A ]wave of fetish-related Google searches followed the most recent episode of 11.22.63, after a scene introduced a form of masochism involving genitals and a clothespin. It was weird. But how weird was it, really? 
 
 The holy bible of judgmental psychiatric boards everywhere — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) — defines “paraphilic” sexual interests as unusual or anomalous. But the basis for those judgments isn’t exactly clear. 
 
 In an article published this week in The Journal of Sex Research, researchers asked: Is something actually unusual if a lot of people do it? 
 
 To find out, the team from University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres and Philippe Pinel Institute of Montreal took to computer screens and phone lines of Quebec, surveying a sample of 1,040 people. Classified according to factors like age, gender, religious affiliation and education, the group was thought to represent the province’s norms. 
 
 Voyeurism, classified by the DSM as a paraphilic behavior, is surprisingly common. 
 
 The researchers probed participants’ interests in the eight paraphilic behaviors listed in the DSM: voyeurism, exhibitionism, frotteurism (touching or rubbing against a non-consenting individual), masochism, sadism, pedophilia, fetishism (technically, using nonliving objects or having a highly specific focus on non-genital body parts), and transvestic disorder (engaging in sexually arousing cross-dressing to the point of distress or harm). 
 
 Because the authors focused only on the behaviors themselves — not the way in which people engaged in them — it’s especially important to note the difference between a paraphilic behavior and disorder. Paraphilias aren’t considered mental disorders — they’re simply sexual preferences for “unusual” behavior — and paraphilic behavior is only engaged in from time to time. Yet paraphilic disorder, by definition, involves non-consenting partners and causes suffering or confusion. 
 
 Of all of the random Quebecois surveyed, almost half expressed interest in at least one type of paraphilia, and about one-third had actually acted on those desires at least once. 
 
 Interest in voyeurism, fetishism, frotteurism, and masochism, in particular, was high enough — at 15.9 percent of both men and women surveyed — to be considered “statistically unusual.” 
 
 Oddly — or perhaps not — masochism was significantly linked to a more satisfying sex life. Although men were generally more interested in paraphilic behavior than women, the authors point out that women who were interested in sexual submission were actually more drawn to more diverse sexual interests. 
 
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 It’s time to reassess how we define normal and anomalous sexual behaviors, the authors write. Labeling paraphilias as abnormal, when they aren’t in the practical sense, could stigmatize and shame when it’s unnecessary — which is something the DSM has more than enough experience with. 
 
 Lest readers think the Quebecois are simply a rarefied, sexually liberated bunch, the authors point out that they “have reasons to believe that this study’s results which are based on Quebec’s population can be applied to the population of North America and Europe as well.” 

 Do you have normal sexual tastes? A new study suggests sexual fantasies, urges and behaviours that are often considered abnormal are actually quite common among the general population, raising questions about how psychiatrists and psychologists define what is sexually normal or not. 
 
 The study, published online in The Journal of Sex Research, examined the prevalence of paraphilic, or anomalous, sexual interests, as identified in the widely used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), among residents of Quebec. It found that participants’ experiences and their desire to experience certain paraphilic behaviours, including fetishism and masochism, are neither rare nor unusual. 
 
 While some paraphilic behaviours, such as pedophilia, exhibitionism and voyeurism, are illegal and involve a non-consensual party, certain others should not be labelled abnormal, says the study’s co-author, Christian Joyal, a professor of psychology at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières and the Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal. 
 
 “If people are happy, if everybody is consenting, I don’t know why it should be abnormal, especially in 2016,” Joyal says. 
 
 The researchers used online and telephone surveys to ask 1,040 Quebec residents, aged 16 to 64, about their sexual desires and behaviours. Nearly half the respondents reported a desire to experience at least one paraphilic behaviour and around a third of them had engaged in a paraphilic behaviour at least once. The most common was voyeurism – surreptitiously watching strangers when they are nude, undressing or having sex. That was followed by fetishism – sexual arousal by an inanimate, non-sexual object; frotteurism – touching or rubbing oneself against a stranger; and masochism – sexual arousal while suffering, being dominated or humiliated. 
 
 The researchers note that the current edition of the DSM, updated in 2013, defines normal, or “normalphilic,” sexual interest as “interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners.” Anything else is not necessarily disordered, but is considered paraphilic or abnormal, Joyal says. 
 
 “Normalcy is really difficult to define and I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to do it,” he says. 
 
 The DSM offers eight examples of paraphilic interests: voyeurism, exhibitionism, frotteurism, masochism, sadism, pedophilia, fetishism and transvestism. 
 
 While interests such as fetishism are far from uncommon, Joyal says, other sexual interests such as pedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality are extremely rare. 
 
 He explains that a paraphilic interest can be considered a mental disorder if it causes suffering or impairment. The study looked at what are known as merely “anomalous” interests, and not disorders. 
 
 “Just asking people about their sex lives, I know it’s a bit taboo,” he says. “But still … you have to have evidence-based data before coming [up] with any definition, especially [with] such a sensitive topic like sexual behaviours.” 
 
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 The "Fifty Shades of Gray" trilogy has made kinky sex mainstream, romanticizing the use of whips, chains, and handcuffs. Couples worldwide are buying BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism and Masochism) sex toys, with sales up 400 percent in 2012. Sexual fantasies of being spanked or whipped, tied up, or forced to have sex have become commonplace, especially in women, but are these interests and behaviors abnormal? 
 
 In a recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research, researchers at the University of Montreal found sexual preferences classified as “anomalous” (abnormal) in psychiatry are actually very common, suggesting there is no such thing as “normal” when it comes to sex. 
 
 "The main goal of the study was to determine normal sexual desires and experiences in a representative sample of the general population," said co-author Christian Joyal, in a statement. 
 
 Joyal and his colleague Julie Carpentier, both in institutions affiliated with the University of Montreal, surveyed a diverse group of over 1,000 Quebec residents on the phone and online about their sexual tastes and interests. The respondents were asked if they enjoyed sex acts that were considered anomalous by the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Sex acts and behaviors listed as “paraphilic,” or atypical, include but are not limited to, voyeurism (joy of watching others have sex), fetishism (sexual arousal toward inanimate objects or body parts), frotteurism (dry-humping), and masochism (pleasure from pain or ridicule). 
 
 The findings revealed nearly half of the respondents were interested in at least one type of sexual behavior considered an anomalous paraphilia, whereas one third had experienced the behavior at least once. Out of the eight types of paraphilic behaviors listed in the DSM-5, four (voyeurism - 35 percent, fetishism - 26 percent, frotteurism - 26 percent, and masochism - 19 percent) were found to be common when it came to experiences or desires reported by men and women. 
 
 Although men tend to be more interested in paraphilic behaviors than women, women do have a strong interest. According to Joyal, women who report an interest in sexual submission have more varied sexual interests and report greater satisfaction with their sex lives. “Sexual submission is therefore not an abnormal interest," he said. 
 
 An earlier study, also conducted by Joyal, found many women who have extreme submission fantasies, such as domination by a stranger, clearly state that they don’t actually want the fantasies to come true. More women than men fantasize about their current romantic partner. Clinically speaking, pathological sexual fantasies involve non-consenting partners, include pain, and are necessary for deriving satisfaction. But aside from that, what exactly is the definition of abnormal or atypical fantasies? 
 
 For example, half of the behaviors in Joyal’s recent study are legal, but frotteurism, for instance, is not because it’s by definition non-consensual. 
 
 This study suggests that some legal paraphilic behaviors are not as abnormal as previously thought, which is contrary to what is suggested by the DSM-5. 
 
 So when it comes to sex, the concept of normality can't truly exist because sexual satisfaction is personal. 
 
 Source: Joyal CC and Carpentier J. The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General Population: A Provincial Survey. The Journal of Sex Research . 2016.
– A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research shows that our unusual turn-ons, fetishes, and sexual proclivities might not be so unusual after all. Researchers set out to see how abnormal the eight abnormal sexual interests—fetishism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, frotteurism, masochism, sadism, transvestism, and pedophilia—laid out by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders actually are, the Globe and Mail reports. To do so, they surveyed more than 1,000 Quebec residents. According to Medical Daily, they found four of those sexual interests are actually statistically normal. Approximately 35% of respondents were interested in or had experienced voyeurism. It was 26% in regards to fetishism and frotteurism (rubbing oneself against a non-consenting stranger), and 19% for masochism. Overall, nearly half of people surveyed were interested in doing something in one of those eight categories, and one-third already had. Researchers believe those numbers would be similar across North America and Europe, Inverse reports. While four of the sexual activities considered abnormal—voyeurism, exhibitionism, frotteurism, and pedophilia—are illegal because they involve non-consensual partners, study co-author Christian Joyal believes the others should no longer be considered as such. “If people are happy, if everybody is consenting, I don’t know why it should be abnormal, especially in 2016,” he tells the Globe and Mail. (The film version of 50 Shades of Grey sent sales of masochism-related sex toys skyrocketing.)