Coprophilia [Edit]

Coprophilia (from Greek κόπρος, kópros—”excrement” and φιλία, philía—”liking, fondness”), also called scatophilia or scat (Greek: σκατά, skatá—”feces”), is the fetish involving sexual arousal and pleasure from feces.

Coprophagia is consuming feces, which can be part of coprophilia.

The cleveland steamer is a colloquial term for a form of coprophilia where someone defecates on their partner’s chest. That term received news attention through its use in a U.S. Congress staff hoax email and being addressed by the United States Federal Communications Commission.

Prevalence

Although there may be no connection between coprophilia and sadomasochism (meaning sadism and masochism), much of the limited data on the former comes from studies of the latter. A study of 164 males in Finland from two SM clubs found that 18.2% had engaged in coprophilia; 3% as a sadist, 6.1% as a masochist, and 9.1% as both. In the study pool 18% of heterosexuals and 17% of homosexuals had tried coprophilia, showing no statistically significant difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals. In a separate article analyzing 12 men who engaged in bestiality, an additional analysis of an 11-man subgroup revealed that six had engaged in coprophilic behavior, compared with only one in the matched control group consisting of 12 SM-oriented males who did not engage in bestiality.

Mineshaft

Originally the Mineshaft had a room for coprophilia, but it was soon abandoned as too extreme.

Hanky Code

A table in Larry Townsend’s The Leatherman’s Handbook II (the 1983 second edition; the 1972 first edition did not include this list) which is generally considered authoritative states that a brown handkerchief is a symbol for coprophilia in the handkerchief code. As well, placing a hanky in the left pocket indicates the wearer’s alignment with a top/dominant role, while a hanky in the right pocket indicates the wearer’s alignment with a bottom/submissive role. Townsend noted that discussion with a prospective partner is still important because people may wear a given color “only because the idea of the hankie turns them on” or “may not even know what it means”.