Acrotomophilia (from the Greek "having the top cut off"; from "extremity" and - from "I cut" and "love") is a paraphilia in which an individual expresses strong sexual interest in amputees. It is a counterpart to apotemnophilia, the desire (although not necessarily sexual) to be an amputee.
Overview Acrotomophiles may be attracted to amputees because they like the way they look or they may view the amputee's stump as a phallic object which can be used for sexual pleasure. Acrotomophiles may enjoy the idea of dominating the amputee during couples play and they may also become aroused with the thought of taking care of an amputee.
Interests and behaviours In a survey of acrotomophiles, leg amputations were preferred over arm amputations, amputations of a single limb over double amputations, and amputations that left a stump over amputations that left no stump.Dixon, D. (1983). "An erotic attraction to amputees". Sexuality and Disability, 6, 3–19. According to Per Solvang (2007), "Devotees adhere to standard conceptions of attractiveness in all other matters outside of amputations."Solvang, P. (2007). The amputee body desired: Beauty destabilized? Disability re-valued? Sexuality and Disability, 25, 51–64.
Ethical issues Some people question whether amputating one's own body parts or operating on a partner for the sake of sexual pleasure is ethical. For some, modifying the body is a private ritual of self-ownership and freedom of choice. Psychiatrists may make a diagnosis of body integrity identity disorder.Robin Marantz Henig. (March 22, 2005). "At War with Their Bodies, They Seek to Sever Limbs". The New York Times. Retrieved: 2008.02.08.fleshbot.com (March 22, 2005). "Devotees, Pretenders and Wannabes" ().
Terminology The term amelotatism has also been used to describe acrotomophilia. The sexual interest in being an amputee is apotemnophilia.John Money, Kent W. Simcoe (1984). "Acrotomophilia, sex and disability: New concepts and case report". Sexuality and Disability Journal. Springer Netherlands. (Print), (Online).Janice M. Irvine (2005). Disorders of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Modern American Sexology. . p. 4. John Money (1977) used the terms autoapotemnophilia and alloapotemnophilia to describe the erotic interest of wanting to be or appear as an amputee versus wanting amputees as sexual partners;Money, J., Jobaris, R., & Furth, G. (1977). "Apotemnophilia: Two Cases of Self Demand Amputation as a Sexual Preference". The Journal of Sex Research, 13, pp. 115–124. . neither term has been widely used since. The term teratophilia is used to describe arousal from deformed or monstrous people.
See also Attraction to disability Body dysmorphic disorder Boxing Helena, a feature film concerning amputee fetishism Disability Genital modification and mutilation List of paraphilias
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