Sexual fetishes and fantasies are often the subject of psychology because of their effects on personality, their reflection on behavior, and their understanding of possible causes. There is even a term denoting some abnormal sexual desires and fantasies; paraphilia
Teratophilia is also a title included in the paraphilia, which includes many abnormal sexual desires, such as sexual attraction to inanimate objects, animals or the dead. Teratophilia surprises when you read its definition, and it is much more striking to see examples.
Let’s understand first, what is teratophilia?
Teratophilia is the definition of sexually attracted to ‘monstrous bodies’, attractive to ‘monster-like bodies’. In addition, ‘deformed human body’ is added to this definition in some sources. However, the important point here is to define the ‘monster’ and deformed human body well.
For example, mermaids, vampires and werewolves are all monsters. However, it is also possible to call a mermaid’s body a deformed human body. Rather than a body deformed as a result of an illness or injury, we are talking about bodies that have somehow deteriorated and no longer look like ‘normal human bodies’. Basically, it becomes what we can define as being interested in characters who do not appear ‘normal’, ‘abnormal’, ‘far from the physical and psychological definitions of human beings’.
However, it is not entirely possible to draw its lines, as the concept has not yet been scientifically explained with clear definitions with much research and has not been examined clinically much. For this reason, we will take a look at the part of being attracted to the prominent and heavy ‘monsters’ rather than the deformed body part.
Teratophilia has been a subject that psychology does not pay much attention to, but it is frequently encountered in literature, movies and TV series.
There is very little scientific research on teratophilia. Therefore, the issue of why a person is attracted to ‘monstrous bodies’ has not been fully clarified.
But when we look back, we see that this perception has existed in human life for hundreds of years with myths and stories.
The love experienced with living things that can take the form of both humans and any creature or animal has taken place in the narratives of many cultures throughout history. We have seen these motifs everywhere, from Greek mythology to northern mythologies, from medieval stories to modern TV series and movies.
Mermaids, for example, were females whose charms were irresistible to men, and in Twilight we also watched how Bella fell in love first with a vampire and then with a werewolf. Probably because they were ‘human form’ monsters, it didn’t seem too strange to us.
Or you can think of local folk tales… People who fall under the influence of various creatures and become fascinated by their ‘charms’ and ‘forbidden relationships’, or even babies born from them. The interest in aliens, the story involving countless alien erotica…
In fact, these ‘monsters’ are representations in literature, stories told, or movies and TV series.
You may have noticed that all the ‘monsters’ we’ve talked about so far are fictional characters. When we dig a little deeper into the stories of mermaids, vampires, or mythological creatures that are half animal and half human, and what they represent, we can see countless analyzes.
Where they are positioned psychologically and philosophically tells us a lot about human psychology and even social psychology. But unfortunately, as we mentioned earlier, teratophilia is a condition that psychology hasn’t focused much on yet, so it hasn’t been fully explained what drives people who are attracted to such ‘monsters’.
Of course, there are some ‘it could be’ thoughts on this subject. One of them is explained as people cannot control the feeling of fear and pity and confuse it with attraction and desire.
In addition, it is thought that some situations, such as intense fear of being cheated on, abandoned, being alone, or having an inferiority complex, may push the person to seek a partner who will not ‘feel inadequate’.
The increasing interest in the subject, after such ‘relationships’ are reported more frequently in the media recently, has started to attract the attention of scientists. More research is expected in the future on the prevalence of the condition, its causes, and the effects on people’s psychology and life.
Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
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