Objectum Sexual : A Strange Kind of Love
This story seems to be following me around!
I heard it on the radio a couple of weeks ago - then I saw a commercial for the documentary yesterday - and today in the car, I heard more about it on ABC News Radio.
A new (or at least newly named) kind of sexual orientation is the subject of a BBC documentary, premiering in the United States this week.
What is this sexual orientation? It is a sexual attraction toward inanimate objects. A chair, a building, a tea cup or anything else that a person forms a deep emotional and sexual bond with.
Several people are followed and interviewed, as they talk about the love they feel for these objects. One women fell in love with the Eiffel Tower so deeply that she had a commitment ceremony with it and changed her last name to Eiffel. She describes the Eiffel Tower as having "subtle, subtle curves...".
Others have relationships with musical instruments or even the Berlin Wall.
The women who married the Eiffel Tower is photographed, spread out on the Eiffel Tower, and smiling. She's happy.
Some sexual health experts believe that this is a new sexual orientation and is as normal as straight love, gay love or any other kind of love.
Others, especially those who know Mrs. Eiffel personally, believe her to be mentally ill. Erica Eiffel is a world class archer and dated her archery bow. She has also had a relationship with a bridge and won a $250,000 scholarship to the Air Force, and admitted a romantic relationship with an F-15.
She was discharged from the Air Force due to her Objectum Sexual and says she has been ostracized from friends and family. But she says she is happy and hurting no-one.
In studying the small but growing group of Objectum Sexuals, researchers have found the incidence of Asperger's Syndrome or Autism to be quite high. Erica Eiffel does admit she had a very abusive childhood but believe she was born this way. She also believes the Eiffel Tower loves her back.
For more information on this subject, there is an Objectum Sexual website which can be found here : http://www.objectum-sexuality.org/
The BBC documentary I Married the Eiffel Tower airs on BBC America on Thursday this week.
Tell Us
Is this a sexual orientation, just like homo, hetero or bisexuality? Or is this a mental illness like some believe? Others believe it to be mere attention seeking and exhibitionism. What do you think?
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Feel free to copy and paste, Erika. You know me by another handle, and I will soon visit the group.
To Erika and the 2nd Anon:
Your sharing here is so helpful, and clear. I want to say thank you for opening up. You are helping others understand something that is very different from "the norm," and it's never better than when it's right from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Erika, I like and understand your feelings of transference of energy, and they make sense to me. I can see why your innate sensitivity to touch and temperature play such a large role in your life. I think that others' criticisms of you are largely based in either(a) not being able to understand a relationship that would seem to not be reciprocal or (b) the fact that they wish for you affection from another person, in hopes that it would bring even greater joy to your life.
Anon 2, you are so correct about the need to accept that our brains are all different -- in many ways that we don't even yet comprehend. Maybe in the end, that's actually the place where we will all find common ground. In the meantime, companionship, intellectual stimulation, ideas and support are more than some people are lucky enough to experience in a lifetime.
Hello Diane,
I am glad I stumbled upon this blog... mainly because of the comment "Others, especially those who know Mrs. Eiffel personally, believe her to be mentally ill." I was disappointed the writer would post this based on a couple comments from the ABC site when there were more comments from those who stand behind my way of love and life AND my sanity... :)
Indeed I realize I am different minus the usual comments that pound home that fact and I understand that people wish me to be happy... however, they are wishing/forcing their own form of happiness on me and by doing so have made me very unhappy over my life. My love for objects has brought me immense amounts of joy and positive direction in my life and finally I have the courage and the voice to stand up for others like me. Erika
People tend to look at the world through frames of reference comprised of their own life experiences, feelings, and beliefs. This is why the old cliques are ever present of putting yourself in another's shoes or seeing something from someone else's point of view. People have a very difficult time doing this.
My take on any issue, whether it be OS or something else, is that if it isn't harming anyone else and the person at issue is happy with their life and themselves, then go forth in peace and happiness. Why is it our job to judge the choices of others?
I am childfree by choice and I have heard everything under the sun about that decision. I enjoy my life sans children. I enjoy children, but I don't care to have any of my own. Much the way I enjoy seeing snakes at the zoo, but I don't want them living with me. A lot of people believe children are necessary to have true fulfillment and joy in life just as many people believe a relationship with another person is necessary for fulfillment and joy in life. Pardon my rather crass language, but I call bullshit on both of those concepts. If you're happy in your life with or without a man/woman/partner and with or without children or whatever else everyone is telling you that you must/must not have, then MORE POWER TO YOU!
I find this article really interesting. It really grinds my gears when people refer to homosexuality/bisexuality as a disorder, because love is love, right? But when I first heard of objectum secuality, I was rather perplexed. I wasn't sure what to think. At first, I considered the possibility that it was a disorder and people of that sexuality were mentally ill. But then, I researched it some more, and now, well, I know there are a lot of unexplainable things in the world and I need to always keep an open mind. I don't know what objectum sexuals feel like, so I can't say confidently that it's not love. If they say objects really love them back, who am I to say they're wrong? I'm just another confused person trying to find what makes me happy. I say, people should have the right to love whoever or what ever they please; to pursue happiness. No one knows how anyone feels, except themselves, so we can only speak for ourselves. Personally, I don't go by a sexual orientation. I'm just attracted to certain people, male or female. I guess you could say I'm bi, but why bother labeling everything? I read that once you put a word to an idea, you take the initial intelligence out of the thought. I don't know how true it is, but it sounds nice. I'm young, only fourteen, so please don't think I'm stupid. I'm still finding my way in this world. Isn't everyone, though?