Voyeurism

Voyeurism, or voyeuristic disorder, is a paraphilia in which a person derives sexual pleasure from the act or fantasy of watching unsuspecting people while they are undressing, bathing, participating in sexual acts, or engaging in other private activities. Voyeurs are also commonly known as “Peeping Toms” or simply, “peepers.” Males are more likely to engage in voyeuristic behaviors…

Frotteurism

Frotteurism, also known as frotteuristic disorder, is defined as a paraphilia in which a person is sexually aroused by the act or fantasy of making unwanted — and often unrecognized — physical contact with others, generally while in public spaces.1 Because frotteuristic acts usually take the form of rubbing oneself on an unsuspecting person, it…

Zoophilia and Bestiality

Zoophilia describes the feelings of sexual arousal or sexual preference for non-human animals. Zoophilia and zoophiles are not to be confused with furries, who are fixated on anthropomorphic or cartoon animals and are rarely sexually motivated in this fixation.7 This form of sexual arousal is considered a paraphilia, or a condition characterized by atypical sexual…

Necrophilia

Necrophilia describes a paraphilia in which an individual is aroused or attracted to fantasies of or potentially direct sexual contact with the dead. Contact between the necrophile and the corpse can take the form of penile-vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, oral sex, or masturbation in the presence of a corpse, but can also solely manifest as fantasy. Experts and lawmakers consider the explicit practice of necrophilia as…

Hotlines

The following is a compiled list of organizations and phone numbers we hope are resourceful. Although our team has put into researching credible and current establishments, please note that we do not endorse any of these organizations and are not notified of possible changes in contact information, so it is possible that some numbers may…

Rape

Disclaimer: We acknowledge that there are many different words that individuals use to describe themselves after experiencing sexual assault. In this article we use the term ‘survivor’ for the sake of consistency. We acknowledge that there are many different ways of processing sexual violence, and believe each individual person should choose the language that they are…