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Your opinions on the connection between kinks and cartoons?

Razrroth

Razrroth

Anxious Artist, Always Apologizing
I was having a discussion with my hubby about a week ago, and was wondering what people have to say about the unique kinks I see presented primarily in the furry fandom and how they related to common themes in older childhood cartoons?

What I mean is, having seen more and more random fetish and kink art, I realize that a lot of them are common themes usually presented in a silly/kid-friendly fashion in cartoons. It seems like people cling to it into adult-hood, fetishizing and twisting them to an extreme and sexual nature, but I don't understand why exactly. Is it just coincidence?

Examples: Cartoon Trope / Then Kinks
A villain is squished flat by anvil or door slam - kinked into stretching/flattening fetish
A villain is inflated and sent flying into the sky like a balloon - kinked into inflation/etc
A hero is eaten alive by a beast, but gets burped up - kinked into vore
A hero is transformed into something funny by a witch, and they hobble around as a piece of furniture or something - kinked into any transformation sequence with objects (pool toys) or clothing

I'm just curious if others have made the connection, or if there's professional studies that would be interesting to read?
Maybe if you're into one of these kinks, you can share what it is that attracted you to the idea?
Do you think it was from your childhood in some way, or was it just a recent development that felt right to you?

I hope this isn't asking too much personal stuff, or considered NSFW. I'm actually genuinely curious about the topic, and not looking for anything personal or yucky.

I just wanted to get my thoughts out there because it just kind of hit me one day and I wanted to talk about it. Everyone is different, and I'm not hating on this stuff. I'm just curious because it's not something I'm personally in to or understand that well.

I also hope this is in the right forum, because I'm not talking about specific cartoons or media, it's more about the kinks themselves, so I put this in general discussion for that reason.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks to anyone who shares some insight or opinions! c:
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
Have you heard of the ERTL hypothesis for the development of fetishes?
It holds that a developing libido must learn to identify the appropriate targets for sexual fixation, and that fetishes result when an erroneous target is selected for fixation.
If the assessment of targets occurs in childhood, then it may not be surprising that children's media is a big source of erroneous target selection.

I can link the paper about ERTLs later if I can find it. I think it was initially suggested as an explanation for sexual cross dressing in men (in this case the 'correct' target of the female body is exchanged for the man's own body, so he develops an erotic fixation for wearing female clothing, whereas 'normally' a man might learn to be sexually interested in women wearing women's clothing. Interestingly sexual cross dressing is more common in heterosexual men than homosexual men).
 
Razrroth

Razrroth

Anxious Artist, Always Apologizing
Oh, I hadn't seen that. I haven't actually had time to do much poking around for research topics, what with all my commissions to work on, but it sounds like an interesting read.
If you find it, please share!
~
Again - to anyone dropping by - this is fueled purely by curiosity, not negativity. Please be polite if you discuss it. Thanks! c:
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
Here is the link to a review paper. It contains discussion of sexual content, but it is academic in nature so I think it's okay to post?
It discusses subjects that would probably make a lot of people uncomfortable as well, so be warned.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224490902747727


Incidentally:

upload_2019-6-4_23-39-2.png


And a description from that paper of a 25 year old who fantasised about being a cartoon dog.
upload_2019-6-4_23-43-13.png



It looks like they know what furries are. This paper is unusually critical of the test subject, describing him as of 'somewhat limited intelligence'. I'm not sure he'd be too happy if he read the paper!
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
Edit...I know this is a double post. If you read the paper's 'biological factors' section there is a discussion of cell size of the Stria terminalis, a structure in the centre of the brain, and a possible relationship with fetishism or paraphilia.

I had a brain scan a few years ago and happen to know that I have a lower than average tissue density in the centre of my brain, so that prickled up my curiosity.
 
BackPaw

BackPaw

Resident Foxy Ape
Fallowfox said:
Here is the link to a review paper. It contains discussion of sexual content, but it is academic in nature so I think it's okay to post?
It discusses subjects that would probably make a lot of people uncomfortable as well, so be warned.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224490902747727


Incidentally:

View attachment 63365

And a description from that paper of a 25 year old who fantasised about being a cartoon dog.
View attachment 63366


It looks like they know what furries are. This paper is unusually critical of the test subject, describing him as of 'somewhat limited intelligence'. I'm not sure he'd be too happy if he read the paper!
Click to expand...
That reminds me of a paper in the 1990s that extrapolated out from one biker gang that all bikers were insecure, low achieving losers. However, the author failed to take into account that the group he studied might be that way because of Other social factors. One observation we made at the time was that if he’d studied our biker group he would have concluded that all bikers were either studying for degrees or doctorates or already had them, because we had all met through going to the same university. The test group for studies like this always has to be sufficiently large or the results and conclusions aren’t trustworthy IMO.
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
BackPaw said:
That reminds me of a paper in the 1990s that extrapolated out from one biker gang that all bikers were insecure, low achieving losers. However, the author failed to take into account that the group he studied might be that way because of Other social factors. One observation we made at the time was that if he’d studied our biker group he would have concluded that all bikers were either studying for degrees or doctorates or already had them, because we had all met through going to the same university. The test group for studies like this always has to be sufficiently large or the results and conclusions aren’t trustworthy IMO.
Click to expand...

In their defense they don't argue that this single patient's intelligence should be used to judge all the furries.
They mention the 'autoplushophile' in the context of a paper that seeks to answer to what extent a variety of different 'paraphilias' might all be explained under a similar set of hypotheses.

I will post the paper so that you can read it. You should be warned that the content discussed includes case studies of people with convictions for sexual crimes.
Erotic Target Location Errors in Male Gender Dysphorics, Paedophiles, and Fetishists | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core

You're right that there's almost definitely a sampling bias- some of the groups studied in the paper come to academics' attention almost exclusively through the criminal justice system, so they're a weird sample to begin with. (and tend to be men because men commit more crimes)
 
F

foussiremix

Guest
Munch D. Terelli said:
"I hope that when I'm an adult I'll be able to understand the feelings I'm having now"

The cartoons are some of the more common paraphilias in the furry fandom.
Click to expand...

Ah okay I understand
---------
As someone who kinda has some kinks due to cartoons (I hate admiting it)
Its like you watch the cartoon as a kid and don't have any thoughts about it but once you grow up the kinks emerge.
Could cause of connecting something positive to a scene.

I dunno
 
Lyka Snowfield

Lyka Snowfield

Gentlefur At Your Service
Well, I don't have much to say on this topic except fot that I don't like kinks especially on cartoons. It's weirds.
 
Jackpot Raccuki

Jackpot Raccuki

Vibing Raccuki
totally-spies-the-movie_5125.png


This show had a kink in EVERY DAMN EPISODE.
The only challenge I have for those who watch it just to see what I mean, guess the kink during the episode...
It had it all, foodplay, foot fetish, vore, transformation and even pet play.

Sadly although I did watch it, it didn't give me any of the kinks I have today... Honestly it came from other cartoons.


Even some movies have kinks in it, and since it's the main thing that comes into my head, in Shrek forever after and how donkey gets eaten by Dragon, stuff like that was... Hot. Vore freak here.
Heck, the fact Donkey apparently breed with one is a whole other thing.
 
Troj

Troj

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dino Therapist
Ray Blanchard's a creepy old transphobe who continues to struggle in vain to link being trans with some inherent kink or fetish.

The ERTL hypothesis might contain a grain of value, but I've tended to see it as condescending (to the people being described or studied), overly fixated on sexual arousal at the exclusion of other things, and over-simplistic overall.

A friend proposed a hypothesis the other day that when people aren't presented with presentations of standard sexual intercourse, they latch onto kinks to fill that vacuum.

When I've chatted with kinksters, they've typically described a powerful, emotionally-compelling, vivid childhood or early-adolescent memory of something that came to be linked to their fetish.
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
Troj said:
Ray Blanchard's a creepy old transphobe who continues to struggle in vain to link being trans with some inherent kink or fetish.

The ERTL hypothesis might contain a grain of value, but I've tended to see it as condescending (to the people being described or studied), overly fixated on sexual arousal at the exclusion of other things, and over-simplistic overall.

A friend proposed a hypothesis the other day that when people aren't presented with presentations of standard sexual intercourse, they latch onto kinks to fill that vacuum.

When I've chatted with kinksters, they've typically described a powerful, emotionally-compelling, vivid childhood or early-adolescent memory of something that came to be linked to their fetish.
Click to expand...

I agree that Ray Blanchard's ideas have a very critical reception among trans people. This doesn't mean that the ETLE hypothesis is wrong though; the hypothesis your friend presented is essentially a vaguer version of ETLE- that somebody who isn't presented with a standard erotic target location in their childhood may end up fixating upon an 'erroneous' target.

This idea could be correct at the same time as the 'target inversion' error that is speculated to cause transgender identity being wrong.

Personally I suspect that criticism of this idea has more to do with public perception that it suggests transgender people 'are perverts', than because there's any definitive evidence to show whether or not the idea is correct. The fact that papers talking about target inversion discuss cases of 'pedovestism' in 'autopaedophiles' in close proximity to discussions about transvestism in 'autogynephiles' probably gives people the wrong end of the stick- as if it implies that those groups are morally equivalent.

My overall attitude is that whether 'target inversion', uterine chemistry (another idea Blanchard's is responsible for popularising incidentally) or magical fairies explain why some folk are trans shouldn't affect the fact that trans people's identities are valid and that they should be treated with respect.

I think the biggest problem with ETLE's as a general explanation for the origin of fetishes is that they predict fetishes should originate in childhood and that they should be unchangeable. I've come across some examples of people whose fetishes are labile, or developed in adulthood though. You could argue those fetishists always had their fetish- and that it was latent, but that's not very falsifiable.
 
ConorHyena

ConorHyena

From out of the rain.
Fallowfox said:
I think the biggest problem with ETLE's as a general explanation for the origin of fetishes is that they predict fetishes should originate in childhood and that they should be unchangeable. I've come across some examples of people whose fetishes are labile, or developed in adulthood though. You could argue those fetishists always had their fetish- and that it was latent, but that's not very falsifiable.
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I'm one of those with a certain volatile interest. I shift through things that interest me. Sometimes I gain a kink for something and lose it after a few weeks, sometimes I have it for longer, and sometimes after losing interest in one kink I regain it after a few months/weeks/years. I do have my "core" kinks, but even those have shifted over time, and are still shifting.
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
ConorHyena said:
I'm one of those with a certain volatile interest. I shift through things that interest me. Sometimes I gain a kink for something and lose it after a few weeks, sometimes I have it for longer, and sometimes after losing interest in one kink I regain it after a few months/weeks/years. I do have my "core" kinks, but even those have shifted over time, and are still shifting.
Click to expand...

I find this pretty interesting. The fetishes I have are ones that I've had since before puberty. They've remained unchanged, in spite of efforts I made as a teenager to ignore them 'until they went away'.
 
Troj

Troj

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dino Therapist
I mainly take issue with the word "error," as I believe it automatically inspires contempt and incuriosity.

Just because we can't discern the adaptive purpose behind something offhand doesn't make it wrong, bad, or pointless.

My friend also pointed out that during periods of stability, systems will lean towards homogeneity, but during periods of upheaval or change, we'll begin to see a turn towards heterogeneity, as if nature is throwing things at the wall to see what "sticks."

A trait that doesn't seem immediately adaptive for an individual in isolation may actually prove useful or adaptive for the larger group, and/or may provide that individual with a unique edge during a period of great change, stress, or scarcity.

In this vein, even fetishes and kinks may serve an adaptive purpose that may not be immediately apparent, and we should remain open to that possibility.

I'd additionally argue that fetishes aren't purely or solely about sex, as I've chatted with many people who've insisted that sex is only a secondary or tertiary motivation for indulging in a given kink or participating in a kink community. With a lot of kinks, sexual arousal seems to become inexorably intertwined with other emotions like love, fear, embarrassment, and empowerment.
 
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