Topical Guide 313
Mark Dorset
Language: Technical Terms: Ecouterism
So,” she said. “In this case, I want to tell you. Something I have to say. A secret, you understand?”
“Yes. A secret.”
“A secret for women, okay?”
“Okay.”
“At night, Miklos and I, we hear you. Always, you and Herb, we hear you.”
Lorna looked puzzled. “I’m sorry if we — ”
“Oh, no, no. I mean we hear you — ” She nodded toward the pine bed. “ — in bed.”
“You do?”
“From the first night!” She clapped her hands. “We try not to listen. I wash the dishes, make noise, but we can’t help it. You are — very busy in bed.”
“Mrs. Mikszath!”
“You are, you are, very — alive! Bouncing. Giggling. Squealing. Sounds very good, very nice. We try not to listen, but we can’t help hearing, and I tell you, most things we don’t hear so well. Finally, we give up trying not to hear. We start hearing. After a while, we listen.”
“How — often?”
“All the time!”Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 10
Ecouteurism is similar to acousticophilia in that sounds arouse the person. However, ecouterism is nonconsensual and the stimulus comes more from this fact rather than from what is heard. This is similar to the kleptophile who is aroused by the danger and courage involved in stealing rather than by the object they steal. This is also true of a peeping Tom, exhibitionist, or obscene phone caller. Similarly, an ecouteurist will use the stimulus from eavesdropping as an aid for masturbation. Sexual ecouteurism involves intentionally listening to someone else’s personal conversations or sexual exploits through doors, walls, telephone lines, and with special electronic listening devices. Some of these devices look somewhat like a megaphone and are capable of picking up low level noise from 100 feet away. An ecouteurist may be a voyeur as well, but the two do not always occur simultaneously. Many people are aroused unintentionally by overhearing a couple engaging in sex from an adjoining bedroom or when attending a group sex function. This is a normal reaction for most people.
Brenda Love, The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices (via the Internet Archive) [Query: Why “ecouterist” instead of “ecouteur”? MD]
On a wet Sunday afternoon, I recently found myself reading through a list of strange paraphilias in Dr. Anil Aggrawal’s book Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices. I came across a sexual paraphilia called ecouteurism which according to Dr. Aggrawal refers to individuals who derive sexual pleasure and arousal “by listening to stories of sexual encounters of others or to sounds of others produced during intercourse either live or recorded.” Other slightly different definitions of the behaviour have been noted. For instance, the Right Diagnosis website says that ecouteurism refers to “intentionally listening to other people having sex without them being aware of it or consenting to it” whereas the Dictionary of Psychology and Allied Sciences notes that it refers to the “sexual pleasure obtained from sounds or listening to sexual or toilet activities of others.”
The Intimate Medicine website claims there is no scientific literature on ecouteurism but that is not quite true. The one and only paper [in] the academic literature was written back in 1968 by Australian psychiatrist Dr. F. M. Mai and published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. …
It was in fact Dr. Mai who termed this condition ‘ecouteurism.’Dr. Mark Griffiths, “Aural sex? A brief overview of ecouteurism and acousticophilia”
[more to come on Wednesday, August 10, 2022]
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