Fetishistic objectification is a term used by some psychoanalysts to refer to receiving stimulation from a part of the anatomy or the lingerie that is used to cover it. So for instance when you talk about a man's package or a woman's rack you're indulging in a form of fetishistic objectification. It's a little like an erotic form of synecdoche, the figure of speech which refers to taking the part for the whole. For instance, fifty head for cattle, the White House for the presidency, the law for the police are all examples of synecdoche. Synecdoche, New York was also the name of a Charlie Kaufman movie which starred the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and which employs another kind of fetishizing that occurs when you attempt to make art out of life or vice versa. But this erotic form of synecdoche also occurs in the sex act itself. We refer to getting laid rather than making love and then there are the varying kinds of foreplay, fellatio, cunnilingus, analingus which all seem to thingify sex. When you talk about getting or giving a blow job, about fucking or getting fucked you are attempting to create an illusion that sexuality is devoid of emotion. It's just another act like say brushing one's teeth or masticating a piece of meat. The fact is that butt fucking someone is an activity that is laden with emotion. Without the emotion, the act would be so denuded of significance as to be lacking in stimulation. The same is true about sucking a penis. It's a statement. It's fun and exciting to suck or be sucked for that matter, but under normal circumstances most people don't want a large object inserted into their mouths, unless that object has meaning for them.
{This was originally posted to The Screaming Pope, Francis Levy's blog of rants and reactions to contemporary politics, art and culture}
photo of jockstrap by Jacklee