Paraphilias
Marie Poncin
Paraphilia (previously known as sexual perversion and sexual deviation) is the experience of intense sexual arousal triggered by atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. Paraphiliacs are recorded and termed by independent researchers as well as by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Michel Foucault, in his book History of Sexuality claims that the discourse on sexuality is controlled and thus we don't really decide how we approach or know about sex. Sex has been seen as a revolt against repressive systems and it has become a matter of political liberation and rebellion rather than intellectual analysis.
The understanding and knowledge of sexuality, as well as the which pursuit and improvement of sexual pleasure is being put in a box, labeled and repressed. Sex outside the norm is seen as dysfunctional if thought about at all.
Sexuality is one of the largest and oldest topic on earth and yet we know so little. I hope to raise awareness and knowledge about this fascinating topic in order to break the negative stigma around paraphilia and the subsequent sexual arousal. I chose to make an encyclopedic book as it is meant to be easily referenced by people, similarly to a dictionary, and it makes informations easily accessible to the public. Awareness would potentially destigmatize and open the conversation sexuality, norms, and self.