Fetish Meaning: What a Fetish Is and How It Differs From a Kink

Fetish meaning: a fetish is arousal attached to a specific object, material or body part rather than to a person as a whole. Feet, shoes, latex, leather, stockings and underwear are the classics. The word comes from anthropology, where a fetish was an object believed to hold power, and psychology borrowed it in the nineteenth century.

Fetish or kink?

The line is need. A kink is a taste that adds something: you enjoy it, and sex is fine without it. A fetish is closer to a requirement: without it, arousal is harder or does not arrive. Most people who use the word about themselves mean something nearer the kink end, which is fine and changes nothing about how it is handled in a booking. Our list of kinks covers the wider ground.

Common fetishes

• Feet. The most common by a distance, and the easiest to accommodate. See our foot worship guide.
• Shoes and boots. Heels especially. Often tied to the foot fetish, sometimes entirely separate.
• Stockings, lingerie and uniforms. The material and the ritual of it rather than the body under it.
• Latex, PVC and leather. How it looks, how it sounds, how it feels. Many of our ladies own at least one outfit.
• Hair. Length, colour, having it pulled or stroked.
• Hands and nails. Quieter than the others and easily catered for.
• Smoking, glasses, a particular accent. Specific and harmless, and more common than people assume.

Is a fetish a problem?

Not in itself. Clinicians only treat it as a disorder when it causes distress or harm, or when it involves people who cannot consent. A preference for stockings is not a condition. If a fetish has become the only route to arousal and that bothers you, a sex therapist is the right person to see, not an escort.

Booking with a fetish in mind

Tell the concierge the specifics: the item, whether you would like her to wear it, whether you want to bring your own. Ask early if you want a particular outfit, since she may need to buy or dig out what you are describing, and ask before bringing anything of your own so we can check with her first. Our fetish escorts page lists the ladies who are comfortable with this kind of booking.

One practical note: a fetish session often works better over ninety minutes than an hour. The build is usually the point, and an hour spent rushing it is an hour wasted.