In 1886, psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing published Psychopathia Sexualis, the first manual for diagnosing sexual perversions, thus creating a new perspective for the study of sexuality. To this day, his approach directly influences the idea of contemporary human sexuality. This study intends to resume the history of the concept of fetishism described in Psychopathia Sexualis to show how, according to Krafft-Ebing’s psychiatric theory, fetishism became more than a pathology or sexual peculiarity and designates the initial manifestation of the process of sexual instinct in human beings, thus becoming a key concept of the theory of sexuality.
Key words:
Krafft-Ebing, fetishism, fetish; sexual perversions