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Articles on kinks and fetishes
Longer pieces built from the KINKSpec catalog. The ranking of 486entries, the population surveys behind it, and the diagnostic manuals it cites, put to the questions a single entry cannot answer.
19 articlesUpdated 4 Oct 2026RSS
Latest
How common7 min read
Choking during sex: how it became common and what the research found
Choking during sex is now common under 40: 40.6% of US women aged 25 to 29. Where people learn it, what it does to the brain, and what the law says.
All articles
Definitions6 min read
Is being a furry a fetish? What surveys of furries found
Is being a furry a fetish? For most furries no: surveys rank sex below belonging and art. How furry differs from pet play, plushophilia and bestiality.
Mental health7 min read
Is a fetish a mental disorder? What the DSM keeps and the ICD dropped
Is a fetish a mental disorder? Not by itself: the DSM-5-TR requires distress or impairment, and the ICD-11 dropped fetishism in 2022.
How common7 min read
The most common anime kinks, ranked by what the index can see
The most common anime kinks on the KINKSpec index, from NTR and dere types to kemonomimi and futanari, with each estimate and how far to trust it.
How common7 min read
Shoes, heels, socks and stockings: when the fetish is what covers the foot
A shoe fetish centres on footwear, not the foot. Heels, boots, socks, stockings and pantyhose: what the surveys count and where each ranks on the index.
How common7 min read
The rarest fetishes, and whether anyone has them
The rarest fetishes on the KINKSpec index, sorted by evidence: Greek words nobody has, interests known from one case, and communities no journal has studied.
Origins5 min read
Can you develop a fetish later in life? What the evidence allows
Can you develop a fetish later in life? What onset studies, conditioning experiments and acquired-preference cases say about when interests form.
Definitions5 min read
Is collecting a fetish, and when does it stop being one
Is collecting a fetish? Only in the everyday sense: a non-sexual drive to complete sets, estimated at 18 percent of adults, and distinct from hoarding.
Definitions5 min read
What a switch is, and how switching works
What is a switch in BDSM? A person who takes both dominant and submissive roles, estimated at 12 percent of adults, with survey shares and history.
How common6 min read
Do men and women have different kinks, and by how much
Do men and women have different kinks? Bondage appeals to 29.5% of men and 29.2% of women, threesomes to 34.1% and 11.1%. Where the surveys find a gap.