The word fetish originates from the Portuguese word “fetico” which originally meant “charm” and also false power. When the Portuguese explored West Africa and encountered native religions, they called whatever they collected (talismans), a fetish. These collections were usually objects: totems, beads and carvings. Some people aren’t sure if they have a fetish, they think their fetish is something they admire or a habit. If you have a fetish, you are fixated on or sexually aroused by something whether it be an object or body parts.  The actual introduction of fetishes were introduced in 1887 by a French psychologist named Alfred Binet and were defined as a predominant or exclusive sexual admiration of an inanimate object. At that time, fetishism was also considered pathological, as in, a mentally disturbed condition that needed to be treated. As time evolved, so did the theory and definition of fetishes. According to the Journal of Sex Research, Anna Lawrence refers to a fetish as a reliance on a non-living object. This non-living object is seen as a stimulus for sexual arousal and sexual gratification and also dubbed as a paraphilia by the medical community. These urges are extreme and atypical and most commonly reported in men vs women. The term paraphilia was coined by Austrian ethnologist Freidrich Salomo Krauss and is literally described as “inverted erotic instinct.” It comes from the Greek words para (beside, aside) and philos (loving).