Mysophilia

Mysophilia is a paraphilia where erotic pleasure is derived from filth.[1] Mysophiles may find dirt, soiled underwear, feces, unwashed people, or vomit to be sexually arousing.[2]
People with mysophilia have been known to be aroused by unclean locations, such as an alleyway or a dirty bathroom, and behaviors, such as not bathing for many days at a time.[citation needed]
In culture
The protagonist of the novel Wetlands, and the film based on the book, would be considered a mysophiliac, deriving pleasure from not washing and from dirty locations, such as toilets.
Napoleon Bonaparte, while campaigning in 1796, wrote to his wife Joséphine: "Please don't wash, will arrive in three days".[3] This can be interpreted as mysophiliac behaviour if it is assumed this was to ensure her clothes, as well as her person, were soiled.
Arthur Munby, 19th-century English writer, and his wife Hannah Cullwick, a maidservant, both wrote extensively in diaries about the dirt accumulated in household tasks. During courtship, Munby frequently requested Cullwick visited him still dirty from her work sweeping chimneys and cleaning boots.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Butcher, Nancy (2003). The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse: A Chronicle of Medical Mysteries, Curious Remedies, and Bizarre but True Healing Folklore. New York: Avery. p. 133. ISBN 1-58333-160-3. OCLC 52107453.
- ^ Holmes, Ronald M. (5 November 2001). Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. p. 79. ISBN 0-7619-2417-5. OCLC 48883594.
- ^ Edwardes, Charlotte (2015-06-10). "Historian obsessed with Napoleon spills the beans on Bonaparte's sex". The Standard. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Cullwick, Hannah; Stanley, Liz (1984). The diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian maidservant. The Douglass series on women's lives and the meaning of gender. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1070-5.