1. ¹Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy
2. ²Group for Interdisciplinary Cultural Research, Stockholm University, Sweden
3. ³Faculty of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy
4. ⁴Zoology Institution, Stockholm University, Sweden
5. ⁵Department of Experimental Medicine, L'Aquila University, L'Aquila, Italy

Correspondence: Professor EA Jannini, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, Bldg 2, Room A2/54, L'Aquila, AQ 67100, Italy. E-mail: jannini@univaq.it

Received 13 June 2006; Revised 30 December 2006; Accepted 5 January 2007; Published online 15 February 2007.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the relative frequency of Fetishes in a large sample of individuals. Using the Internet as a data source, we examined 381 discussion groups. We estimate, very conservatively, that at least 5000 individuals were targeted. The relative frequency of each preference category was estimated considering (a) the number of groups devoted to the category, (b) the number of individuals participating in the groups and (c) the number of messages exchanged. The three measures agree both parametrically (Cronbach's =0.91) and non-parametrically (Kendall's W=0.94, P<0.01). Preferences for body parts or features and for objects usually associated with the body were most common (33 and 30%, respectively), followed by preferences for other people's behavior (18%), own behavior (7%), social behavior (7%) and objects unrelated to the body (5%). Feet and objects associated with feet were the most common target of preferences. These findings provide the first large database in an area, where the knowledge is particularly scarce.