Compensatory Amplification

A Three-Axis Endocrine Model of Sexual Fetishism

Abstract

This theoretical synthesis proposes a novel framework for understanding sexual fetishes through the lens of endocrine regulation and environmental mismatch. Drawing on neuroscience, endocrinology, evolutionary biology, and cultural anthropology, I argue that fetishes represent compensatory amplification—intensified arousal responses to available stimuli when specific endocrine inputs chronically fail to arrive. Six distinct fetish territories map onto three primary hormonal axes (gonadal, adrenal, and pituitary), forming a predictive taxonomy based on deprivation patterns rather than deviation from normative sexuality. This framework has implications for clinical practice, evolutionary mismatch theory, and understanding how commercial leisure sectors systematically exploit understimulated regulatory systems. The model generates falsifiable predictions and offers an alternative to pathology-based classifications in contemporary psychiatry.