Desire is universal, but the way it shows up is shaped by history, law and culture. What is completely ordinary in one country can be baffling in the next.
These are ten countries that became known for a particular fetish or erotic obsession, and the stories behind them. A reputation is not a census, of course: plenty of people in each country have no interest in any of this. But each of these says something about the place it came from.
10. United States: feet
Foot fetishism, or podophilia, is one of the most common fetishes in the world, and American search data on adult sites shows it consistently near the top. It ranges from admiring the shape of feet to an interest in shoes, toes and pedicures.
It has also become an economy of its own. Creators on subscription platforms earn serious money with nothing more than photos of their soles, and sites dedicated entirely to foot pictures have sprung up around it.
9. Japan: tentacles
Tentacle erotica has a surprisingly long history in Japan. Hokusai’s famous woodblock print The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, showing a woman with two octopuses, dates from 1814.
The genre’s modern popularity is often linked to Japanese censorship law, which bans showing genitals. Manga artist Toshio Maeda has said that in the 1980s he used tentacles to work around those rules. What started as a creative loophole became a global staple of anime and manga culture.
8. Germany: BDSM and fetish clubs
Germany, and Berlin in particular, has one of the most open fetish scenes in the world. Clubs where leather, latex and BDSM are part of the dress code are an established part of the city’s nightlife, and events like Folsom Europe draw visitors from all over the continent.
Part of the explanation is history. Berlin had a famously liberal nightlife in the 1920s, and after reunification the city’s cheap empty buildings gave rise to a club culture where almost anything went.
7. France: lingerie
France’s best-known obsession is less about the act itself and more about the wrapping. The French have a long love affair with lace, silk and high-end lingerie, and the country is home to some of the oldest lingerie houses in the world.
It is a fetish for refinement: the idea that seduction lies in suggestion, texture and atmosphere rather than in what is shown.
6. United Kingdom: spanking
Spanking was once known across Europe as “the English vice”. In the 18th and 19th centuries, London had brothels that specialized in flogging, the most famous run by Theresa Berkley, who even had a special frame built for the purpose.
The usual explanation is the British boarding school system, where corporal punishment was routine for generations. What was once a punishment became, for some, a source of excitement.
5. Brazil: the bottom
In Brazil, admiring the female backside is practically a national pastime. The country even has an annual Miss BumBum contest, devoted entirely to the best behind.
Beach fashion follows suit: the tiny Brazilian bikini, which leaves little to the imagination, became a global trend. Brazil is also one of the world leaders in cosmetic surgery, and buttock procedures are among the most popular.
4. Thailand: kathoey
Thailand has long had a visible community of kathoey, transgender women who are a recognized part of Thai society and culture, from beauty pageants to cabaret shows.
That visibility has made the country a destination for people who are attracted to trans women, a preference that is far more common worldwide than many assume, and one of the most searched categories on adult sites in many countries. To be clear, kathoey themselves are not a fetish. The attraction is, and in Thailand it is simply less taboo than in much of the West.
3. South Korea: mukbang
Mukbang, livestreams of people eating huge amounts of food, started in South Korea around 2010 and became a global phenomenon. For most viewers it is just entertainment or company during a lonely dinner.
For some, though, it is something else. The chewing sounds and the excess have given rise to an erotic subculture, related to ASMR and to so-called feederism, in which eating itself becomes the focus of desire.
2. China: the golden lotus
For about a thousand years, many Chinese girls had their feet bound to keep them tiny. The practice was brutal and crippling, and it was officially banned in the early 20th century.
It was also deeply erotic for its time. Bound feet, called “golden lotuses”, were considered the most sensual part of a woman’s body, often hidden in embroidered shoes, and classical erotic literature describes them in detail. It is one of history’s clearest examples of how a culture can turn suffering into a standard of desire.
1. The whole world: the stepfamily fantasy
If one fantasy crosses every border, it is this one. The yearly statistics published by the largest adult sites have shown “step” scenarios among the most popular searches worldwide for years, from the liberal West to conservative countries where porn is officially blocked.
Psychologists point to the appeal of the forbidden. The scenario plays with a taboo without crossing an actual biological line, and the fact that it tops the charts almost everywhere says a lot about how similar people are under the surface.
