Devotee and Co.

If you deal with the subject of devotism you will sooner or later stumble over terms such as pretender, wannabes and faker.
On the following sites I will give you a little survey on these terms.

 

Devoteeproject

A German devotee, who is an engineer compiled this document. During a period of four years he watched the devotee community on the internet and put his impressions together in this paper.

Please feel free to critisize or comment on it. Or add your thoughts.

The Devotee-Project

Often Devotees, Pretenders, Wannabes and BIID are mentioned in the same breath.
Indeed there are a lot of overlappings, but also clear distinctions and classifications. Maybe in the context of this project there will be a thinning out of the thicket.

Basically there are two different worlds of imagination. But in both worlds the physical handicap plays a central role.
In one case the disability is projected onto another person (amelotasis), in the other case onto the own body. In the projection onto one’s own body there are totally different phenomena, like pretending, wannabe or biid.
It sounds complicated.
It is complicated.

Amelotasis
Definition amelotasis: greek a “without” melos “extremity or limb” tasis “affection”.
So the meaning of the term amelotasis is a fixation on missing limbs. Indeed most of the devotees seem to be focused on this type of disability. All in all this phenomena is much more complex.

You find a fixation on:
• Missing limbs (through amputation)
• Missing limbs (congenital deformations, e.g. thalidomide)
• Palsy, spastics
• Orthopaedic aids (e.g. wheelchairs, prostheses, orthoses, corsets, crutches, casts)
Significantly less you find people with the affinity to disabilities of the senses like blindness, deafness or speech disorders.
The affinity to mental retardation seems to be taboo. At least such a desire is not mentioned in theses relevant forums and yahoo-groups.
Amelotasis is considered a sexual fetish.

For the amelotatist there is the definition deformation fetish, meaning a fetish for a not perfect body. This definition is seldom used.

There seems to be a relatively clear boundary between the devotees who have missing and dysplastic limbs and those who like paralysis.
The general interpretation of amelotasis
Beside the literal interpretation the amelotasis means also the fondness for other disabilities. It is used here in a broader sense. The expression amelotasis subsumes totally different affinities and characteristics.
Amelotasis
-A definition for many characteristics-
The term amelotasis describes a phenomena with different varieties, as described in the preface. At first sight it seems a bit confusing and irritating. The following descriptions are an attempt to put some light onto this phenomenon, which is often unknown to the persons concerned.
What causes amelotasis?
Unintended affinity
Even today there is no clear explanatory model for the genesis of devotism, which can explain it convincingly. The only thing certain is nobody has chosen this affinity by herself or himself. Many devotees would like to find a switch inside their head to turn off this special desire.
Beginning in childhood and adolescence
Most of the devotees claim to have noticed this desire partly before their puberty without being able to name this desire for disabled persons. Puberty is not the only trigger, although with puberty the sexual interest for the disability awakens.
Very few devs say they found out about their desire later in life when meeting a disabled person by accident. But the devs, who are “late” devs say they remember a few moments of devotism in childhood.
Key experience
There have always been discussions about key experiences triggering amelotasis during adolescence. There are considerations about a conscious and intense perception of a person with a disability causing such an imprinting in a young child. Most devotees seem to remember such an incident. But it is not definitely proven, wether a key experience is the trigger or wether it is simply a first conscious perception of devotism.
This explanation isn’t convincing, because such a triggering should cause many more children to become devotees. But this is not the case.
Many persons concerned do not remember an imprinting experience.

Different causes of the phenomenon “Amelotasis”?

There is probably more then one explanation for the cause of the devotism. There is perhaps more then one genesis which lead to this. There are different characteristics which can be combined in the term “amelotasis”.

Strained Mother-Son-Relationship
This theory basis on a troubled relationship between mother and son respectively father and daughter. This way the devotee can only tolerate the closeness of a partner who has a disability, because the disabled person cannot be fully capable or even dominant.
This might be the case. On the other hand there are many devotees living in good relationships with non-disabled persons. I.e. a general relationship disorder with the other gender is not necessarily a justification. Many devs have a completely normal relationship with their mothers.

Lack of self esteem / desire for dominance
A similar interpretation model assumes that devs have only little self-confidence and are therefore only able to live in relationships in which they themselves as non-disabled persons can appear as the dominant and powerful one.
In fact there are forms of Amelotasis-affinity to support this theory.
But then against this interpretation model argues that many devs have perfectly stable personalities, professional success, and occupations requiring a self-confident appearance.

…to be continued

 

Amputee fetishism

In default of scientificly founded examples of recent definitions of the expression Amelotatism (Amputee fetishism) I will try to newly define this term, after having analyzed enough questionnaires. There are a few definitions for this phenomenon which are very subjective and negatively tinted. I will be able to find a new definition for this after having written my thesis. Therefore I am hoping for your energetic cooperation!

When you browse through the net you will find definitions like on the site of Wikipedia. But is Amelotatism just only what is written about it up until now?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amputee fetishism is one of the paraphilias grouped together as attraction to disability. It is a fetish focused on amputations, generally of limbs. An Internet virtual community exists, with its own special terminology.
Two subtypes of this fetish are generally recognized. Acrotomophilia is an intense desire for one’s partner to be an amputee. Acrotomophiles are also known as “devotees.” Apotemnophilia is an intense desire to be an amputee. Aptemnophiles are also known as “wannabes.” With each, the presence or absence of artificial limbs as an added stimulant is a personal matter for the fetishist.
Amputation fetishism is a paraphilia, a focus on a specific body part or inanimate object. it is technically a form of teratophilia, sexual attraction to a “deformed or monstrous person”.
alt.sex.fetish.amputee was a Usenet newsgroup as far back as 1996, featuring stories and pictures. It has since become overrun with spam.
Electronic Surgery (abbreviated “ES”) is a term for images (usually from porn sites) that have been modified to make the subject appear as an amputee.
A “pretender” is a “wannabe” who acts out aptemnophilic fantasies, sometimes in public, usually through limb-binding and the use of loose clothing.

Pretender

Pretenders are people who pretend having a handicap and get their stimulation by pretending. It is very important for pretenders to have a deep understanding in feeling what it is like to have a disability. Pretenders either use a wheelchair, prosthesis or crutches. Most of them pretend missing an arm or a leg. They regularly use their equipment in their own four walls. Others take a little “walk” outdoors. That happens mostly at night and in a strange city. There is a difference between inactive pretenders, who have always wanted to try, but hadn’t and active pretenders, who use their equipment at home or in public. There are more male pretenders than female, it is estimated to be one tenth of a percent of the population.

 

BIID

Also called BIID = Body Integrity Identity Disorder. Wannabes have a strong desire to be amputated or paralysed, which was manifest in childhood already. People who suffer from BIID find certain parts or functions of their body disturbing and unnecessary. They have the belief their body has a handicap knowing it is not reality. They feel through an amputation or a paraplegia their body reaches perfection. Most Wannabes want to have their arm or leg amputated, often more limbs and seldom there is a wish to have a paraplegia. As BIID is not recognized as an illness, medics cannot obey these requests. Therefore it often comes to self-mutilations. They find people with a handicap attractive and arouse themselves sexually be imagining their own amputation. The cause of these disturbing limbs is still open. There are neuropsychologic studies taking place to find out about mutilations of the functional regions of the brain in BIID patients.

The team of Professor Dr. Peter Brugger at the Neuroscience Center Zurich is doing an online survey on BIID.