Dacryphilia

Noelle Le

Dacryphilia can be defined under the category of paraphilias, where one experiences sexual arousal from crying. Many people perceive this sexual interest as unconventional in societal norms because of how it interconnects with kinks, such as sadism (Instablogs, 2013). Upon closer analysis, studies surrounding dacryphilia suggest insightful reasons as to why some may enjoy it, from its physical sensory aspects to the consumption of literature and visual media (Greenhill, 2022).

Sensory Aspects

As previously mentioned, people with dacryphilia find the sensory aspects of crying as arousing. Specifically, such fetishists enjoy the sight and sounds of crying in a sexual manner.

Visual

Studies that interviewed people with dacryphilia discovered how visuals are an important part of enjoying the sight of one sobbing. Interviewees explain how the sight of one’s expression “morphing under the strain, the turbulence of emotion” is sexually arousing to them (Greenhill, 2022). This suggests how the fetish partly derives from the sight of someone in a current sobbing state. The majority tended to emphasize and be extra descriptive of the features of a person when crying. This further explains what visual features are focused on under the lens of dacryphilia.

Auditory

Hearing someone cry is another sensory aspect that people with dacryphilia find arousing. While the distressful sound of one experiencing an intense emotion can be very uncomfortable or worrisome for the average person, the dacryphilic experiences suggest that crying sounds also play an important part in arousal alongside visual representation (Greenhill, 2022).

Media Consumption

Research on dacryphilia may suggest the influence behind arousal to crying can be found in literature and visual media culture.

Literature

While it may come as no surprise that fictional erotica exploring dacryphilic experiences could heavily contribute to one exploring said fetish, studies in which the researchers have interviewed people with dacryphilia found that they would search outside erotic fiction. It was elaborated upon that the descriptive techniques used to convey the saddened state of a character's emotion could be even more arousing than interacting with crying people in actuality. (Greenhill, 2022)

Visual Media

Another influence that may have widely contributed to sexual interest in crying can be explored in visual media. As previously mentioned in the literature section, there are many sorts of pornography and erotic films that have objectified and sexualized one's sobbing state. And similar to the previous subtopic, participants weren't so heavily focused on pornographic media. Rather, they would reference non-pornographic television and fixate on the intricate expressions and phases of sadness. Studies would also elaborate on the visual aspect of crying in porn, where it can be viewed as a form of "emotional intimacy" in the sense that they are exposing their vulnerabilities to their sexual partners. (Greenhill, 2022)

Misconceptions

Since dacryphilia is categorized as paraphilia, many tend to assume very negative connotations behind the term that stigmatizes those who have this non-normative sexual interest. Most prevalent studies on paraphilias tended to focus on the pathological kinds that were concerning to the point of involving the mental health institution or the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, this overshadowed and neglected research on paraphilias that were non-pathological; thus, not many people are aware of this separate category of paraphilias that isn’t necessarily harmful, including dacryphilia.

Dacryphilia, Dominance and Submision

Most people who participate in dacryphilic experiences do so in a consensual practice. Most dacryphilic experiences are played out in a dominant and submissive roleplay, where mutually consenting parties will incorporate crying in the session (Greenhill 2022). Equally important, participants of the following research preferred to describe their dynamic as "dominant and submissive" rather than using "sadomasochism"(Greenhill 2022). Participants in this form of roleplay have explained their arousing experience in sessions involving dacryphilia: either the dominant partner was turned by causing their submissive to cry in a consensual scene, or vice versa where the submissive was aroused being made to cry (Greenhill 2022).

Prevalence

Based on research by surveys sent to social media and sites such as Fetlife, it was noted that 15.2% percent of the participants often had sexual fantasies for dacryphilic experiences, and 4.7% of participants have admitted to sexual arousal(Longpré 2002). It is interesting to note the percentage gap between sexual fantasy and arousal. While it is possible that the lower percentage of arousal could be from participants being reluctant to admit the question due to its taboo nature, this could also indicate how individuals' sexual fantasy towards one fetish does not always correlate to what actually arouses them.

Conclusion

Overall, dacryphilia as a non-normative sexual interest is relatively harmless when the parties involved are all consenting. Individuals with dacryphilic interests tend to pull from mass media as an influence to the fetish. It is also important to note the distinction between pathological paraphilias in which individuals require the attention of the criminal justice system and mental institutions apart from non-normative sexual interests that don't necessitate the individual to be institutionalized. With that understanding, the unnecessary and negative stigma behind dacryphilia can be prevented as most research has found it to be a relatively harmless fetish.

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