I am lucky enough to live on the coast, and when I go for a run on the beach I can see how many people are wearing “tattoos” . In fact, nowadays it is unusual for a person not to have a piercing or a tattoo. In my sessions of running I see that both young people and adults have them.

For some, tattooing and wearing piercings is a way of life, others tattoo something symbolic such as the name of a child, and there are even network initiatives that encourage young people to get a tattoo with a special meaning.

Tattoos and piercings actually come from far away

Piercing and tattooing have existed since almost the beginning of time and have been used by different cultures and tribes around the world. The Maya already wore pierced lips, ears and nose to show their status; in the Roman Empire, centurions wore nipple rings to show their courage and virility, Egyptian kings pierced their navels as a sign of distinction, and Polynesians not only tattooed themselves as a sign of wealth, but also as a sign of strength and power.

Therefore, whether for aesthetic reasons or for cultural or religious issues, both piercings and tattoos have accompanied human beings for thousands of years .

Piercings and tattoos can excite some individuals

For three decades, researchers have been trying to find answers to falling in love and attraction, since this phenomenon concerns us all. There are many causes that define our tastes when we are attracted to someone. Culture, education or our past experiences, among other factors, influence our mental map that will trigger the chemical cascade of attraction .

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Some people will be attracted by the physical attraction, others by the money, and still others by the leisure or exciting experiences the other person provides. But beyond an enviable body or a very desirable social life, there are people who are attracted to piercings and works of art drawn on the skin . Recently, with the fashion of tattoos and piercings, experts have started to show curiosity about stigmatophilia .

Stigmatization refers to the excitement that some individuals feel about piercings and tattoos . That is, they get crazy for people who wear tattoos and piercings. But stigmatophilia does not refer precisely to the fact that a person likes tattoos and piercings on another person of the other sex because it looks modern. “It is not only that they are cool and sexy, but also that they are attracted to scars and marks on their skin.

Stigma is a paraphilia

For some experts, stigmatophilia is a paraphilia , because it does not only refer to the fact that the person likes tattoos, scars or piercing on the body of the other sex, but these individuals do not feel sexual excitement if the other person does not have these characteristics. Paraphilia is a sexual behavior in which the pleasure is not found in the penetration, that is to say in the copulation, but in the act or thing that accompanies this sexual encounter.

Stigmatists are usually attracted to tattoos, piercings and scars in general, although in some cases they are also attracted to just one of these marks or piercings . In some cases the stigmatophiliac is attracted by the pain these marks or perforations have caused, in other cases by the history behind them.

Fetishism and stigmatophilia

Other experts classify stigmatophilia as a type of fetishism (which is a type of paraphilia). In the world of sex and pleasure, fetishes are the order of the day, and consist of erotic arousal or achieving orgasm by means of fetish objects or body parts that provoke arousal. For example: feet, heels, costumes, etc.

In the case of piercings, sexual excitement is more common in people under 40, and the preferred body areas are the tongue, lips, nipples and genital areas, since they are located in parts of sexual interaction.