The phenomenon of fetishism was studied by many psychologists and sociologists. In the end of 19th century Sigmund Freud offered a theory of fetishism on psychoanalytic background. Freud introduced fetishism as a form of paraphilia; in this case a part of body, like foot, finger, toe, etc. becomes an object of affection. He described sexual (psychological) fetishism like male’s anxiety, based on fear of castration, when he discovers the absence of penis in female genitals. According to Freud, a part of the body, which grabbed the attention of a little boy after such a discovery, can become a fetish and cause that childish anxiety during all the life. Sexual fetishism is not supposed to occur in females, or it is extremely rare.
The reasons and psychological nature of sexual fetishism are not very well discovered, that is why it is not considered to be a disease or disorder, if it is not accompanied with another mental disturbance. In modern understanding sexual fetishism means not only anxiety about a part of the body. Any things or objects, associated with erotic and sexual rise, like special elements of garments or stimulating items (whips, high-heeled shoes, etc.) can become a sexual fetishes, which are categorized by theorists like form fetishes (their shape and form are the most important) and media fetishes (the material is the most important, like leather or silk). Common examples of sexual fetishism are foot fetishism, pantyhose fetishism, leather fetishism, spandex fetishism, etc.
In last decades term fetishism started being applied to a great multiplicity of behavioral acts, which are far of sexual or economical factors. For example, the addiction of following recent trends and tendencies in social life, fashion and style can be called as fashion fetishism, which is more likely to feature females. Every young lady or a woman has a set of widely advertised cosmetics, up to a dozen of pares of shoes; she likes changing color of her hair and visits beauty saloons and sport-clubs. It is trendy to keep up with cinema novices, to be aware of the latest projects of Keanu Reeves or Eminem, to have a driver’s license, to complete a management course, to be aware about the latest events unfolding in “Sex and the City”, to have snakes in MacDonalds and listen to hip-hop. We all like trying something new and attractive, that means we all are a little bit fashion fetishists.
Popular slogan: “Everyone has a fetish” definitely has some sense. Every single person has something to like and someone to admire. People used to try to absorb and to collect some good spirit, positive emotions and feelings from seeing or communicating with someone special, and little fetishes-reminders, like pictures or autographs, help to keep that anxiety alive for long time. Everyone may see some meaning and importance in little amulets and talismans, which are supposed to bring luck and good fortune. Any of us may like wearing something particular or using things of a special color and shape. There is something special for any individual, which stimulates sexual desire and excites the inner perception the most. Until the tendency of adoring some thing or entity becomes maniacal and obsessive, having a variety of little objects-fetishes is rather normal and natural for anybody.
In the 19th century the concept of fetishism was studied from economical point of view by Karl Marx, who engaged this term in opening chapter of his main work, Capital to describe a false perception of “commodities” in capitalistic society with complex market systems. The idea of commodity fetishism takes source from the tendency of people to give much more value to the goods and commodities they buy, then to labor of people who produced them. For example, an owner of a luxury car has more advantageous economical position than workers and technicians, who produce such cars. So, the belief according to commodity fetishism is that for an owner of such car his car is more important than people.
A fetish is a thing or an object, which, according to the beliefs or psychological attitude of a person, has a supernatural influence, power or abilities, or from the other point of view, a thing which has supremacy over people. Fetishism is the condition of belonging to such mental or conscious dependency. In other words, a fetish is an entity, which attracts unusual, anomalous attention of a person, and drastically dominates in the perception of the situation. Thus, fetishism is a tendency to focus on special things and entities and to surrender such one-sided perception of the environment, which decreases the influence of other entities in surrounding system of objects.