People Who Love Objects - Not Just a Fetish?

The women who are notorious for being "in love with the Eiffel Tower" and "married to the Berlin Wall" - activists representing a small group known as Objectum Sexuals and Objektophiles - have become easy targets for ridicule thanks to the internet, right wing bloggers, and YouTube videos. These women have been interviewed in print media and have appeared on numerous television shows such as the British "Strangelove" series, Good Morning America, The Tyra Show and others. 

However, there is very little understanding of Objectum Sexuality, as most sexuality and psychology professionals have quickly tossed this rare orientation into the catch-all category of fetishes and paraphilias and thus are inquiring no further. 

This is a pity for those folks, and yet it's been great for me, as I've been able to venture into very fresh, uncharted terrain. 

I was lucky enough to be the first person to conduct any type of research in this community, and my simple survey of 21 English speaking members of OS-Internationale revealed some very interesting features.

I've written a three-part series, "People Who Love Objects," as part of my Love's Outer Limits column on www.carnalnation.com. This series offers personal perspective and insights from the survey, as well as the intriguing theory that OS may be linked to Object Personification Synesthesia. This is interesting given the predominance of Asperger's Syndrome diagnoses and/or identification among the 21 OS members surveyed and the fact that synesthesia is found in a greater percentage among people on the Autism spectrum. It also provides a possible answer to the question that won't go away, "how on earth could anyone actually believe they have a relationship with an object?" 

This page on my Asperger's Intimacy Counseling and Education Project website has a link to the columns, as well as a link to a PDF copy of my Marsh Spectrum of Human/Object Intimacy: http://www.tantra-intimacy-aspergers.com/id22.html

I am presently planning a more reliable study of the OS group, hopefully through CARAS. If you have questions or comments, I would love to hear them!