Article by Maya Vukovska
I have a friend with a really annoying habit. Sometimes, when we are driving outside town, he’ll insist that we stop the car so that he could get out and hug a random spruce or an оак by the road he’s laid his eyes on. His explanation is that doing this increases the levels of oxytocin. In other words, he draws happiness from trees. Apart from being unusual, this habit is completely innocent.
But is it, really?
Tree-hugging can, in fact, be also a clinical condition. Some dendrophiliacs, i.e. tree lovers, get more than happy vibes from hugging a tree trunk - they get sexual arousal. If one happens to be dendrophiliac AND gay at the same time he’ll most probably be looking for trees with certain features, like anus-like holes on the trunks. I don't know, though, if that's the case with my friend.
More uncommon kinks follow.
Arousal from watching yourself doing sexy things in front of a mirror
Remember Christian Bale’s character from the 2000 film “American Psycho”? In one of the scenes, he was having sex with two female escorts, and at the same time looking at himself in the mirror - admiringly. Even when one of the girls tries to get his attention, he ignores her because obviously, he prefers to look at himself rather than his sex partner. This is a typical example of katoptronophilia, or extreme fetish for mirrors. Besides having sex in front of mirrors, this type of paraphilia also includes jerking or stripping in front of mirrors. After this clarification, if you think that the guys who stand for too long in front of the mirrors at the gym, admiring their biceps, might be like Patrick Bateman, you’re probably right.
Beware of the hoplophiliacs!
Many of us are irresistibly and irrationally drawn to bad boys. Just remember Belle and the Beast, Sandy and Danny from “Grease”, Baby and Johnny from “Dirty Dancing”… In real life, though, bad boys can be much badder than those in romantic movies. Let’s, for example, take those who have a firearm fetish and get a boner from physical contact with a weapon. If you’ve watched gay porn where guns are being used as dildos, you know what I mean. But if your new boyfriend asks you to play Russian Roulette before fucking, you’d better check if the gun is not loaded. I mean, just to be on the safe side.
Sharing is caring
The so-called cuckolders have an unusually strong need for watching their partners have sex with other people - either with or without them being aware of that. Psychologists regard cuckolding as a form of masochism because people who have this fetish actually enjoy being humiliated.
In most cultures, cuckolding is simply called “wearing horns.”
When bear guys take the teddy bearness to another level
Imagine the situation - after a brief hookup at a gay bar with a sexy, heavy, muscular guy, you are invited over to his place to continue “the conversation.” For your big surprise, what you find in his bedroom is a bed, covered with stuffed animals - like 50 of them! What you find even more troubling, though, is that your new acquaintance calls all of them by their names, and kindly asks them if you may stay for dinner. So, you can’t help but wonder: Should I stay for dinner, and later have sex with him in front of the (judgy!) eyes of all his unanimated friends? Ursusagalmatophilia, i.e. arousal from plush animals, is not a condition you should be concerned about. But just in case, avoid giving your valentine a teddy bear, because he might be more interested in it than you. Sexually, I mean.
Dipping it deep
If you catch your boyfriend dipping his dick in a glass of water then he’s most probably liquidophiliac. Fingers crossed that at least he’s not using a shot glass, but a beer mug - if you know what I mean…
The tighter, the better
Claustrophilia is just the opposite of claustrophobia. Instead of feeling nervous and uncomfortable in tight places, claustrophiliacs love them… to the extent that they get them horny. How to tell your BF is one of them? Simple - if he insists that you have sex in a tiny elevator, airplane toilet, or some other impossibly small place for two grown-ass people to fit in, he definitely has the fetish.
Yes, the fetishes described above may be weirder than the common ones (cross-dressing, mild BDSM, foot worship, etc.), but it does not make them insane and abnormal. If sex is an ice cream sundae, think of these kinks as the cherry that tops it.
