A Woman can not be a true fetishist? pffft, What a load of BS! Options

[pig]

Well, despite being a fetishist, like Chui I feel I'm very much a woman, even if I don't necessarily exhibit all the stereotypical female characteristics. When it comes to polling or such, I'd feel inclined to think that there are obvious cultural reasons to why many women, if they can, would like to refer to themselves as "having a male brain" or being male on the inside or whatever - because the implications are that they're good at math and have real careers like men do and are assertive and cool and aren't interested i stupid girly things like clothes and make-up. If feminine and stupid would stop being synonymous, I wonder how many women would be so eager to state how male they are.

[SneezeChick523]

I have to say, when I first saw this topic, I thought about posting saying "Well, OBVIOUSLY, he's never met me!" But then I didn't, mainly because I didn't think something so cimple was worthy of a first response, and by the time I came back, I saw the question about masculinity, and I have to say...I am a very boyish girl. Not in things like math or science, but in a lot of other ways, from interests to emotions to opinions on sex. So now, I guess what I want to say is "Well, that's bullshit. Apparently what he meant was that GIRLY women aren't capable of true fetishism." *runs from the girly-girls now boyishly chasing her*

~Me

[krazykat]

Personally, I doubt the biological wiring of the brain has anything to do with making one gender more likely to have a fetish. As a rule, the same structures are present in the same orientation within the brain for both male and female. The primary difference would be the effects of certain hormone levels in the body as a result of puberty and biological changes. However, that doesn't change the basal brain structure. Men as a rule do tend to be larger boned, and having a larger skull cavity are capable of having a larger brain, but honestly, that has nothing to do with the synapses formed within the brain.

The basic brain structures are the same in male and female brains but substantial differences have been shown in imaging studies, and if anything I think that these could have an effect. For example, women have a larger limbic cortex (emotion) and frontal lobe (problem solving) whilst men have been shown to have a larger parietal cortex (space perception) and amygdala (heavily involved in agression, social and sexual behaviour). Now of course that doesn't mean these areas don't work the same way for both sexes, but it may be that the differences in brain structure result in a different experience of fetish related sexual activity by the different sexes.

BUT...

I think probably the biggest factor in studying any fetish within a population is the stigma still associated around the female sexuality. Many women are still rather reluctant to address their sexuality in clinical settings for fear of being branded any number of derogatory things (harlot, whore, loose, etc). I think the numbers will appear to change for the next decade or so, when in fact they would be more accurately reflecting numbers as women become less reserved.

you are not wrong about the stigma surrounding female sexuality, and it may be that at some point in the future where openness exists you could a) conduct qualitative research with both genders to determine how the experience of fetishes differs by gender and conduct imaging studies to determine if the brain responds differently in different genders such as it has been shown to for a number of tasks.

[Trillium]

If feminine and stupid would stop being synonymous, I wonder how many women would be so eager to state how male they are.

This is completely off topic, but there may be women who would love to have more typically feminine qualities or attributes and that don't regard those characteristics as stupid or second class. (Me, for example.) I don't think nice clothes or makeup fall into the category of "stupid" or "girly," either, unless one focuses on clothes and makeup to the extent that all intelligent thought is extinguished.

[Captain Corpse]

Who did this test? They must not have found true fetishists then. I am also definatly more masculine than I am feminine. I look very female and am all the way around by I'm more interested in dinosaurs, heavy metal, and cars than I am modeling, cute fluffy things, and hair extensions.

This post has been edited by Captain Corpse: Jan 14 2010, 04:03 PM

[xxsilentpyramidx...]

I'm not sure about the whole "male brain" "female brain" thing cause (and im kind of embarassed to say this) but im pretty sure i have a bit more of a female brain. Im more of an empathetic than systematic thinker. I also have an odd osession with cute things. *blush*

[Mallyod]

I'd like to know if the study was referring to true fetishes or paraphilia...I've met hundreds of people, online and in person, with various paraphilia but (as far as I know) never a true fetishist who needs the object ('fetish') to orgasm.
Apart from that, most people I've met with odd sexual desires have been male but a very large number have been female. Interestingly, out of all the forums I go to for my wide range of...interests...this seems to be the one with the highest female to male ratio. I've also noticed that while my tastes lie in the messier part of this fetish, the cleaner parts seem to be the most popular here. Some of my other messy fetishes are shared equally by women though so it's probably more the focus of the board than a male/female divide.
One other thing that might be relevant is a female to male transexual friend of mine. He says that before the change sex was something he only thought about on occasion, if he felt safe and comfortable. Now he finds it an almost constant part of his life.
Also, my girlfriend often wishes she had more deviant interests since I seem to have so much fun with mine

[Nicole]

Well, from a psychiatric point of view...that's a load of shit. And that's where I'll leave it. No sense in arguing the same points over again, but fetishism is a psychiatric diagnosis (whether you agree with that fact or not is neither here nor there), and I can tell you, as a licensed psychiatrist, that there are plenty of female fetishists out there.

Holla.

[Merodii]

Actually quite interesting...

Following question comes to my mind :
do female fetishists have 'male' brains ?
I mean, would the female fetishists on here be better in 'male' things like maths, reading maps, orientation, ... than the 'average' woman ?

In my case it is true...

C

Definately not for me..
Im quite the opposite actually.

[Ouroboros]

Ah, so it was really my fetish that made me want to have a sex change all the time. Of course, why didn't I think of that?

[King Mob]

Thinks back to her degree in neurobiology and wonders if female fetishism is linked to higher levels of testosterone present during neural development?

On a more general note...

The true definition of a fetish is that you can ONLY be aroused by the object of that fetish, and are therefore not able to reach sexual climax without exposure to the fetish related stimuli. Obviously this is not 100% true and there are varying degrees of sexual need with regards to fetish stimuli. However, if I was to make a sweeping comment about this with (based on the 10 years I've been kicking around the varying forums) it is much more likely that you will read a post by a male sneeze fetishist that they cannot reach climax without sneezing than one by a female fetishist.

Plus... on a research related note... the conclusions you draw are only as good as the analysis of the data that they are based upon :-)

Ah, you beat me to this point. Well said.

[elements]

Actually quite interesting...

Following question comes to my mind :
do female fetishists have 'male' brains ?
I mean, would the female fetishists on here be better in 'male' things like maths, reading maps, orientation, ... than the 'average' woman ?

In my case it is true...

C

i am TERRRRRRRRIBLE at Math..in fact having trouble passing college just because of it...im an eng major for a reason! haha

[count de tisza]

I wonder if this idea originates from the original meaning of "fetish", ie an inanimate object that replaces the connection of sex and a person; I seem to remember reading somewhere that this was the case; so that a person might replace attraction to another person entirely with an attraction to shoes or whatever. Males would be seen as the instigators of sexual behaviour, thus the only people this could apply to.

And here is a confession; before I came here, I assumed that only men were sneeze fans! I suppose because I'd never seen a girl inducing...

[chui]

And here is a confession; before I came here, I assumed that only men were sneeze fans! I suppose because I'd never seen a girl inducing...

we've fixed that for you, haven't we

[SwaimFan]

I was reading up on some scientific study of sexual fetishism the other day and APPARENTLY the general consensus among scientist is that a woman cannot be a true fetishist. "Fetishes are virtually entirely a male domain" ,"few if any women can relate to enjoying anything similar", "The female brain is typically not hardwired to allow true fetishism to develop "

Honestly, i laughed out loud when i read this. What a load of crap! haha

That study is SO sexist. I have ALWAYS loved a big, powerful sneeze, especially from big, powerful men. I guess people like me don't exist according to the so-called "scientific" community. I guess these supposed fetish specialists neglected a HUGE swathe of the fetish community in their study.