Does getting hit in the face with a pie turn you on? Do you wish your lover would dress up like a horse and pull you around the yard? Have you ever had a strong desire to wear a diaper rather than that pesky g-string?

If so, you may be one of the millions of people worldwide who are proud to call themselves “sexual deviants.” A deviant is anyone who engages in sexual activity that is not “normal” by society’s standards, and these fetishes can range from very mild to the very extreme.

Although there are thousands of fetishes out there, I will only be able to cover a few, so I’m sorry if your own personal fantasy is not mentioned.

According to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Human Sexuality website, a fetish is defined as a sexual act involving the use of a nonliving object or a body part which an individual regards as a sexual object. Among the more common fetish objects are women’s clothing (such as shoes, stockings, underpants and bras) or parts of the body such as feet. The fetishist craves any sensory perception of the object of attachment, and usually masturbates while holding, smelling or rubbing the fetish object. Quite often the fetish is strongly preferred or even required for sexual excitement to occur.

While many of you may be thinking, “Weird, this is definitely not me,” consider this; some scientists view fetishistic behavior as existing on a continuum, moving from a slight preference for an object to be present, to a strong desire, to the necessity of the object in order to gain arousal, to the object as a substitute for a sexual partner.

According to this theory, most people have slight fetishistic traits: men may identify themselves as “breast men,” “leg men,” or prefer a particular color of hair. Women may prefer a tall man or a man with a hairy chest. No matter what your preference, it can technically be defined as a slight fetish by some scientists — maybe sexual deviance isn’t as weird as you think.

Than again, maybe it is. In order to make an accurate judgment on whether or not sexual deviance is for you, let’s explore some of the more popular fetishes out there.

By far the most popular fetish documented is the “wet and messy” or WAM fetish, one that includes arousal by food play (i.e. pies, mud, pudding, etc.). This does not include bodily fluids, which is an entirely different category of fetish.

WAM fetishists are aroused by “gunge,” which can be any sort of thick, gooey liquid. In fact, on the WAM website, a survey found that of the roughly 1 percent of people worldwide who admit to having a WAM fetish, 64 percent like the gunge to be smooth, like custard, while only 4 percent prefer it lumpy (such as baked beans) and the remaining 32 percent liked them both equally.

The evolutionary theory of sexuality proposes that men should be more interested in youth and beauty, in uncommitted sex and generally and more aroused by the visual rather than the emotional. Because of the heavy emphasis on visual stimulation in men, theorists believe that men are more vulnerable to defects in their sexual behavior.

This explains why fetishism is almost unheard of in women, but is relatively common in men. It also explains why fetishism occurs in both hetero and homosexual males. In fact, in 99 percent of sexual aberration (abnormal) cases, the perpetrator is male, because men have the ability to separate the sexual from the personal (from the University of Waterloo’s psychology page).

So now that we know a little more about who fetishists are, let’s get back to the fun stuff. Infantilism is another surprisingly popular fetish, and it involves adults role-playing that they are infants by wearing baby clothing and sometimes being disciplined by a mother figure. “The Diaper Pail Crowd,” as they are often called, are all about regressing back to a time before childhood rules such as “Don’t play with your food!” and “Don’t mess up your clothes!”

Another popular category of fetishes involving role-play is people who like to mimic animal behaviors. “Furverts” first appeared on the scene in the 1980s, when a fanbase of “furries” began to develop who had a non-sexual devotion to cartoon animals from comic books and animated TV shows.

The difference between a “furry” fan and a “furvert” is that furverts sexualize their cartoon characters. Furverts might imagine themselves as a cute rabbit inspired by Bugs Bunny, a unicorn from Disney’s Fantasia or a werewolf from Japanese Anime films. Furvert activity consists primarily of creating or collecting illustrations of their own imaginary furry character, and then role-playing with others.

Along the same lines are people who enjoy “pony play.” Pony play fetishists are usually into bondage and S&M, because play involves one person taking the dominant human role of “master,” “owner” or “trainer” and the other person playing the submissive role of “pet.” Riding ponies have grown especially popular in the United States, and by using specially-designed saddles, “ponygirls” and “ponyboys” may give their master two-legged or four-legged rides.

Fetishes encompass a wide variety of unusual sexual practices, but the point is that these practices aren’t necessarily wrong, and just because you may find something gross and disgusting, doesn’t mean that others won’t be turned on by it.

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) is an organization dedicated to the support and promotion of all types of sexual activity, and their specific commitment to fetishists has helped decrease the discrimination associated with these practices. For more info, feel free to check out their website at www.ncsfreedom.org, and remember, no sexual fantasy is complete without a condom, so if you’re going to play around, please wrap it up.

What are your sexual fantasies? Have you ever thought about doing something a little out of the ordinary? Email me at [email protected] and give me a brief description. All names will be kept private.