls in everything to which they are attracted. This belief enables them to establish strong emotional connections with their objects of attraction, feel intimate links between their own souls and those of their objects, and actually love and treat their objects as lovers, as if they were living beings.
Most objectophiles tend to be women, although there are increasingly frequent recorded cases of male adherents. Furthermore, most objectophiles appear to have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, and tend to have been subjected to childhood abuse, but there are also individuals without those traits. No significant studies have as yet been undertaken to show any kind of relationships between the paraphilia and the gender of the paraphile, or between the paraphilia and autism-related problems and past abuse.
Perhaps objectophiles are just very shy and reclusive individuals who find it very difficult, if not impossible, to form any kind of human relationship. They find it easier to sublimate their sexuality onto objects, and prefer their paraphilia to living what could otherwise be a very lonely and unfulfilling existence. Basically, much research, including interviews and surveys, still needs to be done in this area before objectophilia can be understood in a more scientific way.
In the meantime, objectophiles around the world have begun to come out of their proverbial closets, have set up relevant Web sites, and have started to make their unusual attractions more and more public. Their main argument is that objectophilia is not a paraphilia at all, but rather a new, emerging sexuality. They go on to argue that they are not ill and therefore don't need to be treated, and that they are not broken and therefore don't need to be fixed. They add that they don't cause themselves any harm or harm anyone else, and that they lead happy and fulfilled lives.
In an attempt to formalize their creed, they have renamed themselves "Objectum Sexuals," and labeled their movement Objectum Sexuality International. This was undertaken to give their groups credence, distance themselves from all the other paraphilias, and provide themselves with an official framework within which to operate. Over a short period of time they have been able to establish a supportive network for sharing their experiences and telling each other and whoever will log on to their websites about their passionate attractions to objects.
Two major primetime TV dramas have already dealt with Objectum Sexuality, albeit very briefly and not in much depth. In several episodes of "Boston Legal," one of the main characters, portrayed as a sufferer of Asperger's Syndrome although not as an objectophile, found himself deeply attracted to a woman who was having a love affair with a portable radio. Similarly, one episode of "Nip/Tuck" featured a minor character who was sexually attracted to couches and other types of furniture.
In real life, a woman in the US allowed herself to be interviewed for a talk show and professed her deep-seated attraction to famous bridges. As a substitute for the real things, she keeps several models of bridges in her study. Her latest, and greatest, attraction is to the Eiffel Tower. She keeps a replica of the Tower in her study as well. She traveled to Paris with a couple of friends to perform what she called a commitment ceremony. To that end, she tied a long scarf around herself and around one of the main girders, mounted it and hugged and kissed it as one would a real lover. She then officially changed her name to Erika Naisho Eiffel.
Another American woman has also come forward and has gone public by professing her love for an 80-foot gondola ride at a fairground 160 miles from her home. She relates that she fell in love with the gondola ride when she was 13 years old. As an adult, she has been traveling to the fairground ten times every year, completing a total of 3,000 rides over the past ten years. Amy Wolfe also married herself to the object of her desire and changed her name to Amy Weber, the
name of the manufacturer of the ride. She keeps a handful of spare nuts and bolts from the ride at home to remind herself of her lover and sleeps underneath a photograph attached to the ceiling above her bed.
A woman from northern Sweden by the name of Eija-Riita Eklöf, who is credited with having started the whole Objectum Sexuality movement back in the 1990s, is known for being attracted to a red picket fence surrounding her property. The fence has since become a kind of symbol for the movement. She also found herself strongly attracted to the Berlin Wall when it was still standing. She, too, traveled to the object of her affection and performed a ceremony in the presence of some friends. She then added the
German name for the Wall to her name and now calls herself Eija-Riita Eklöf Berliner-Mauer.
She was devastated when the Wall was finally torn down and the object of her love destroyed. According to her narration of the event, she felt that her husband had been killed and she had been left behind. Now she keeps a small piece of a brick wall in her home to console herself and remind herself of the greatest love in her life.
A young man in Germany, a professional sound engineer, is deeply in love with soundboards. He gives them names and treats them with great affection and tenderness. The first soundboard in his life was in a church he attended and which he was asked to leave because of his unusual behavior. The soundboard still now exists in his life and in his memory as his "ex."
Some men have of late gone public with a very specific kind of objectophilia, namely the intimate love of cars. This is not just a matter of "I just love my car" as so many men are wont to say; this is another case of actual love of and devotion to an inanimate man-made object. Because their objectophilia is so specific, it has been given a
separate name—mechaphilia. This also includes machinery such as tractors, locomotives, helicopters, and fighter jets. It isn't restricted to men, either. There are also some women who profess to be attracted to machines, although most mechaphile objectophiles appear to be male. One woman reportedly joined the Air Force to be near the fighter jets with which she had fallen in love.
This may all sound very trivial and contrived, but these people are deadly serious about their sexual preferences and are hoping, perhaps against all hope, that their Objectum Sexuality will one day be recognized as the new sexuality of the 21st century. They are all very passionate about the objects of their attractions, whether they are small and private or large and public, and treat them exactly like lovers. They claim that they feel and communicate with their souls, that they feel their warmth when they touch and hug them, and that their love is returned and reciprocated in their interaction with them and is anything but unrequited love.
Most of them give their objects names and refer to them usually as "he" in the case of women and as "she" in the case of men, although it works the other way as well, depending on the individual's sexual orientation. The ones with small enough objects and the ones with models of larger and public structures take them to bed with them, cuddle with them, and kiss them goodnight. Others find different ways of having their lovers with them, such as a piece of the object, a photographic or artistic representation, or some other kind of souvenir. During the day, they act as if they were with a lover, carry the objects or at least parts or images around with them, and often take them on outings with them. Some of them are even known to call them "husband" or "wife."
Most Objectum Sexuals indulge in successive love affairs and/or are polyamorous. Many of them move from object to object over periods of time as their attraction changes and their preferences take on new and different forms. Others spread their love around among various objects at the same time, quite often some small and private ones together with some of the larger and more public structures. Since there is no jealously or rivalry involved in such arrangements, they can chose whatever lifestyle suits them the best at any given time in their lives.
Objectum Sexuals aren't interested in human relationships since their attraction to objects appears to provide them with sufficient emotional and sexual fulfillment. One woman has professed that she is still looking for a human companion but hasn't been able to find the right man yet. It would take an emotionally very stable and self-assured person to share his love for a woman with an object. The character in "Boston Legal" couldn't cope with it, and the objectophile woman was written out of the script again.
Above all, they maintain that they are happy in their respective lives, that they feel wanted and fulfilled, and that there is a cosmic purpose to their attraction and their love, even if the love is for inanimate and man-made objects of various kinds. Apparently certain individuals can simply project the concept of soul onto inanimate objects and can feel and return warmth and love, strange as that may sound to most people. A paraphilia such as this may well be a disorder in the eyes of medical and psychiatric authorities, but for the Objectum Sexuals it's a very real, very emotional, and ultimately very rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle.
Objectum Sexuality, according to its adherents, is simply a sexual preference like so many others to which people of all societies find themselves drawn. It doesn't do anybody any harm, doesn't disrupt anyone's life, and doesn't try to change anyone's beliefs. It simply exists, probably more frequently and in more places all over the world than anybody knows or can imagine, and it appears to make a lot of people very happy and content with their lives.
