More Than a Nuisance: The Prevalence and Consequences of Frotteurism and Exhibitionism.

Despite indications that acts of frotteurism and exhibitionism are frequent occurrences, these sexual paraphilias have received little empirical attention. To address this gap in our knowledge about these paraphilias, 459 undergraduate students in a major metropolitan city completed a self-report measure designed to investigate the frequency and correlates of frotteurism and exhibitionism. Results indicate a high rate of victimization among female college students for both paraphilias. Furthermore, acts of frotteurism and exhibitionism most often occurred in places related to public transportation (e.g., subway trains or platforms) in this urban setting. In addition, victims reported a number of negative outcomes as a consequence of victimization, including feelings of violation, changes in behavior, and even long-term psychological distress. Older females were the most likely to be victimized. These findings are discussed as they pertain to the prevention and deterrence of paraphilic sexual acts.

Assessment of the paraphilias.

Paraphilias are recurrent, persistent, and intense sexual interests in atypical objects or activities. The most commonly encountered paraphilias in sexological or forensic settings are pedophilia, sexual sadism, exhibitionism, and voyeurism. Paraphilias are often comorbid with other sexual, mood, and personality disorders. Assessment and diagnosis require an integration of multiple sources of clinical information, given the limits and biases of self-report (through clinical interview or questionnaires). Clinicians ideally have access to more objective assessment methods, such as phallometric testing of sexual arousal. The accurate assessment and diagnosis of paraphilias is essential to effective treatment and management.

Exhibitionistic and voyeuristic behavior in a Swedish national population survey.

We examined the prevalence and correlates of self-reported sexual arousal from exposing one's genitals to a stranger (exhibitionistic behavior) and spying on others having sex (voyeuristic behavior) in a representative national sample. In 1996, 2,450 randomly selected 18-60 year-olds from the general population of Sweden were interviewed in a broad survey of sexuality and health. A total of 76 (3.1%) respondents reported at least one incident of being sexually aroused by exposing their genitals to a stranger and 191 (7.7%) respondents reported at least one incident of being sexually aroused by spying on others having sex. Exhibitionistic and voyeuristic behaviors were examined for possible associations with 9 sociodemographic, 5 health, 4 risk-taking, and 17 sexuality variables. Both paraphilia-like behaviors were positively associated with being male and having more psychological problems, lower satisfaction with life, greater alcohol and drug use, and greater sexual interest and activity in general, including more sexual partners, greater sexual arousability, higher frequency of masturbation, higher frequency of pornography use, and greater likelihood of having had a same-sex sexual partner. Consistent with previous research in clinical samples of men with paraphilias, respondents who reported either exhibitionistic or voyeuristic behavior had substantially greater odds of reporting other atypical sexual behavior (sadomasochistic or cross-dressing behavior). There was evidence both for general and specific associations between sexual fantasies and their corresponding paraphilia-like behaviors. The implications of these findings for research on atypical sexual interests, atypical sexual behavior, and paraphilias are discussed.