(October 31, 2023 at 6:21 pm)paulpablo Wrote: Surely everyone has a sexual attraction to fictional characters. My elf on baldurs gate 3 is extremely attractive and I'm not ashamed of saying that.

But do you have an active desire for the elf to be a real person so you can actually have sex with him or her?

(October 31, 2023 at 6:21 pm)paulpablo Wrote: Surely everyone has a sexual attraction to fictional characters. My elf on baldurs gate 3 is extremely attractive and I'm not ashamed of saying that.

Aside from asexuals, yes.

But a fictosexual is only attracted to fictional characters (not real humans) and they form psuedo-relationships with them (they experience deep emotional love connections). Their lack of attraction to humans makes them non-allonormative and thus they fall under the asexual umbrella and are most often found in ace spaces, like AVEN.

(November 1, 2023 at 2:16 am)FrustratedFool Wrote:

(October 31, 2023 at 6:21 pm)paulpablo Wrote: Surely everyone has a sexual attraction to fictional characters. My elf on baldurs gate 3 is extremely attractive and I'm not ashamed of saying that.

Aside from asexuals, yes.

But a fictosexual is only attracted to fictional characters (not real humans) and they form psuedo-relationships with them (they experience deep emotional love connections).  Their lack of attraction to humans makes them non-allonormative  and thus they fall under the asexual umbrella and are most often found in ace spaces, like AVEN.

Well that's not really possible with this kind of relationship, unless you have a much different idea of "deep emotional love connection" than I do.

Why would it not be possible?

Having been in love with both humans and non-humans my lived experience would say it's entirely possible and that love is love.
Or, to clarify, I can experience the emotion we term 'love' as equally deeply for an inorganic lover as I can for an organic lover.

I appreciate that for many this seems impossible for them. But people are different. Some people can, and do, love fictional characters or chandeliers or dolls or cars or imaginary friends or whatever in an analogous fashion to how people love other people.

(November 1, 2023 at 4:06 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Why would it not be possible?

Having been in love with both humans and non-humans my lived experience would say it's entirely possible and that love is love.
Or, to clarify, I can experience the emotion we term 'love' as equally deeply for an inorganic lover as I can for an organic lover.

I appreciate that for many this seems impossible for them. But people are different. Some people can, and do, love fictional characters or chandeliers or dolls or cars or imaginary friends or whatever in an analogous fashion to how people love other people.

In object sexuality, do you anthropomorphize the object in question, in the sense of attributing to it human agency and/or personality? ie both of which seem to me necessary aspects of love and attraction.

(November 1, 2023 at 4:06 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Why would it not be possible?

Having been in love with both humans and non-humans my lived experience would say it's entirely possible and that love is love.
Or, to clarify, I can experience the emotion we term 'love' as equally deeply for an inorganic lover as I can for an organic lover.

I appreciate that for many this seems impossible for them.  But people are different.  Some people can, and do, love fictional characters or chandeliers or dolls or cars or imaginary friends or whatever in an analogous fashion to how people love other people.

I don't feel that way for my tulpa, and to be honest with you, she's kind of a bitch. But God gave her to me for a reason, I'm assuming.

(November 1, 2023 at 4:36 am)emjay Wrote:

(November 1, 2023 at 4:06 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Why would it not be possible?

Having been in love with both humans and non-humans my lived experience would say it's entirely possible and that love is love.
Or, to clarify, I can experience the emotion we term 'love' as equally deeply for an inorganic lover as I can for an organic lover.

I appreciate that for many this seems impossible for them.  But people are different.  Some people can, and do, love fictional characters or chandeliers or dolls or cars or imaginary friends or whatever in an analogous fashion to how people love other people.

In object sexuality, do you anthropomorphize the object in question, in the sense of attributing to it human agency and/or personality? ie both of which seem to me necessary aspects of love and attraction.

I can't speak for every OS, but every one I've known certainly ascribes personality to their beloved.  Sexology research by Amanda Marsh (as poor as it is) indicates that many OS are animists of some kind holding that their beloved object has a soul, personality, gender etc and speaks to them (either in their mind, or via signs/sounds like creaking of metal in heat etc).  It is very similar to religious relationships with God and Jesus and spirits in this regard, and similar also to imaginary friends.  Marsh's research also notes that many OS have synesthesia to some degree (which likely contributes to how they experience their object or abstract lovers).

Many people anthropomorphise objects, pets, plants, their cars, etc - it seems an extension of that.  I also think the perception of beauty or aesthetic admiration can get entangled with erotic sensation/arousal in the brain - so some people (I have experinced this) can find something beautiful (like a nice car or sunset) gives them an erotic charge at times.  The brain is a funny thing.

Most OS I've known could also be described as highly empathic and sensitive, and quite imaginative.  Many (though not all) are ASD.

(November 1, 2023 at 4:49 am)FrustratedFool Wrote:

(November 1, 2023 at 4:36 am)emjay Wrote: In object sexuality, do you anthropomorphize the object in question, in the sense of attributing to it human agency and/or personality? ie both of which seem to me necessary aspects of love and attraction.

I can't speak for every OS, but every one I've known certainly ascribes personality to their beloved.  Sexology research by Amanda Marsh (as poor as it is) indicates that many OS are animists of some kind holding that their beloved object has a soul, personality, gender etc and speaks to them (either in their mind, or via signs/sounds like creaking of metal in heat etc).  It is very similar to religious relationships with God and Jesus and spirits in this regard, and similar also to imaginary friends.  Marsh's research also notes that many OS have synesthesia to some degree (which likely contributes to how they experience their object or abstract lovers).

Many people anthropomorphise objects, pets, plants, their cars, etc - it seems an extension of that.  I also think the perception of beauty or aesthetic admiration can get entangled with erotic sensation/arousal in the brain - so some people (I have experinced this) can find something beautiful (like a nice car or sunset) gives them an erotic charge at times.  The brain is a funny thing.

Most OS I've known could also be described as highly empathic and sensitive, and quite imaginative.  Many (though not all) are ASD.

That's good to know at least, thanks. I've only ever met one "OS" person besides you, and they were attracted to buses, and I have to say I was completely baffled by it, and by their matter of fact... talking about it as if it was the most normal thing in the world... way of talking about it. I was polite but I did give them a wide berth after that (I met them at a public event, so it was a somewhat unexpected subject of conversation ).

Anyway, to hear you say that there is anthropomorphization involved makes it at least a little bit more fathomable, from a psychological and/or neural perspective, so thanks for that. I'll probably give that documentary a watch at some point too.

OS is unusual, but harmless and legal.

Interestingly, with technology developing the way it is relationships with objects are becoming more common. Dolls sell more than ever, there's doll brothels in Europe and NA, there's thousands married to holograms and dolls etc in Japan, chatbot GFs are becoing more mainstream, and it was reported that during lockdown in the UK hundreds formed romantic connections to their Alexa. When robotics and AI become even more developed it'll be normal , I think. Just give it a generation.