Mechanophilia – a case report of a specific fetishistic disorder

TL;DR

This case report describes a rare sexual disorder called mechanophilia, where a man was sexually aroused by car fuel filler openings.

Contribution

The paper presents a unique clinical case of mechanophilia, a rare paraphilia involving vehicles, in a forensic psychiatric context.

Findings

The individual exhibited mechanophilia by performing sexual acts on car fuel filler openings.

The disorder co-occurred with mild intellectual disability (IQ:66).

Forensic psychiatric evaluation confirmed a diagnosis of fetishism including mechanophilia.

Abstract

In our case report, we present a very rare variant of fetishism, mechanophilia, by describing a case from our forensic psychiatric practice. Mechanophilia is a form of fetishism classified as a paraphilia, when a person is sexually aroused by various vehicles, most often cars, less often bicycles or airplanes. We report on the forensic psychiatric examination of a middle-aged man, who opened the fuel filler openings of cars parked in the yard of a car service, then smeared a substance of unknown origin into the tank and then performed a sexual act by placing his genitals in the filling openings. Our examination confirmed a sexual disorder, fetishism (including mechanophilia), which developed in addition to mild intellectual disability (IQ:66) - classified as a paraphilia.