Frotteurism

Excerpt

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-5) distinguishes between paraphilia and a paraphilic disorder.

The term paraphilia is defined as "an intense and persistent sexual interest which is not a sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physiologically mature, consenting human partners."

The term disorder was added specifically to DSM-5 to indicate paraphilic behaviors. The term paraphilic disorder is explained as "a disorder that causes clinically significant distress or impairment to the individual or involved harm or risk to others while gaining sexual gratification."

Frotteurism is one such disorder that is subsumed within paraphilic disorder; it is one of eight such paraphilias listed in the DSM-V. Frotteurism is the act of touching or rubbing one's genitals up against a non-consenting person in a sexual manner.

The term frottage is derived from the French word "frotter," which means "to rub." Kraft-Ebbing is credited by many for first describing this behavior in detail in the book Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886, while Clifford Allen coined the term frotteurism in the 1960s.