Sexuality in American History has been a mixed bag in terms of acceptance and offensiveness. One of the many curiosities that surround sexuality concerns what some people find to be sexually attracting or stimulating as opposed to what others find to be painful or distasteful. This distinction is an aspect of sexuality that has been debated and studied in a number of ways. The term to describe this feeling of sexual attraction under certain circumstances is a fetish. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a fetish is defined as "an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion  or "an object or bodily part whose real or fantasied presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification and that is an object of fixation to the extent that it may interfere with complete sexual expression . In both definitions, a fetish is identified as both a physical aspect as well as a mental aspect of sexuality; or rather for achieving complete sexual gratification. For the purpose of this written analysis, I will go into various fetishisms, the different views regarding fetishism, as well as how fetishism has changed in regards to race, gender, and sexuality itself. Fetishism has long been viewed by the vocal majority as some sort of psychological issue, due in part because it is characterized as sexual deviancy. Typically, what is viewed as "not normal  is viewed in a negative light, especially during the late 1800s and the 1900s. One such example of this can be seen in the essay written by Kobena Mercer entitled "Reading Racial Fetishism: The Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe . In this essay, Mercer analyses the way in which people (particularly whites) look upon the work of Mapplethorpe, especially his sexual expression photography of African American men in Black Males. The representative fetish in question here is one regarding racial fetishism. Racial fetishism can be described as having one or more particular desire for partners in certain racial groups. According to Mercer, "It is as if, according to Mapplethorpe's line of sight: Black + Male = Erotic/Aesthetic Object  (Mercer, 174). Putting this into the context of fetishism, which by definition is a manner of attraction towards something that is unusual, having any sort of sexual attraction towards African American men naked was an example of sexual deviancy. During the time period in which Mapplethorpe's work was publically unveiled, racial tensions were still relatively high. Adding to that, Mapplethorpe's own apparent sexual attraction towards men and, in the case of these photographic works, black men added a level of controversy as to why he chose naked black men for his subject matter. However, racial fetishism is not limited to the printed works of Mapplethorpe. It is also heavily evident in the moving picture industry, or to be blunt: in pornography. Interracial sexuality is a frequently viewed genre of pornographic imagery. In an article written by Linda Williams entitled "Skin Flicks on the Racial Border: Pornography, Exploitation, and Interracial Lust , racial fetishism in pornography is explained as appeasing the taboo that had been established in 1992. The law stated that "no nonwhite man can have sanctioned sexual relations with a white woman , yet it was well-known that white men were having unsanctioned sexual relations with black women quite regularly; most times without any legal action sought against them. Williams notes:  "Videos with titles like Black Taboo, Black and White in Living Color, Black Meat, White Cream, White Dicks/Black Chicks, White Trash, Black Splash, Color Blind, and South Central Hookers speak about the racial differences in sex in ways that elsewhere in the culture have often remained unspeakable.  (Williams, 217) As noted before regarding fetishism, it is typically an attraction for sexual acts that are viewed as unacceptable by the dominant society. However, the interesting thing about interracial sexu