Beautiful hair is a powerful fetich with many men. In the legend of the Loreley, who lured men to destruction, the golden hair, which she combs with a golden comb, appears as a fetich. Frequently the hand and foot possess an attractiveness no less powerful, when, indeed, often (though by no means invariably) masochistic and sadistic feelings aid in determining the peculiar kind of fetich.
By a transference through association of ideas, the gloves or shoes may obtain the significance of a fetich.
Brunn (op. cit.) justly points out that among the customs of the Middle Ages drinking from the shoe of a beautiful woman (still to be found in Poland) played a remarkable part in gallantry and homage. The shoe also plays an important rôle in the legend of Aschenbrödel.
The expression of the eyes is particularly important as a means of kindling the sparks of love. A neuropathic eye frequently affects persons of both sexes as a fetich. “Madame, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour” (Molière).
There is superfluity of examples showing that odors of the body may become fetiches.
This fact is also taken advantage of in the ars amandi of woman, either consciously or unconsciously. Ruth sought to attract Boaz by perfuming herself. The demi-monde of ancient and modern times is noted for its use of perfume. Jäger, in his “Discovery of the Soul,” calls attention to many olfactory sympathies.
Cases are known where men have married ugly women simply because their personal odors were exceedingly pleasing.
Binet makes it probable that the voice may also become a fetich. He relates a case in point of Dumas, who used it in his
cises her ingenuity to increase her attractiveness, among savages it is the men who are anxious to increase their physical charms. This reversal of the primitive relation is a very interesting fact, and is probably to be explained by the transference of the “liberty of choice” from woman to man which civilization has gradually induced. Westermarck (op. cit., p. 185) says: “It should be noted that it is, as a rule, the man only that runs the risk of being obliged to lead a single life. Hence it is obvious that, to the best of his ability, he must endeavor to be taken into favor by making himself as attractive as possible. In civilized Europe, on the other hand, the opposite occurs. Here it is the woman that has the greatest difficulty in getting married, and she is also the vainer of the two.”—Trans.
