Criminal Offenses

THI JOURNAI OF ABNORMAL AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Vol. 48, No. I, 1053

CASE REPORT

A CASE STUDY OF FETISHISM VERNON W. GRANT

Hatvthornden State Hospital Macedonia, Ohio

T HE literature on pathological fetishism is not rich in first-hand accounts by affected persons capable of describing

their experiences in an articulate and insight- ful way. The case to be presented is that of an individual of considerable intelligence and of above-average expressive capacity. Certain features of the case are distinctive. The subject of the study is fully capable of appar- ently altogether normal sex-emotional attrac- tion and attachment, and is thus in position to compare the affects associated with this experience with those of fetishism. Further, a possible practical solution of the problem for one type of fetishism, perhaps for only certain representatives of this type, is offered. The subject achieved, in relatively simple fashion, a successful method of satisfying his needs, altogether free of the ordeals and hazards to which victims of these abnormali- ties are so often exposed.

An attempt at comprehensive descriptive definition of sexual fetishism would probably make a cumbersome statement and would be of no particular relevance to this study. Within the context of the case history to be presented, we may use the term with refer- ence to those deviant forms of erotic behavior in which, most frequently, a limited portion of the body, or an article of clothing, of a sexually attractive individual constitutes the more or less exclusive focus of interest; this interest being manifested in unusual fascina- tion with the object or body part and in a desire to possess, caress, or fondle it, typically accompanied by some degree of genital ex- citement. There are admittedly many and various instances of the rarer forms of fetishistic behavior (e.g., involving certain specialized visual, tactual, olfactory, or situ- ational experiences) to which so simple a formulation would not apply (3, 5). In some cases, according to the accounts, the fetish object or stimulus may exercise its effect in complete dissociation, not only from the primary sexual stimuli but from the very

existence of the bearer of the fetish. Thus there is the hair fetishist who can say, "For me the girl herself is nothing; her hair, every- thing that I desire."

There has been a tendency in studies of the fetishist to stress his relative indifference to primary sexual stimuli, in sharp contract with his intense attraction to features commonly rated as incidental. In our subject the only deficit in this respect is his indifference to the feminine breast. More striking is his capacity for complete sex-emotional experience of the "romantic" type on the basis of nonfetish traits. In this case fetishism appears simply and mainly as an exaggerated susceptibility to one feature of sexual attractiveness within a setting of normal responsiveness to such familiar kinds of "charm" as facial beauty, voice, grace, and other personal qualities. During normal love attachment the subject reports a temporary abeyance of fetish inter- est. On analysis, this was disclosed to be the effect of repression: when "in love" he found his fetish interest so far in conflict with the exalted emotions awakened by his attachment that he was able, with very little effort, to banish such inclinations from consciousness.

Apart from its bearing on the problem of the place of this form of erotic abnormality within the general theoretical framework of sexual psychology, the case offers some evi- dence of the need of effort directed toward public enlightenment concerning the nature of these disorders. There are doubtless many who still view them as perversities rather than as maladies, as delinquency rather than as disease.

Contact with the subject, who is not and has never been a psychiatric hospital resident, was made independently of the writer's pro- fessional functions.

THE SUBJECT The subject is a 35-year-old male, American born,

of American-born parents. He is white and unmar- ried. He has engaged in several different relatively unskilled occupations. He is largely self-educated,

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A CASE STUDY OF FETISHISM

in good physical condition, and without history of serious somatic ailments. He was enuretic until about 12 years of age. He suffered chronically from nightmares, "all my life, as far back as I can remember. For years it seemed like almost every night." These occurred, typically, immediately after falling asleep. He reports also much talking in sleep. A paternal aunt is psychotic; a younger brother is described as rather neurotic, subject to depressions in early life. His mother is of life-long "nervous and anxious" disposition. He first became aware of his peculiarity as a recognized sexual devi- ation through reading Krafft-Ebing; he was amazed and deeply disturbed, felt he was a misfit. He finally came to accept the abnormality—intellec- tually, at least—without guilt feelings, realizing he was in no way responsible. His peculiar sex needs have involved him, through the years, in a variety of experiences, some rather stressful in character, owing to the risks to which he was forced in pur- suit of his objectives. His account follows.

THE SUBJECT'S ACCOUNT

At the age of 35 I can look back over many years of experience with sex fetishism. I can remember an interest in women's shoes as early as my fourth year, and that this interest continued during my grade-school days. I remember fantasies of women wearing high- heeled slippers of dainty design. There were also secret periods of play with my sister's and mother's shoes in the clothes closets. Shoes had no sexual meaning at diis time. I don't know why I felt that secrecy was necessary. If I was ever observed I was never punished. I recall clearly that when I was four years old, just before Christmas, an aunt visited. I know it was my fourth birthday because I received a set of toy soldiers, and because it was before I started kindergarten. She wore high-heeled shoes. I remember watching, and I know that my attention was centered on her shoes, that I was specifically interested in her shoes to the complete exclu- sion of everytyhing else about her.

I masturbated at age nine, and I am posi- tive that I thought of women's shoes during the act. I remember too when I first dis- covered the type of shoes, in an illustration in a book, that excited me most. At age ten or thereabouts I recall staying with my aunt. I was allowed to sleep with her because I was troubled with nightmares. I once went through her dresser drawers looking for hidden Christmas presents when I found a pair of high-heeled shoes. I got very excited, as if I had found a treasure. That night

when she came home I persuaded her to put them on by saying I thought they must be too small for her. She did so and then I tried to get her to take a few steps, but she refused, saying it was silly. I was very excited during all this, though I do not recall that it was sexual. However, I do remember having an erection when I once saw her putting her hose on one morning. Also that one day when I asked about the shoes she said she had given them away and that she did not want to discuss it. I was given a bed of my own and never permitted to sleep with her again. I am sure she felt there was some- thing strange about my interest in the shoes.

When I was 12 years old I was attracted to my sister's shoes. I used to wait for her to sit at the table. I had a strong urge to get under the table. I would pretend to drop something to get under it. I was interested only in her shoes. I'm sure I had no other interest, as her legs were thin and uninterest- ing. I used to dream about this too. In the dreams she would put on pumps and then touch my genitals with them. Even in later years I had dreams in which I followed her to the bedroom and asked her to put on the patent leather pumps. I was never conscious, in the dream, of arousing her suspicions of a sex motive in asking her to put the shoes on, but it always happened that when she did so she would extend her foot forward to press against my genitals and then the dream would end.

There were other examples during my teens when I became excited over a girl's shoes, especially when she had shapely legs. In my seventeenth year I met a girl who attracted me strongly at once. Although I was conscious of her figure, neither her shoes nor her legs aroused more than a slight interest. My passion was essentially mental and free from any conscious sex disturbance. Demonstrations of affection were limited to good-night kisses infinitely tender. I loved her with intense emotion entirely devoid of any lustful thoughts or desires. The romance ended when she went away to college, and I suffered painfully intense heartbreak over it.

Soon after this I secured employment and managed to recover from my depression by heavy physical labor. For several years I had little interest in women and rarely mastur-

144 VERNON W. GRANT

bated. I put all my energies into work. Sometime around my twenty-fifth year my interest in shoes regained its strength. I began to frequent the waiting rooms of rail- road stations. Sitting opposite a woman I would concentrate on her shoes and legs. In the earlier stages of this practice I would masturbate through my pocket, concealing this by holding a newspaper over my crossed legs. At a later stage I obtained satisfaction without mechanical means, the effect of look- ing at the shoes and wgs being enough in itself to produce orgasm. What excited me most was patent leather pumps with French heels, of simple design and free of decora- tions like straps and bows. At times the nervous tension became so great as to cause visible trembling in a kind of ecstasy. Shoes alone were not enough, however. In addi- tion I needed shapely ankles and sheer hose, preferably the darker shades. The effect was much increased by movements of the foot. No part of the leg above the knee held any interest for me.

I have never experienced the intense nerv- ous excitation, in anticipating normal sexual intercourse, comparable with the effect of an opportunity to see legs I consider especially beautiful, and provided circumstances are such that I am free of feelings of anxiety. I have noticed that, in watching a woman's legs in a public place, if there is a chance I may lose sight of her I become overeager and anxious, and this sometimes makes me impotent. If I can manage to relax and con- centrate on the sheer enjoyment without thinking of an interruption, I then experience rising excitement and climax much more quickly. At the period when my fetish pas- sion is most active, the effect of shapely legs, even when glimpsed for only a moment, is enough to set me on fire. The effect is not localized in my genitals, but seems spread over my entire body. There is a heat sen- sation, as if my blood has been warmed.

I have suffered a great deal of anxiety dur- ing my visits to public places where it is easy to watch women's shoes and legs. In addi- tion to the feeling of guilt which I still feel at times, there is the danger of detection. Plainclothesmen have haunted me, and more than once I have been questioned on sus- picion of loitering. I have tried to be casual

in my behavior at waiting rooms, but the length of time I spent there, the constant moving about for a vantage point, and my fixed scrutiny when I found one would attract attention and I would be warned to "shove off or else." It was not easy to, find what. I was looking for, since in addition to the proper type of shoe and the well- shaped ankles and legs, I needed a certain amount of movement, for example the slight swinging of the leg when one rests across the other. If the foot is motionless there is no increase in stimulation, no "build up." In order to get this there must be movement. The more gyrations of the foot and leg, the more the stimulation. If I know a woman is conscious of my watching her legs it increases the excitement. Another thing is that similar shoes and legs have different effects if in one case the woman is distin- guished-looking and refined, and in another case she is coarse-looking and "vulgar."

My sexual condition is important, too. After several weeks without satisfaction the urge reaches a strength where just prolonged staring at the legs and shoes of a mannequin in a store window will be enough to give me an orgasm. This has happened a dozen times, at least. Once I tried to buy a man- nequin. However, I have to be in a highly excitable condition for this kind of satisfac- tion. If I buy the kind of shoes I prefer and ask a woman I know to wear them for me, it doesn't have the same appeal as if they were her own shoes. I guess this is because they don't seem to be as much a part of her.

Certain types of hands excite me too, but only if I am already aroused. Once I had an orgasm watching a woman's hand, but I had already been strongly aroused. Otherwise, I am completely indifferent. It is harder to find the right type of hand than the proper kind of shoe and leg. It must be long and slender, and preferably with painted nails. Sometimes the hand arouses excitement, but there is no build-up. It's the same way with a woman's buttocks. Four or five times I've reached orgasm through watching a woman's buttock movements in walking, but only when I'm already excited. I can't start cold that way. As to prostitutes, I always take the proper shoes and hose with me when I go to them. I'd say that die sight of the

A CASE STUD? OP FETISHISM

genitals is normally stimulating to me. In having intercourse I sometimes have the woman take a position so I can see her geni- tals during the act.

My techniques in pursuit of my fetish were a product of experience and involved a certain amount of skill and manoeuvering. For example, I spent much time in public libraries because there was less danger of being watched. By walking past a woman who was seated with a book and stopping for a moment directly in front of her to stare at her foot, I would gain her attention and she would watch me until I had taken a seat. Then I would continue to look, but in a covert manner, as though conscious that I was acting at variance with popular ethics. Usually the woman would conceal as much of her ankles as possible, sometimes even taking her shoes off and sifting on her feet. When this occurred I would smile in a smug, amused way to give her the impression she was being laughed at, with the result that she would often resume her position and per- haps even expose more of her legs to indi- cate her contempt for my opinion. I would religiously avoid catching the woman's eye, concentrating entirely on her shoe and ankle to convince her that my interest was imper- sonel and confined to the shoe. If she moved her foot experimentally I would exaggerate my pleasure by facial animation, sometimes parting my lips to convey passionate interest. My whole bearing would suggest intensity of sensation. Sometimes this defeated my purpose, the woman becoming alarmed, but these instances were rare. It was also rare for a woman to change her seat or leave the premises as a result of my interest. Usually my model would continue to move her foot experimentally, sometimes even getting up to walk back and forth along the bookshelves near my seat and taking poses to reveal her underpinning to the greatest advantage. She Would sometimes walk in a teasing manner, rotating on the balls of her toes with each step. I learned to catalogue various types: the essentially vain, the purely experimental, the naive who only partially understood and were indignant, and the stupid, who sat on their feet and were very uncomfortable as a result; also the frustrated, who opened a con- versation for the purpose of arranging a date

and subsequently a bit of sex for recreation. On several occasions a woman either ap- proached me directly to make my acquaint- ance, or dropped a note on the table as she strolled by. I seldom responded to these notes. It was risky. On one occasion I fol- lowed such a request and the party turned out to be a policewoman who would have run me in had I not bought her a pair of nylons.

In a few instances in which contacts made in public places led further, the subject reports he required the shoe to be worn during coitus and describes the fetishistic sex experience with em- phasis on positions permitting the shoes and legs to be visible during intercourse. It is noted that he persuaded one partner to stand upon his bare stomach, and in one other case refers to a "masoch- istic thrill." He repeatedly stresses the importance of movement, and states that even well-shaped legs and the preferred type of shoes, without movement, arouse him very slowly. Foot pressure was also a stimulus, and he tells of excitement aroused by the accidental pressure of a woman's foot, as when standing in a crowd, if exerted with sufficient force. On one occasion he became sexually stimulated by the sound of the heel taps of a woman walking by, and not at the moment visible to him.

During a period of unemployment I be- came completely devoted to pursuit of the fetish. For over a year I did not have an adequate income, frequently sleeping in parks and boxcars and often not getting enough to eat. At this time my fetish became like a disease. I was a sick man and I knew it, but any resolutions I made to defeat the impulse vanished once I sighted the fetish. The fascination made me simply helpless. I finally reached the stage where nothing else mattered. I stopped caring where I slept and went for days with little food. It seemed that the urge became more difficult to satisfy as my vitality waned. For three or four days at a time I would experience interrupted orgasms without ejaculations, walking about town in constant search. I visited bus sta- tions, hotel lobbies, hospital waiting rooms, and even churches—any place where a woman wearing my fetish needs might be found seated long enough to make an ejacu- lation possible. I could not reach orgasm by mechanical means now. Attempts to mastur- bate curbed the sensation. The orgasm had to be spontaneous. Desire to urinate helped. There were times when I was ready to burst

146

from restraint. Under prolonged stress I suffered not only from the maddening frus- tration but also from excruciating headaches which affected my vision and paralyzed my neck muscles. When finally I succeeded in breaking this extreme nervous tension the orgasm would be so feeble as to lower my spirits, robbing me of any satisfaction. After experiences of this kind I would make new efforts to rehabilitate myself.

Often I have boarded trains in pursuit of a woman wearing my fetish. Sometimes the starting whistle of the engine would induce ejaculation. But if I had not been able to see the legs or the shoes of the woman after she boarded the train because of luggage cutting off the view, or failure to get a seat opposite her, I would return to the platform and look through the window. This was possible only when the tracks were lower than the plat- form level. Sometimes my excitement would be so intense as to cause me to run beside the moving car. I have had ejaculations while running at almost top speed. On one occa- sion my absorption was so great that I fell off the end of the platform and was knocked unconscious. My peculiar behavior in rail- road stations was sometimes checked by the police, but after questioning I was released. I never gave my true motive for chasing trains. Twice I was jailed under charge of disorderly conduct, being given 15 days of imprisonment altogether.

My fetishism has much influence on my tendency to develop interest in a girl. The discovery that a girl I have just met has well- shaped legs has a strongly quickening effect on my interest in her as an individual. A girl might appeal to me very much in features and personality, but if I discovered her legs were ugly I am certain I would lose interest. On the other hand I am equally certain that once I have fallen in love, apart from any effect of the legs, the discovery that the latter were unattractive would alter my feeling very little.

Twice I have been very much in love. On the second occasion it was with a much younger girl. She was very fond of me and permitted very ardent kissing. I can truth- fully say that I was completely happy just confining my affection to kisses and embraces. I never touched her breasts or any part of her

VERNON W. GRANT

body that was sexually vulnerable. Even though I got an erection at these times I had no real desire to go further. I was content just to kiss her again and again and to hold her close. The thrill was not progressive. My passion did not increase by the long .embraces. I simply felt immeasurable bliss and happiness while holding her. When separated from her I was miserable. I never thought of her as a bed companion. Despite her unusually shapely legs I had an actual slight aversion toward looking at her shoes. In explaining this I would say that because my love for her was essentially spiritual I felt it would be a kind of sacrilege to look at her shoes or legs. I suppose this was a throw- back to my old prudish inhibitions.

The subject's capacity for apparently quite normal "amorous" love attachment makes possible a com- parison of this with fetishistic attraction. He states that the effect upon his sensibilities of a woman whose shoes, legs, and person meet the requirements of his taste includes much more than genital sex excitement. The "charm" of gracefully designed shoes, well-formed ankles and legs imparts itself to the entire person. The emotion he then experi- ences, he states, is very similar to that of being "in love," or at any rate to the early stages of this emotion. He stresses, however, that the emotion itself tends to focus upon the initially alluring mem- bers, and he tells us that he has experienced a stronger desire to kiss and to caress the attractive woman's ankles, legs,«or shoes, than to kiss her lips, "unless she is exceptionally beautiful." Without her shoes, such a person immediately loses much of her charm; he reports such loss of interest as a striking experience in several instances, He refers to an attraction in which he felt "quite normally in love" with a girl whose shapely legs attracted him strongly, yet he feels "quite certain" that, but for the fetish, he would have been indifferent, and that the amorous state would not have developed.

It seems significant that the effect of the fetish here occasionally exhibits a definite parallel with the traditional "love affair." Contacts with the fetish object are described as having a quality of "sweetness, of loving caress" which he recognizes as different from that of genital sex arousal. This recalls Binet's observation that "for fetishists, the sense perception of the loved object is a source of pleasure superior even to sexual sensation" (i). Apart from providing a stimulus to sexual arousal and gratification the fetish object is sought, he believed, as an end in itself. There are "two orders of sentiment" in these experiences, and one of them is a kind of adoration; it is aesthetic, "purely cere- bral." The writer has elsewhere cited illustrations of this distinction (4).

In the course of five arrests the subject had con- tacts with police authorities which registered rather

vividly upon his memory. Some excerpts from his account of these experiences follow.

On one occasion I was sitting in the shoe department of a large store. A house detec- tive spotted me and pointed me out to a city policeman who watched me for a while, then recognized die signs of my interest in legs. (I learned all this later, of course.) He ap- proached and asked me what I was doing there. I said I was waiting for my wife. He said, "The hell you are, you God-damned pervert." He ordered me to the office of the store, pushing me ahead of him, using vile language like "degenerate bastard, son of a bitch," etc. The manager said he would press no charges in die matter so long as I kept out of his store. Nevertheless, the offi- cer took me to the precinct station in the patrol wagon. At the station the arresting officer called the rest of the policemen around and told them I was a degenerate. They jeered me and made some nasty jokes. One of them offered me a cigarette, then asked me if it tasted like a penis. The police chief came in and asked my name. Then he took me into his office, gave me a seat, offered me a cigar. He was friendly, said he wanted my story, that he wanted to help me, not crucify me. Later he said I'd be held for three days, then would go to a psychiatrist, then to court. On the third day he sent me to the magis- trate, along with the probation officer. We went to his private office. There was a news- paper man there who wanted a story on the case. The officer refused and said he would never divulge die information I gave him. The probation officer was pretty decent. Then I was sent from the county jail to another precinct where I was held for psy- chiatric examination. After several days I saw the chief psychiatrist. After a short interview he decided I was not a public menace. He was very skeptical of my sin- cerity when I said I wanted to be cured. I was released and told I must appear before the magistrate I had seen previously. When I appeared for final judgment the magistrate reviewed the psychiatric report and sent me to a mental hygiene clinic. There a young psychiatrist gave me about 20 minutes. He was very decent to me, and took some notes. He advised me to be as careful as possible, but said that I was incurable. On a second

A CASE STUDY OF FETISHISM

visit I was interviewed by another psychia- trist, also sympadietic.

At another time I was following a couple of girls down a city street, hoping for a good view of their shoes and legs. They noticed it, became alarmed and spoke to a policeman. He called to me and blew his whistle. I got frightened and ran. He followed, caught me and arrested me. I could easily have gotten away but was paralyzed with fright. He collared me and pushed me ahead of him. At the station I was finger-printed and put in the municipal jail. Later this officer came to my cell with a man called the public defender. At first he appeared to be very friendly, and asked me questions like "You like to masturbate, don't you?" "You like to lay with men?" "You like to dream about women, don't you?" Then he said, "You have dementia praecox." He mispronounced the words so badly that if I had not known what he was trying to say I would not have understood him. He suggested various sex practices regarded as degenerate, then be- came incensed with me when I denied any such impulses. Finally he became angry with me and left. The next morning I went before the judge. I gave him a letter I had written the night before, explaining truth- fully what my motive had been in following the girls and giving him some of the facts about my abnormality. After reading it and weighing the evidence he was inclined to let me go. The arresting officer, who had earlier treated me with great contempt and indignation—told me I wasn't human—pro- tested against letting me go. The assistant district attorney advised the judge that he thought I should be held for ten days' observation.

A flash picture was taken of me in court and published in the paper the next day. It finished me in that city. I lost my friends there. I served my ten days and was dis- charged. I received no psychiatric interview of any kind.

A practical solution of the problem, through the discovery that living models were not essential to gratification of the fetish urge, was discovered by accident.

A few years ago I saw a motion picture called "The Golden Calf," based on a plot to find the most beautiful legs in Hollywood.

148 There were about 20 minutes of film devoted entirely to leg exhibitions. During these scenes I experienced two ejaculations the first time it was shown, and I followed it out to small neighborhood theatres with gratifica- tion each time. This inspired me to get my own camera and projection machine, and to develop my own films. I have taken many hundreds of feet of film and always enjoy complete satisfaction regardless of how many times I look at the same pictures. I have employed girls in brothels for this purpose, but the best pictures I have taken were non- professional girls who were under the im- pression that I was interested in photography solely for sales promotion of hosiery. I advertised for hosiery models in a daily paper. I had cards printed representing me as a publicity agent for an American hosiery com- pany and had forms made up for the appli- cants to fill out. I rented a large hotel room with a reception annex for the purpose of interviewing, and while the applicants filled out the forms I revelled in watching their legs. When a model met with my complete approval I took motion pictures of her walk- ing and seated which displayed her legs to best advantage. For this purpose I used the shade and texture of hose which were most alluring, along with patent leather opera pumps. I kept the three most common sizes of shoes on hand at all times. I prefer a long slender-shaped foot and long legs. The majority of my models were 5-8 or 5-9 in height. I arranged lamps before mirrors for lighting purposes when taking picture's and got satisfactory results. The models were never suspicious of unnatural interest in their legs, even when I boldly used a tape measure to get exact measurements of calf in relation to knee and ankle. During these procedures I frequently had orgasms and was always at a high tension of anticipation.

By instructing them to sit, walk and gyrate their ankles and shoes in a manner especially exciting to me I have obtained the maximum enjoyment possible by no other method. The absence of risk and the sense of com- plete security is important. It is necessary to run the film no more than 15 minutes at the most to be completely satisfied, though I sometimes practice interruption for the sake of prolonging the pleasure. I never mastur-

VERNON W. GRANT

bate while watching these pictures. The build-up is rapid and the climax more intense than it would be in actual association with living models. I have used these pictures without ever losing interest dirough famil- iarity. They continue to excite me with maximum pleasure. In no single instance are the pictures suggestive or lascivious; they are confined to leg displays not higher than the garter.

I have had no intercourse in over three years and rely entirely on my camera as an outlet for sexual desires, which have dimin- ished from about twice a week to three or four times a month. Occasionally I see a woman on the street who fires my imagina- tion as a bed companion, but the urge is never very strong. I have experienced pleas- ure in normal intercourse comparable with that of the shoe fetishism, but this was only when I was infatuated or exceptionally fond of the girl. However, I have had only one experience with a girl when the shoe was not needed to make intercourse satisfactory. On a few occasions I have asked prostitutes about their experiences with fetishists. While I learned of three or four cases that resembled my own, none of them knew of a case of the use of motion pictures for this purpose.

COMMENT

Concerning the intensity of the urge: "Nothing else in my life can compare with it—it's so absorbing." When free of attach- ments, and when resources and circumstances made possible the regular satisfaction of his needs without risk or anxiety, he acknowl- edges that he would not wish to be rid of his peculiar desire because of the intensity of the fascination, excitement, and profound satisfaction it offers.

Among the founders of the scientific study of fetishism was Alfred Binet (i). He stressed the significance of forms representing an intermediate position between highly specialized and exclusive susceptibilities, com- monly regarded as unquestionably patho- logical, and those thoroughly familiar pref- erences which comprise the phenomenon of normal sexual choice. The latter he regarded as "minor" fetishisms. In some degree everyone, he suggested, is a fetishist hi sexual interest in so far as he finds himself

A CASE STUDY OF FETISHISM

from time to time especially attracted by this or that feature or trait. While the near- normal varieties of fetishism do not lead to such extravagances as the theft of hair-locks, or the compulsive effect of a voice of dis- tinctive timbre, or of a peculiarly intriguing grace of movement in walking, they may yet be the basis, Binet suggests, of certain liaisons or marriages which astonish everyone by the absence, in one member of the pair, of any generally recognized or commonly valued traits of attraction. Similar observa- tions on intermediate forms have been re- corded by Kahn (6, p. 152) and by Ellis (2, p. in).

The commonest of "erotic symbolisms," according to Ellis, are those which involve the foot and shoe; he suggests that the frequency of foot fetishism may seem more comprehen- sible when it is considered that in some parts of the world, as among the southern Chinese, the foot is "generally recognized as a form of sexual attraction" (2, p. 21). He cites evi- dence of emphasis on the sexual value of the foot in oriental pornography and other data from which a parallel might be drawn be- tween the sexual value of the foot, in

Chinese culture, and that of the breast, for example, in our own. The writer recently noted an American magazine advertisement of a i6-mm. motion-picture featuring nu- merous close-ups of walking and dancing movements by girls wearing "stilt high" shoes of patent leather, with a six-inch heel. While other items of appeal were specified, the accent fell beyond question upon the movements of the feet and the character of the shoes. If demand for material of this kind is such that its production is com- mercially profitable, the possibility is sug- gested that interest in this direction, of var- ious degrees, may be more than a rarity.

REFERENCES

1. BINET, A, Lc fetichisme dans 1'amour. In ttudes de psychologic experimental* Paris; Octave Doin; 1891.

2. ELLIS, H. Studies in the psychology of sex. New York: Random House, 1936. Vol. II, Pt. I.

3. FERE, C. Sexual degeneration in mankind and in animals. New York: Anthropological Press, 1932.

4. GRANT, V. W. A fetishistic theory of amorous fix- ation. /. soc. Psychol., 1949, 30, 17-37.

5. HIRSCHFELD, M. Sexual pathology. Newark: Julian Press, 1932.

6. KAHN, E. Psychopathic personalities. New Haven: Yale Univer. Press, 1931.

Received March 14, 1952.