Paraphilia

experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, or individuals

Paraphilia is a word used in sociology and medicine. Like many other medical terms it comes from Ancient Greek. It means that someone is sexually aroused by people (or by things) that are unable to return their affection. The word can also be used to refer to sexual practices which are bad for the mind or body and are mental disorders.

When doctors talk about paraphilia, they usually mean one of the following, among other things:

The respective behaviour is only classified as paraphilia if it is the only means for the person involved to get sexually aroused, for a considerable time.

When normal people talk about paraphilia, they usually mean non-mainstream sexual behaviour.

Homosexuality (LGBT) used to be considered a paraphilia, but this is no longer the case in a lot of countries. However, in a lot of other countries it is still considered abnormal. The opposite of paraphilia is normophilia. An example of a normophilia is teleiophilia.[2]

References

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  1. Eating, Sleeping, and Sex - Page 232 Andrew Baum - 1989
  2. Hames, Raymond, and Ray Blanchard. "Anthropological data regarding the adaptiveness of hebephilia." Archives of Sexual Behavior 41.4 (2012): 745-747.