Attraction to fictional characters

Sexual and/or emotional attraction to fictional characters is a type of a sexual paraphilia. There is little academic literature on this topic.

Some variant terms are used depending on the type of media the character is on, such as fictophilia (attracted to charecters in books), toonophilia or schediaphilia (in cartoons), gameophilia (in games). The term fictosexuality also exists. It is also known as nijikon (2-dimensional fetishism) in the context of Japanese otaku culture, which covers attraction to any form of manga, anime or 3-dimensional videogame characters.

Discussion

English psychologist Mark Griffiths on his blog picks up a poll (of no statistical reliability) on Deviant Art, in which 35 out of 58 people answered "Yes" to the question asking whether they had toonophilia. He also points out a certain tendency of toonophilia in young people, based on his research on video games playing. In 2008, an AOL's news article reported toonophile people who wish for official marriage to cartoon characters. In fact, Go Petition website has a petition asking for legal relationships and marriages between humans and cartoon characters, claimed by those who have never been attracted to real individuals but only to characters in fiction.

In 2017, a Japanese IoT company started a service to issue unofficial marriage registration with any favorite anime characters, which has enjoyed over 3,000 entries until 2018. In the same year, a Japanese man had a wedding with the Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku, living together by use of a hologram device the company invented.Some researchers say such news represent a spreading techno-social trend where people see digital and human relationship on an equal basis. Neil McArthur, director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, defines "second-wave digisexuals" who consider technology as integral to their sexual identity, in contrast with "first-wave digisexuals" using technology for interpersonal connections.

Some asexual people identify themselves as fictosexual or fictoromantic, and the online asexual community AVEN offers a forum for discussion on fictosexuality. Yule et al.'s quantitative research on sexual fantasy of asexual people in 2016 suggests that asexual women tend to endorse fantasies that focus on fictional human characters, rather than focusing on another person. On the other hand, as for endorsing fantasies that involved non-human animals/creatures, scenic imagery, or fetishes, their data show no significant differences in the frequency between the asexual and sexual participants, both in males and females. Yule et al. point out the importance for asexuality studies to analyse the difference between those who are attracted to human, non-human, and animated characters.

In arts

• Ovid's Metamorphoses - Pygmalion falls in love with the sculpture

Sources

• Griffiths, Mark (2012-08-31). "Something to get animated about: A brief overview of toonophilia". drmarkgriffiths. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
• Jozuka, Emiko; Sato, Hidetaka; Chan, Albert; Mulholland, Tara (2018-12-29). "The man who married a hologram". CNN. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
• Lamerichs, Nicolle (2016). "Otaku: Representation of Fandom in Japanese Popular Culture". In Bennett, Lucy; Booth, Paul. Seeing fans : representations of fandom in media and popular culture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781501318450. Search this book on
• McCombs, Emily (2008-10-01). "Toonophilia, Is It Porn?". Asylum. AOL. Archived from the original on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
• Poole, Steven (2004). Trigger happy : videogames and the entertainment revolution (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade Pub. ISBN 9781611454550. OCLC 798929599. Search this book on
• Yule, Morag A.; Brotto, Lori A.; Gorzalka, Boris B. (2017). "Sexual Fantasy and Masturbation Among Asexual Individuals: An In-Depth Exploration". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 46 (1): 311–328. doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0870-8. ISSN 1573-2800.

See also

• Agalmatophilia
• Asexuality
• Object sexuality
• Moe (slang)

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