Atomique Fetish Encyclopedia — Research, Culture & Aesthetics

Autonepiophilia  is a psychological and sexual interest in behaving, dressing, or imagining oneself as an infant or very young child. Unlike other paraphilic interests that involve relational dynamics, autonepiophilia is self-directed : the individual adopts a regressed role themselves. It is a subset of autosexual regression , where arousal, comfort, or emotional release emerges from occupying a younger internal identity. While often sensationalized or misrepresented, autone

Joel-Peter Witkin  is one of the most provocative photographers of the 20th and 21st centuries—an artist whose work, though not explicitly queer, has profoundly influenced queer , fetish, and subcultural aesthetics around the world. His images are built from the fragments of mythology, anatomy, desire, and taboo. Witkin’s universe is populated by amputees, gender-nonconforming bodies, cadavers, dwarfs, ritual scars, classical motifs, and staged tableaux that blur the line bet

In BDSM culture, few spaces carry as much symbolic weight as the dungeon . More than a room, a dungeon is an intentional environment  — designed for power exchange, ritualized intimacy, and controlled transformation. It is where fantasy meets structure, where desire is framed by architecture, and where consent is given a physical form. We understand the dungeon not as a place of fear, but as a container for trust . What Is a Dungeon in BDSM? A BDSM dungeon is a dedicated spa

The letter M  in BDSM carries one of the most complex and misunderstood histories in erotic culture. It stands for Masochism , but behind that single word lies a universe of sensation, psychology, art, ritual, and identity. To understand the M is to understand how pain became a metaphor, a fetish, and a pathway to pleasure. Masochism is not merely the desire to receive pain. It is the desire to experience sensation with intention , to feel the body as a site of meaning, trans

The world of BDSM  is complex, intentional, and deeply misunderstood. Popular media often distorts it into either danger or glamour, but the true BDSM meaning , when fully explained, reveals a sophisticated system of communication, identity, and erotic philosophy. BDSM is not chaos — it is structure. Not harm — but negotiation. Not taboo — but a celebration of human complexity and the desire to play with power in conscious, consensual ways. To understand BDSM fully, we must e

Group sex — often called orgies, communal rituals, or collective encounters — is one of humanity’s oldest practices and simultaneously one of the most misunderstood. While today it may be associated with nightlife, kink, or hedonism, its origins are deeply rooted in spirituality, ritual, and collective identity. Long before being moralized, group sexuality appeared in contexts where the body was part of a symbolic, communal, or sacred experience. Group Sex History : Ritual Be

The world’s global fetish fairs  bring together thousands of visitors each year to celebrate leather culture, BDSM communities , kink identity, and alternative fashion. Events like Folsom Europe , Folsom Street Fair , and Darklands Antwerp  have become cultural cornerstones where expression, ritual, and subculture meet. In this entry of the Atomique Fetish Encyclopedia , we highlight the five most influential fetish fairs in the world  — the ones shaping global fetish culture