A little glance at subjective experience can help to illustrate how fetishes are life-enhancing, world-building and far exceed what gets you off or what you do in the bedroom. But I do think life history can be a path to understanding the personally affirming power of fetish.
I do not think it is always helpful to unarchive the roots of fetishes, since this tends only to pathologise queer and non-normative forms of desire (after all, no one ever asked a heterosexual man why he likes boobs so much).
The meanings with which growth is invested vary from person to person and the route to the gaining scene is deeply personal – rooted in life histories.
