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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Add a Comment21 Comments
Feel free to copy and paste, Erika. You know me by another handle, and I will soon visit the group.
April 11, 2009 - 6:37pmThis Comment
Hello, I am the first Anon, Erika. This goes out to the second Anon.
I don't know how to put this any other way... but to say thank you. I have read 1000's of comments over the years about OS when it first hit the trenches of the internet. While all of the remarks were not bad and many of them were very supportive, your insightful comment truly spoke a relevant truth. Not just for OS people but for all those out there under the bell curve who happen to be on the edge. A copy and paste is in order. I wish to share your comment with the OS community.
PS: Yes, you are correct. I am an animist and there is much more than a simple energy exchange occurring.
April 11, 2009 - 12:11pmThis Comment
This is a different anonymous.
April 11, 2009 - 5:39amAll right, there was a companion program about men who really, really love their cars. Wonder what story the so-called experts will spin about that?
Some folks--breaking news--are just wired up differently, and it only becomes a problem when those around them mistreat them because of it, driving them further away. Erika is fortunate that she now has friends who support her, and whom she in turn can give support to. Her needs for human companionship can be filled that way, and so it's no biggie if she gets other emotional needs, or even physical ones, elsewhere--just so she isn't hurting anyone, which so far as I can tell she isn't.
I am asexual, and the thing I need from people is companionship and intellectual stimulation. I'm still a lone wolf and more into ideas [sometimes things]so some think I am strange, but if they aren't smart enough to accept me as I am they don't deserve the honor of my presence.
Not all of us fit neatly onto any sort of "autistic spectrum". That is a concept that has gotten stretched all out of shape before it even found a good use. I can only hope that as neurodiversity becomes more accepted, a lot of differences will no longer be considered disorders, and people with unusual vulnerabilities/needs will not only have those needs met but also be recognized to have unusual strengths.
As for what actually happens, I suspect there might be more going on than a simple temperature-equalization. A belief that there is some sort of energy (or "spirit") in everything is no sillier than a belief that some authority figure in the sky is watching our every move and ready to pounce--or that everything that goes on in anyone's mind can be simply reduced to the by-products of the mental modules of ancient apes. I really don't have the words to articulate what I believe, but I think we all could stand to have a little respect for what we don't happen to understand. There's no way we are going to "get" everything we encounter, however smart we are--it might have something to do with Godel, maybe--when I run into something that squicks me out and I can't quite say why, but it isn't an obvious danger, I just leave it alone. I still wouldn't mind if folks of every persuasion toned down the public displays of affection, but hey, we've all got 2 eyes that can shut and a neck that can turn.
Speaking of obvious danger, if abuse caused OS there'd be a lot more OS people around--and some OS-ers were not abused.
A necessary part of health is recognition and understanding of the diversity of minds as well as bodies.
This Comment
Something that came out of the BBC program is that, while unconventional, this state of mind or condition, whatever it is, is very real to the women (around 40 worldwide) who are known to be objectum sexuals. The comment that objectum sexuals are mostly women was rather interesting, and there seemed to be a correlation to a "broken" relationship with the father that was carried further into an inability to hold a "normal" relationship with a male. An article I found online (I don't know how reliable the source) suggested some level of childhood abuse or traumatic relationship.
Asperger's Disorder was also raised as a possible commonality among a small number of the women. Whatever the case may be, it was interesting to see how the women featured in the program felt their own sense of joy when talking about the objects of their affection.
Personally, I still don't "get it," this notion than a human could have such a strong visceral connection to an object that would otherwise be shared with another human.
Then again, we're all only human and who knows what really makes anyone "tick."
April 9, 2009 - 9:28pmThis Comment
Also I might add a forewarning about the UK Documentary mentioned above. It is a horrible portrayal of my way of love and life and I regret trusting that salacious seeking director.
In my naivety I let her set me up for scenes only to find out after airing her intent was shock value via sexual connotations. Much of the words I use are directed. I am not an openly sexual person at all. The other woman is. I was constantly compared to this woman and was at odds with the director throughout filming.
A note to all who watch the horrible documentary. I did not consummate with the Eiffel Tower. That is a bold faced lie to which I am still battling with the producers.
Also, I am very offended that she tried to pathologize my OS. I may have had a difficult upbringing but there are many others who have also had similar or worse and they are not OS.
As I see it: I am not OS because of traumatic events in my life. I am an OS person who has had traumatic things happen in my life.
Regards, Erika
April 9, 2009 - 9:24pmThis Comment
Hello rlyons, thank you for your questions. This is the only blog I have joined amongst the many that are having a time with my confession.
Indeed, it is easy to assume that my relations with objects relegates me to a life of isolation but I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me. I am not a recluse who has no relationships. In fact I have a great circle of friends and I don't need or wish anything more from them... I love them and would give the shirt off my back but the higher emotional relationship you are referring to is strictly between me and the one I love which happens to be an object. I have been this way my entire life and while I have dated in an effort to conform, it was a lie and the person sensed this and I only ended up hurting us both.
My love for objects is the stuff you mention and then some.
As for children, I cannot have them nor have I ever had a desire to raise them. Yet I do appreciate the wonder and joy of the young. I absolutely love coaching kids in archery. One of my kids just won two national championships!
Please if you will... consider if you can... that I am actually happy the way I am. :)
April 9, 2009 - 9:08pmThis Comment
Erika,
April 9, 2009 - 11:43amIf you don't mind, I have some questions?
Have you or would you still EVER considering having a sexual relationship with a man? Do you connect well with other people?
Is your love aesthetic, spiritual and/ or sexual in nature?
Do you feel completely fulfilled or do you ever feel you are missing our on a relationship with a man(or woman)and maybe having children?
Have you always felt this way?
Sorry for the many questions. I am very interested in what you have to say.
This Comment
Hello Diane, thank you for your question. It is refreshing to have an intelligent inquiry verses the usual simple-minded and often crude ones.
Strictly speaking of physical reciprocation, I have a deep sense of energy exchange with my object love utilizing tactile and sensory connection. For example, temperature is one means. When I come in contact with my Bridge, there is a period of exchange as our temperatures equalize.
As for being any more than an object of love... since this is all I have ever known, I truly can't answer that. I guess to the rest of the world, minus others like myself, that may be all it is. But to me I am quite content and frankly very happy in my way of love and life even if taken at less face value by the rest of the world. Regards, Erika
April 9, 2009 - 10:01amThis Comment
Anon, we'd love to hear more from you personally.
One of the questions I have is simply this -- in a sexual relationship, whether homo, hetero or bi, both parties participate physically. In a relationship with something like the Eiffel Tower or a bridge, how are your feelings reciprocated physically? How is it any more than an object of love, for instance?
April 9, 2009 - 9:03amThis Comment
I am the women featured in the ABC News featured this morning... and also the UK documentary. Your coment: "Others, especially those who know Mrs. Eiffel personally, believe her to be mentally ill."
I can assure you I am not mentally ill despite two posts from the ABC News feature from people that claim they know me from archery. I find it strange for someone to believe faceless critics but not the person who is baring their soul to the world. Very dissappointed.
April 8, 2009 - 5:48pmThis Comment