title: Feederism: an exaggeration of a normative mate selection preference?
abstract: Quinsey and Lalumière (1995) suggested that some, if not most, paraphilias are exaggerated manifestations of more normative and functional mate selection preferences. The present study tested whether Feederism, a fat fetish focused on erotic eating, feeding, and gaining weight, is an exaggeration of a sexual arousal pattern commonly seen in the general population. Thirty participants (15 men and 15 women) recruited from the general population were assessed using penile plethysmography and vaginal photoplethysmography, respectively. None of the participants were self-identified Feeders or Feedees. Participants were shown sexual, neutral, and feeding still images while listening to audio recordings of sexual, neutral, and feeding stories. Participants did not genitally respond to feeding stimuli. However, both men and women subjectively rated feeding stimuli as more sexually arousing than neutral stimuli. We discuss the discordance between physiological and self-reported sexual arousal in the context of sex differences in sexual concordance and implications for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada. lesley.terry@usask.ca
authors.forename: Lesley L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.forename: Kelly D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Suschinsky
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lalumière
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Vasey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D004882:Erotica; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007989:Libido / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D010262:Paraphilic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D017156:Photoplethysmography; D010991:Plethysmography; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*