Lay beliefs about overcoming four sexual paraphilias: Fetishism, paedophilia, sexual sadism and voyeurism

This study investigated lay peopleʹs beliefs about the importance of 24 contributors to overcoming four paraphilias, wherein there is a sexual attraction to unusual objects and that involve sexual activities that are unusual in nature, namely fetishism, paedophilia, sexual sadism and voyeurism. One hundred participants were asked to complete an eight-page questionnaire that involved rating the importance of each of the contributors in overcoming each of the four problems in turn, as well as a personality measure and one of sexual attitudes. Factor analysis (with varimax rotation) of the coping strategies were performed, revealing three factors labelled ‘self-reliance’, ‘seeking help’ and ‘external control’, almost identical to those of Furnham and McDermott (1994). A number of multiple regression analyses indicated that various demographic details predicted beliefs about the importance of each of the three curative factors. Trait measures, as measured by the EPQ-R (short scale) and attitudes to sex, as measured by an adaptation of the Inventory of Attitudes to Sex (Eysenck, 1970) were weakly related to curative beliefs. As in previous studies, ‘will-power’ or self-reliance was seen as the most important factor in overcoming these paraphilias.