The Cyber Effect Read Online Free PDF Page B

seeing the fetish object or thinking about the fetish behavior. In Haskins’s cranking case, he had prior arrests as a juvenile for breaking into cars and joyriding, and perhaps these were thrilling adventures that he continually wanted to relive. Each time he broke into a car, his behavior was rewarded—reinforcing and strengthening the fetish. The more he took risks to do a little cranking, the more ingrained the behavior became. This is how conditioning works.
    The growing number of websites catering to sexual fetishes involving cars (including pedalsupreme.​com, which offers “pedal pumping, engine cranking, leg and foot videos and pictures”) is a sign that this is an escalating trend. There is also a YouTube channel, pumpthatpedaldotcom, which offers a new installment every week. According to sexologist Dr. Susan Block, one possible psychological explanation for this behavior is thatthe “ ‘vroom’ of the engine reminds them of their own libidos being revved up.”
    A fetish can be created in a lab.In one classical conditioning experiment a group of male subjects in a laboratory were repeatedly shown erotic slides of nude women. Occasionally, an image of women’s boots would appear in the slideshow. Soon the men had a sexual response to the photograph of boots alone, and over time they responded to images of other types of women’s shoes. If a photograph of a pair of women’s boots could be used so easily to condition desire, imagine how the Internet with its infinite supply of images could inspire, instill, and sustain a fetish.
    That brings us back to Jordan Haskins, who lost the election for the 95th District after he’d become a viral story—and the subject of unkind scrutiny and fascination. “You may not respect my policies, you may not respect my ideas, but you at least have to respect me as a person,” Haskins said. But I don’t think too many people did.
Politicians + Paraphilia
    Unusual sexual behaviors were once labeled “deviant” or “perverted,” even in clinical references. More recently, a less charged, less judgmental umbrella term,
paraphilia
, was adopted to describe a range of atypical behaviors that include fetishes.
Paraphilia
means “beyond usual or typical love.” This alludes to the fact that these behaviors are not commonly associated with a traditional romantic relationship. Given the apparent rise in the number of websites catering to paraphilia, atypical sexual behavior may be becoming more common.
    You don’t have to look too far for examples in public life of individuals who, like Jordan Haskins, had everything to lose—and lost it—when unusual or bizarre sexual behavior was exposed. I’m thinking of U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner and the explicit photographs of himself that he sent to unsuspecting women he’d met online. I’m thinking of U.S. senator David Vitter and his urge to be diapered, which required the services of prostitutes. And I’m thinking of New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who insisted on keeping on his calf-length black socks when he had sex with a call girl. Remarkably enough, the marriages of these politicians, with the exception of Spitzer, survived after their unusual sexual habits came to light. The actor David Carradine, who was found dead and hanging inside a hotel room closet, wasn’t so fortunate. According to an ex-wife, he was into an extremely dangerous autoerotic asphyxiation paraphilia called
hypoxyphilia
, consisting of practices that restrict the flow of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.
    The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition
, or DSM-5, the most recent version of the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals worldwide, breaks down paraphilia into eight main types of disorders:exhibitionistic disorder, fetishistic disorder, frotteuristic disorder, pedophilic disorder, sexual masochism disorder, sexual sadism disorder, transvestic disorder, and