Fetish/Headscratchers


 * Where the heck do fetishes come from?
 * The sexual arousal a person recieves from a physical object; so, the mind, just like anything else...but with more input from the crotch.
 * I think the above troper meant "how are fetishes developed?" Which is a good question!
 * Some wires in the brain get crossed?
 * I might have some insight. This troper and a friend (both queer men) were swapping stories, and we realized that both of our big fetishes developed from having to be extremely discrete as closeted kids back in high school. For me, catching glimpses down a boy's shirtsleeve was the most skin I'd ever see - and thus an armpit fetish was born. For him, seeing a boy's bare feet made them appear much more vulnerable and almost naked - and thus his foot fetish. I imagine it's similar for many people.
 * This troper thinks that body part fetishes are probably biological somehow (just like finding someone's face, chest, hips, etc. attractive). Non-body fetishes are a little harder, but I think it might having something to do with finding traits and qualities turn-ons, which happen to be manifested on a physical object or look. For example, a glasses fetish (like this troper has) might be an extension of finding smart or scholarly people attractive, and certain types of costume or dress (schoolgirl, action girl, leather, etc.) can code for different personalities or kinks we find attractive.
 * This troper agrees with the above, but also brings up the theory that it's tied to one's upbringing, and that during teenage years when the brain is all rewired (as mentioned above), some things are changed from being pleasing to being... pleasing. I grew up always building cities out of Lego and Hot Wheels toys, and ended up a macrophiliac. Coincidence? Probably, but the early interest in scale makes me think that a connection is possible. Somebody who was often bullied as a kid would probably be into having a stronger partner, and so forth. This wouldn't account for all possibilities like the ones above do, but they are certainly possible for a few select cases.
 * It probably has a lot to do with childhood or early sexual development. As you're learning about getting turned on in general, any accompanying factors probably get lumped in along with it.
 * As a kid growing up in the 1990s, the most skin I would ever glimpse on a girl would be from the stomach when a shirt rode up - hence my midriff fetish. The TV shows on at the time were Power Rangers and Sailor Moon, which frequently featured mind control plots. Cue my mind control fetish.
 * How in the hell did I wind up so attracted to gas masks, of all things?
 * Of all the fetishes to not find totally strange and creepy (while at the same time not having said fetish), did it have to be Nazi fetishists? To me, it makes sense because...well, really; tall, blond, blue-eyed Germans in uniform...you just know someone made a propaganda ad to encourage support for Nazism. And it worked. I'm just wondering why I don't consider it that weird...