Both: What do you think causes people to develop sexual paraphilias?

submitted by worried19 from self.GCdebatesQT

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]worried19[S] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I wanted to address this part:

One of the common threads in these stories is, that their kinks showed signs in early childhood. I think that this makes it likely that there is at least some non environmental influence on paraphilia.

Perhaps, but this is complicated by the fact that most people do not remember their early childhoods very well. Therefore they could be influenced by traumas and inappropriate sexual influences that they cannot consciously remember, including physical punishments, shaming, etc. Also, there's the problem of unreliable memory. Did the parents notice this kink behavior, or is it only remembered by an adult looking back on their childhood and interpreting certain feelings according to their current worldview? We are also assuming the person's memory is reliable.

Not to say that there couldn't be some biological influence, but I don't think a biological predisposition would be enough to trigger a paraphilia all on its own.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 4 insightful - 6 fun4 insightful - 5 fun5 insightful - 6 fun -  (5 children)

While I agree that anecdotal evidence isn't great evidence there are some really common stories in the community. Eg the rigger tying up their stuffed animals.

but I don't think a biological predisposition would be enough to trigger a paraphilia all on its own

I mostly agree. But if we assume a genetic disposition exists and there is some threshold where any given paraphilia manifests, then some people may be so close to the threshold that seeing a related image [someone tied to a tree in the rigger/rope bunny example] may be enough to get them to explore their atypical sexual interests.

[–]worried19[S] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I'm skeptical something as innocuous as that could trigger a full-blown paraphilia. But I did have two different people on Reddit tell me that one of their first "signs" of having kinks was watching Disney's freaking Jungle Book movie.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 4 insightful - 6 fun4 insightful - 5 fun5 insightful - 6 fun -  (3 children)

What do you mean by full blown paraphilia? I'm not talking about paraphilic disorders. A paraphilia is simply a deviant sexual interest. And like any interest could be triggered by all kinds of related things.

[–]worried19[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I just meant a full-blown deviant sexual interest. Like bondage or masochism or something. I don't think an innocent non-sexual scene in a movie could cause that all on its own.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 3 insightful - 6 fun3 insightful - 5 fun4 insightful - 6 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the answer. Would you allow me to rephrase my question: Can you give me an example for a deviant sexual interest that isn't "full blown" ?

[–]worried19[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not sure. I was trying to differentiate between paraphiliac disorders and less extreme deviant sexual interests. I guess someone with a disorder is unable to get aroused by anything else. A person with a deviant sexual interest most likely would enjoy things unrelated to the kink or fetish, but still has a "full-blown" affinity for deviant stuff.

I suppose it's also possible to have mild deviant sexual interests. But I still don't think even the mild stuff could be caused solely by childhood exposure to non-sexual material.