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Relative prevalence of different fetishes

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 19, pages 432–437 (2007)Cite this article

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 α=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.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially funded by the Italian Ministry of University, Education and Research (PRIN 2003 and 2005 grants) and by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy

    C Scorolli & S Ghirlanda

  2. Group for Interdisciplinary Cultural Research, Stockholm University, Sweden

    S Ghirlanda & M Enquist

  3. Faculty of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy

    S Ghirlanda & S Zattoni

  4. Zoology Institution, Stockholm University, Sweden

    M Enquist

  5. Department of Experimental Medicine, L'Aquila University, L'Aquila, Italy

    E A Jannini

Authors
  1. C Scorolli
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  2. S Ghirlanda
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  3. M Enquist
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  4. S Zattoni
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  5. E A Jannini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E A Jannini.

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Scorolli, C., Ghirlanda, S., Enquist, M. et al. Relative prevalence of different fetishes. Int J Impot Res 19, 432–437 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901547

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