Misophilia attraction or desire for dirt

The exercise of sexuality is different for each person and there are those who have very specific desires in doing so. Sometimes, these preferences can go beyond simple taste and become a problem for life. In such cases, it is often said that the person has a paraphilia or fetish for something in particular. In this article, you can learn more about misophilia, a sexual attraction towards waste or dirt.

As it tends to happen with other paraphilias, this type of sexual behavior can be dangerous to health. After all, it's about getting in touch with substances that could contain pathogens that cause disease.

Content

• What is misophilia?
• Causes of misophy
• Associated risks
• Treatment
  • References

What is misophilia?

Paraphilias are a group of behavioral patterns that are presented in a person's sexual life. They are also known as fetishes and are a type of fixed sexual attraction towards some object, situation or type of person. For example, zoophilia would be sexual desire for non -human animal species such as dogs or cats.

It is important to highlight that we all have different tastes or erotic interests, but it does not mean that they are a paraphilia. What differentiates the preference of the fetish is that the latter is the only source that allows the person to get sexual pleasure. So, if the object, situation or person is not present, it is unlikely that eroticism can be experienced.

When talking about misophilia, we refer to sexual fixation towards dirt or human waste. Usually, it usually associates with the sexual pleasure that some people feel when smelling or being in contact with used underwear. However, it is a broad category that covers other paraphilias such as coprophilia (stool sexual practices). Other examples are urolagnia (sexual relations where urine is involved) and emetophilia (vomiting eroticism).

Causes of misophy

To date, the mechanisms that originate and maintain a paraphilia are not known exactly. Although, that is why they cease to be an interesting object of study that many authors tried to explain. For example, Freud said that fetishes were associated with regression to previous stages of libido development.

If we talk about misofily, then it could be a regression to the anal phase of libidinal development. During that period, erotic pleasure focuses on the anus and the act of retaining or expelling feces. Therefore, someone who has this paraphilia would be experiencing an involution of his libido. However, from positivist perspectives, psychoanalytic explanations are insufficient due to the lack of empirical support of psychoanalysis. Therefore, they are not usually accepted beyond schools and analyst circles.

On the other hand, there are explanations that are based on learning mechanisms such as classical conditioning. There are theorists who propose that the basis of paraphilias would be the association of certain objects or circumstances with sexual pleasure. But, these hypotheses also do not serve to answer all questions satisfactorily.

In fact, some scientists consider that it is impossible to be able to study the origin of paraphilias experimentally. Therefore, it is not known what could be the cause of misophy or any other fetish. At the moment, the best explanation is that it comes from the interaction between genetic and environmental factors.

Associated risks

As mentioned at the beginning, this pattern of sexual behavior implies contact with waste substances such as feces. Because of that, it involves certain health risks, such as the possibility of contracting infections due to bacteria, fungi or viruses. To illustrate it better, let's imagine the case of a coprophile that comes into contact with the feces of someone who has hepatitis A. Most likely to develop the disease following the sexual act.

On the other hand, this behavior can lead to important monetary expenses. On the Internet there are websites dedicated to the sale of underwear and other used garments. Often, these are underwear that its owner used for days and can have urine or feces remains. The price of these garments can be variable and there are those who invest a lot of money in it.

Taking these factors into account, it is possible to affirm that misophilia is a paraphilia and not just a preference. Who suffers it only feels sexual pleasure when it is in contact with dirt and can suffer economic or health damage.

Treatment

If a person wishes to change this behavior, they have several treatment options at their disposal. Cognitive - behavioral therapy covers different techniques and methods that can help modify sexual behavior patterns. For example, with cognitive restructuring, ideas about what the fetish for the person can be addressed can be addressed.

Another alternative is psychoanalytic therapy that implies analyzing the psychic mechanisms that gave rise to fetish. It is supposed to reach the base of the conflict that gave rise to the symptom, it is possible to favor catharsis and modify it. This type of treatment tends to be longer than the rest of the options.

In conclusion, misofily is a paraphilia that goes far beyond sexual preference. In addition, in most cases it implies risks to the life of who presents it. Considering this fact, the most advisable thing is to resort to a mental health professional to address it.

References

• Moser, c., & Kleinplatz, P. J. (2020). Conceptualization, History, and Future of the Paraphilias. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 16(1), 379-399.
• Pfous, j. G., Quintana, g. R., Mac Cionnaith, C. AND., Gerson, c. TO., Dubé, s., & Coria-Avila, G. TO. (2020). CONDITIONING OF SEXUAL INTERESTS AND PARPHILIAS IN HUMANS IS DIFFICUL TO SEE, Virtually Impossible to Test, and Problay Exactly How It Happens: A Comment On Hsu and Bailey (2020). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(5), 1403-1407.