Do fetishes run in families?

Question

If so, is it just due to the parents conditioning and their interests subconsciously being picked up by the child, because they notice that their parents response to an object or an act?

Answer 1

Freudian-style fetishes - which is the sort of fetish you're probably talking about, Little Miss Naughty - are psychological. As Freud would have had it, foundational experiences from childhood have a lot to do with the development of everything psychological, and parents have an overwhelming influence on a child's life. Freud was brilliant but, of course, overrated.

That said, psychological proclivities are strongly influenced by genetics, though no one is sure to what extent. What this means for your questions is that specific fetishes are not going to be inherited genetically, but that the proclivity to have a sexual fixation of some kind could be. The specific object of a fetish is going to be determined by a mixture of:

a) the proclivity for a sexual fixation (which is going to be partly genetic, and partly derived from experience);
b) social influences - i.e., what sort of values does society attach to the object, and thus what sort of values are most readily available for the subject to latch onto;
and c) personal experiences that allow for a connection early on between the fetish object and the subject's sexuality (which could certainly include parental input along with a variety of other sources).

I'll make up an example. Say, we have a guy here who has a thing for shoes. He needs shoes to get off. So:
a) He probably has a proclivity for some sort of sexual fixation, which is going to be both genetically and environmentally determined.
b) He probably has picked up on the social meaning of shoes, which in the West might have connotations of dirt (as shoes are a barrier between the ground and one's body) or success (as having a fly pair of shoes is really highly valued in some segments of our society).
c) And, he has probably had some kind of formational experience where the social meanings of the fetish object (shoes) congealed with his psychological proclivities; say, he might have learned from his parents or his mates that success of a certain kind is really sexy, or that sex is something that should be dirty to be enjoyed.

My example is weak, I gotta say, but that's only because any one person's path to being a fetishist is going to be different, and there really is no way to give you any satisfactory general answer to your question. Every fetishist is bound to be different. In any case it is definitely not going to be *just* the parents; there will always be other factors.

Answer 2

I think a child will gain a fetish if it's something that they correlate to a positive feeling. For example, if a child does not receive much attention from a parent-but gets attention by being bad and subsequently punished by a mild spanking. The child might grow up to associate spanking with attention and enjoy it with a partner. But most people do not air their fetishes in public and might not always understand why they find a certain act interesting.

Answer 3

I have a suspicion that they do. There are some that will say "but what if the parents were prudes?" My answer is that they THOUGHT stuff and never had the guts to do it. Look, people are kinky.

They can also be a certain kind of imprinting from youth, like a fear of, or love of clowns.

Answer 4

I would certainly agree that if a fetish is in the forfront of a family, that the children being predisposed will make their own assumptions wether or not they like it as well. As with food, fashion, or entertainment being exposed to it just helps you make a better opinion.

Answer 5

It depends if the kids where around the parents or they could be born with it.

Answer 6

Yes it is common in most famlies when a kid or person sees another person doing soething they most likely catch on to their fetish.

Answer 7

They can, but sexuality is an individualized preference regardless of esoterica or sociality.

Answer 8

I don't know. My oldest daughter hates feet with a passion, but her four year old son LOVES them!

Answer 9

What?
Yes I believe they do.
But I am sure most are kept secrete or ignored.

Answer 10

thee4s no way to tell