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Emysphilia (or Turtle Fetish) is a rare sexual fetish in which the practitioner experiences sexual arousal from visual and tactile stimuli relating to turtles and tortoises. It was first discovered by Dr. Daniel Schechner of the University of Hawaii in 1959. Dr. Schechner dedicated a brief portion of his monograph The Varieties of Sexual Experience to this fetish. In the book, he mentions a native Hawaiian islander, known to the reader as “Mr. Gor,” who confesses “a strong sexual attraction to creatures belonging to the order Testudines” (2 Schechner 387). Dr. Schechner’s encounter with “Mr. Gor” also finds a brief place in his autobiography No Dull Flesh (1 Schechner 261). Since Dr. Schechner’s discovery, little research has been done on this disorder. As of yet, the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), has not recognized the turtle fetish as a legitimate disorder.

References: Schechner, Daniel, M.D. No Dull Flesh. Honolulu: UH Press, 1974; Schechner, Daniel, M.D. The Varieties of Sexual Experience.Honolulu: UH Press, 1959. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Emysphilia". This Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.