fetishism
pronunciation
How to pronounce fetishism in British English:
UK [ˈfetiʃiz(ə)m]
How to pronounce fetishism in American English:
US [ˈfɛtɪˌʃɪzəm, ˈfitɪ-]
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- Noun:
- a belief in the magical power of fetishes (or the worship of a fetish)
- sexual arousal or gratification resulting from handling a fetish (or a specific part of the body other than the sexual organs)
Word Origin
- fetishism (n.)
- 1801, "worship of fetishes," from fetish + -ism. Expanded in use by Comte taking it to denote a general type of primitive religion (animism). In the purely psycho-sexual sense, first recorded 1897 in writings of Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939). In certain perversions of the sexual instinct, the person, part of the body, or particular object belonging to the person by whom the impulse is excited, is called the fetish of the patient. [E. Morselli in "Baldwin Dictionary of Philosophy," 1901] Related: Fetishist (1845; psycho-sexual sense from 1897); fetishistic.
Example
- 1. Export fetishism seems fated to endure .
- 2. Though criminal cases are rare , foot fetishism itself is surprisingly common .
- 3. A particularly silly expression of manufacturing fetishism can be heard from the many business people who equate wealth creation with private sector production .
- 4. For me , a pencil is a reading tool , and since bookish types are no less prone than anyone else to commodity fetishism , I have developed a profound interest in my favoured kind of implement , surely among the greatest inventions of mankind : the mechanical pencil .
- 5. Mr wilders denounced what he called " numbers fetishism " .