Saturdays are sacred days of resting and recovering from Friday nights. To honor the sanctity of them as well as embrace the stranger sides of our sexualities, this weeks strange sex Saturday is about hierophilia and pecattiphilia. If you prefer to not risk feeling a little sacrilegious you should probably scroll away now.

So what are they?

Hierophilia is what we used to call blasphemy, it is the sexual attraction to religious figures, objects, or settings, and the typical hierophile is very devout in their faith. They may fulfill these urges by masturbating with religious paraphernalia, such as crosses and church pews; or, performing sexual acts in places of worship, such as altars and confession booths. Pecattiphilia is being aroused by the idea of having sinned, committed a crime, or otherwise having transgressed.

Who are they?

Hierophilia is far less common among atheists since the hierophile derives sexual pleasure from the objects or in the places of their religion. This can be explained by the joy and general upliftment felt during religious rituals and the like. Being deeply moved during these encounters can encourage sexual arousal. While terms like pecattiphilia and hierophilia are very broad and apply to any religion, let’s be honest, this pops up in people mostly in relation to Catholicism in the West more than anything else. Sure, they have repressive sexual politics, but so does large swaths of of Christianity. What really sends it over the edge is Catholics have the best religious iconography. Nun habits! Priest robes! Altars! Incense! Getting on your knees to receive the host! There’s no fun and blasphemy in having sex in a church that looks like a rec room! No matter how hard someone tries, I doubt someone can sex up the Pentecostal/Mormon long skirts and pompadour hair. So it makes sense that these philiacs are most commonly catholic.

So which are you, the sinner or the saint? We will see you next week while we explore more of the “stranger” sides of sex and sexuality.