[coolibrarian]

Do you think fetishes (which you have, and that you feel are positive) can come about as a result of childhood abuse, not necessarily including sexual abuse?

[Skeezyks]

There are no known causes for fetishism. Psychology, genetics & environment have all been suggested as possible causes. Prior sexual abuse is, as I understand it, suspected as a possible cause in some cases. I'm certainly not an expert with regard to this. But I have not read anything that suggests abuse of a non-sexual nature might be the cause.

[Distorted Me]

IMO, as a guy who is VERY sexual, I know that fetishes are mostly a result of the human, male especially, evolutionary need for variety in sexual partners. We were not originally evolving to be monogamous creatures. It was in our best interest, as individuals and as a species, to sleep around and sleep around as much as possible. The desire for sexual variety is based in such simple evolutionary needs. We really over complicate things a lot these days. Think about it and it makes so much sense and explains so many things. Other environmental factors certainly play a role as well. What we're, boys especially, are exposed to during those early adolescent years when our hormones start to go nuts has a profound impact us as we age.

[Seneca1854]

Originally Posted by coolibrarian

Do you think fetishes (which you have, and that you feel are positive) can come about as a result of childhood abuse, not necessarily including sexual abuse?

Oh yeah. It's certainly possible. People growing up to fetishize aspects of an abusive experience is widely observed. Spanking is one that happens quite a bit. Some adults who have a spanking fetish report being spanked as children.

So if you're asking "could that happen," yeah, it's very likely possible. If you're asking, "can you prove that a fetish was caused by abuse," I'd have to say, one, I don't know, and two, I doubt that you could prove it if you wanted to. Imagine the experiment. You make adults abuse children. Then you wait until the children grow up and ask them about their fetishes. Illegal, unethical, and monstrous to boot.

Sex is one of the most complicated human behaviors. So many moving parts literally and figuratively.