Exhibitionism

A young woman nude in a public street in Budapest

Exhibitionism, colloquially referred to flashing, is behavior by a person that involves the exposure of private parts of their body to another person in a situation when they would not normally be exposed, with a tendency toward an extravagant. The act may be at least partially sexual or intended to attract the attention of another. When the term is used to refer to the psychological compulsion for such exposure, it may be called apodysophilia^[1] or Lady Godiva syndrome. Public exhibitionism by women has been mentioned by historians since classical times, often in the context of the women's shaming groups of men into committing, or inciting them to commit, some public action.^[2]

Term's history

Exhibitionism as a disorder was first described in a scientific journal in 1877 by a French physician and psychiatrist Charles Lasègue (1809–1883).^[3]

Types of exposure

There are various types of behavior which are classified as exhibitionism. These include:

A woman has raised her shirt to expose her breasts

• Flashing is chiefly the momentary display of bare female breasts by a woman with an up-and-down lifting of the shirt and/or bra; less often, it may involve brief exposure of the genitalia.
• Mooning is the display of bare buttocks by the pulling-down of trousers and underwear. There tends to be a gendered double standard here: with males, the act is most often done for the sake of humor, disparagement, and/or mockery than for sexual excitement, whereas with females, the reverse tends to be true, and sexual arousal (or at least sexual attention) of those mooned is the intent.
• Anasyrma is lifting up of the skirt when not wearing underwear, to expose genitals.
• Martymachlia is a paraphilia which involves sexual attraction to having others watch the execution of a sexual act.
• Some researchers have claimed that telephone scatalogia is a variant of exhibitionism, even though it has no in-person physical connotations.^[4][5]

Psychological aspects

Exhibitionism as a disorder was first described in a scientific journal in 1877 by a French physician and psychiatrist Charles Lasègue (1809–1883).^[6] Typically, the part(s) of the body exposed when referring to "flashing" are bare female breasts and/or buttocks. In theory, however, flashing and exhibitionism can also involve the genitalia or buttocks of either gender. A "male flasher" stands in stark comparison to this definition as the latter usually refers to a male indecently exposing his penis to an unwilling observer.

A research team asked a sample of 185 exhibitionists, “How would you have preferred a person to react if you were to expose your privates to him or her?” The most common response was “Would want to have sexual intercourse” (35.1%), followed by “No reaction necessary at all” (19.5%), “To show their privates also” (15.1%), “Admiration” (14.1%), and “Any reaction” (11.9%). Only very few exhibitionists chose “Anger and disgust” (3.8%) or “Fear” (0.5%).^[7]

Implications

In psychiatry, exhibitionism is only considered a paraphilia when the practice interferes with the quality of life or normal functioning capacity of the individual. Exhibitionism is referred to in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th Edition (class 302.4).^[8] Many psychiatric definitions of exhibitionism broadly define it as "sexual gratification, above and beyond the sexual act itself, that is achieved by risky public sexual activity and/or bodily exposure." Beyond bodily exposure, it can also include "engaging in sex where one may possibly be seen in the act, or caught in the act."^[9]

See also

Notes