Amputee Fetish Facts

Now and again through my kink dating profiles someone brings up their amputee fetish, or curiosity on the subject.

I have made love to more than one person missing a limb—soldiers, and a young man whose legs were lost when his bicycle was hit by a truck. Their injuries were not the motivation for my desire but incidental to it.

But there are people who are turned on by amputees, and they get aroused by the idea of someone missing a leg, the accident itself, or rubbing themselves against the remaining stump. Some people get off by the idea of, or the reality, of getting fucked vaginally or up the ass by the leftover portion of arm or leg.

This is common enough that it has a name: acrotomophilia, from the Greek meaning “love of the extremity cut off”.

Acrotomophilia: A Kink for Amputees

There was a time I would have run screaming from anyone who confessed such a curiosity, assuming they had a sadistic nature or power play issues that went too far outside the bedroom. I assumed acrotomophilia was about pathologizing and medicalizing a partner into weakness, and desiring someone who can’t get away.

That may be true in some cases, but most of the people want to take care of their amputee partner and be a reliable and responsible mate, not just fuck them and leave them helpless.

I’m not a psychologist, but I now think this is more about imprinting than about wanting to wield wellness over someone whose body has been badly injured. Just as a man might have a kink for pantyhose, fat women, or nuns because admiration of females with these features coincided with awakening sexual feelings, I suspect amputee fetishists are wired in similar fashions. Turns out one guy I spoke with was in hospital for a long time as a tween after a skateboarding injury and in physiotherapy there were many young women who had broken or lost a leg in sports accidents.

Apotemnophilia: A Kink for Becoming an Amputee

The sexual desire for people who have had amputations has a counterpart, of course, and that is sexual arousal from the idea of becoming an amputee. It’s called apotemnophilia.

This is related to amputee identity disorder, or BIID (body integrity identity disorder), but not exactly the same. Folks who have BIID also want to be amputated, because they perceive themselves as missing a limb not because they get off on it. This is likely related to brain mapping that is “missing” perception of a limb, although the sexual desire can overlap here.

Amputee Fetish & Fantasy

As with any fetish, amputee kink can range from mild and straightforward (finding amputees sexy) to an intensity that may have to stay in fantasy to be ethical (a kink for amputation and wanting to saw off a healthy person’s arm during sex).

My negative judgement changed when I was working with a woman born with physical abnormalities. We were talking one day about dating, and she said how happy she was that there were folks with a thing for people with facial disfigurement. “As a human being, I deserve a sex life and to be desired for who I am, not in spite of my imperfections but because of them.”

It struck me that the wide variety of kinks serves this very purpose. In the colorful circus of human desire—women who are skinny or obese, little people, folks who have lost arms in the war—all have the chance to be the object of someone’s deepest attraction.

And that’s how I’ve seen amputee fetish, and the whole range of unusual fetishes ever since.

Want more? Read: The Fetishizing of Disability to learn about the disability fetish and devoteeism.