Who wants to be an amputee?

ABC News reports on people who have limbs amputated, by choice.

Karl said his obsession with losing a limb did not end with his double amputation. But he said he finally lost his desire to also remove his left hand after an intense regime of therapy and anti-depressants.

For a man remarkably at home in his wheelchair, there is a hint of regret. There are places the wheelchair can't take him, like to the beach to feel the sand under his feet.

"It's all those little things, like that," Karl said. "What the hell was I thinking?"

This is on sexual lemming because I find it strangely related to the amputee devotees, people with a sexual fetish about amputees, and even other fetishes.

There is more on how to become an amputee fetishist.

Boxing Helena explores this in a bad movie. How much would you like a man or women in a box? Would it be someone to take care of or someone to wheel out when needed? Sick? What about if it wasn't a person but a machine or animal? Is this sicker or better? The movie concludes with a "What the Hell was I thinking?" cliche denouement.

Last year Playboy had their first amputee centerfold in Jennifer Krum after having the paraplegic Ellen Stohl in April 1995.

"My name is Ellen Stohl, I am a model/actress, who three years ago was injured in a tragic auto accident. At first, I had given up hope of pursuing my career, but after a few months and a lot of learning, I realized a wheelchair should not make a difference. Since that realization, I have been working twice as hard to achieve my career goals not only for myself but also to teach society that being disabled does not make a difference. The reason I choose Playboy for this endeavor is that sexuality is the hardest thing for disabled persons to hold onto. Not to say that they are not capable, but rather that society's emphasis on perfection puts this definitive damper on self-esteem. Well, I believe it is time to show society the real story. Anyone can be sexy; it is a matter of how a person feels about himself or herself, and personally I feel great."

HUSTLER in February 1997 had an article about humping stumps as they called it. Based on Playboy and Hustler are all amputees sexy or just otherwise attractive ones?

I had a class in college with an attractive young woman without legs in a wheelchair. I realized how sexy she was and how exciting it would be to go to bed with her. Alas, she had a boyfriend.

What is the line between an attraction and a fetish?

I am attracted to women with wet hair or with their hair in curlers. Is that a fetish? Soapy suds and showers - fetish or not? Red hair, small breasts, smooth skin? White bikinis? Cute smiles, good hugs? No perfume but shampoo and soap smell? No makeup? Intelligence and creativity? Kindness and a sense of humor? Affectionate and touching and more hugs? Quirky and loyal and open-minded? Willingness to experiment to see what kind of orgasms she likes best? Occasionally wants quick sex without orgasms? Wants some mornings of hours of sex play in bed? I have a strong attraction to skin, looking at it and touching it - a fetish, an attraction, normalcy? What about those who don't want people to look? How out of control does an attraction need to be before it is perverted? I like questions - is that sick? Seeing beyond conventional beauty - is that really a good quality? While I reject many Christian beliefs after studying too much about it, I find I am attracted to some good Christians with what I consider strange beliefs. How twisted is that? I was very attractive to someone who lost her legs who was otherwise attractive - fetish or normal?

Texas Teenage Virgins is a UK documentary about what passes for sex-ed in Lubbock, Texas and how it has affected public health and teenagers. The school district had out-sourced sex education to an Evangelist preacher.

The film explores Lubbock, Texas, deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, where teenagers are expected to take purity pledges, promising to remain virgins until they get married. The documentary asks, how hard is it for these teenagers to resist temptation, and what are the consequences if they don't? And, How does the climate of fear and misinformation impact their lives?

Juxtaposed against this "purity ring" ceremony with Ed Ainsworth motivating youngsters to abstain from sex.

Juxtaposed against this "feel good" ceremony were statistics listing Lubbock as having one of the highest teenage pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. Do any of you find this incongruous?

This is sex education, Texas-style, where the only safe sex taught since 1995 is no sex outside marriage. That is when George W. Bush, who was then governor, signed a law making Texas the third state requiring schools to follow an abstinence-only sex education curriculum.

Now President Bush is promoting abstinence-until-marriage programs nationwide, a shift in health policy that has sparked an emotional debate over how to keep young people healthy. Abstinence-only proponents say that teaching young people about birth control is simply inviting them to have sex; advocates for comprehensive sex education say that withholding detailed information leads to dire medical consequences. Lubbock's situation illustrates the limitations of abstinence-only programs.

In the seven years since their schools began teaching abstinence-only, young people here have been anything but abstinent. Teen pregnancy rates in the state remain above the national average, and Lubbock County consistently has one of the highest rates in the state. In addition, the number of Texas youths with sexually transmitted diseases has risen steadily. - from a Lubbock forum.

Isn't this purity-oath mindset a more unhealthy fetish than most? Isn't this similar to disowning or hacking off parts of your body? Isn't this where this post started?

Sharon of Nothing Matters and What If It Did is not responsible for where her link took me.