Wet and messy fetishism

File:WAM pied girl.jpg

A woman who has been pied

Wet and messy fetish (WAM), also known as sploshing, is a form of sexual fetishism whereby a person becomes aroused when copious amounts of a substance are applied to the naked skin, face, or to clothing. Several websites are dedicated to WAM.

Many people with WAM fetishes are drawn to the tactile sensations of wet, and or messy, substances against their skin. Other individuals simply prefer the sight of others getting messy or wet. A subject will often be pelted with cream pies, (sometimes individuals like these pies to be made of shaving foam, rather than real cream), have slime dumped on them, or sit on cakes. Another common theme is the deliberate pouring of substances inside clothing while it is being worn, clothing chosen for this can vary from swimsuits or underwear to full outfits. Normal street clothes, either casual or officewear, are commonly featured in WAM productions, but many other types of outfits from wedding attire to industrial overalls, or more specialist fetishwear such as PVC or latex, or leather items, may be used. White items are particularly popular with some fans of this fetish.

Messy substances most commonly focused on by WAM participants include whipped cream, raw eggs, lotion (Japanese-style lotion), paint, oil (mineral oil/baby oil), mud, pudding, chocolate sauce, shaving foam, custard, baked beans, treacle, ketchup, ice cream, peanut butter, gunge/slime, cake batter etc. Wet substances are mainly water but can also include other liquids such as fruit juice, milk or alcohol (usually beer).

Bodily fluids such as feces, urine, vomit, semen, and female ejaculate are not considered part of WAM. The former three are typically considered coprophilia, urophilia, and emetophilia; urophilia is somewhat commonly found in mainstream pornography. The latter two are also somewhat mainstream.

WAM fetish videos (made by both fans and commercial producers) may include nudity and sexual acts, while others may only feature fully clothed participants. Videos can be seen frequently on YouTube and other public video services. Some of these videos are flagged, but most of them remain available despite the sexual undertones, mainly because a large majority of wet and messy videos posted publicly do not include nudity and are therefore safe for all audiences to view. Indeed, not only is much WAM video content indistinguishable in any easily defined sense from the kind of slapstick featured in mainstream entertainment, but also scenes of gungings/pieings etc from the mainstream media are often compiled and marketed by producers towards a WAM fetishist target audience.

Crossover with other fetishes

There is some crossover between the wet and messy fetish and clothing destruction fetishes, some WAM productions will see models start out fully dressed, usually in quite 'smart' outfits such as formal dresses or suits, they will then be first covered in messy substances, and then cut their messy clothes up, typically with scissors, ending up either naked or very skimpily clad in the remains of their outfits.

WAM is sometimes also combined with Bondage, where a subject is restrained or chained up, and then hosed down or messed up.

Psychology of WAM Fetishism

No conclusive research has been conducted into the psychology behind the fetish, however, it is not uncommon for fetishists to have been interested in the sensations of messy play since their formative years (age 3-4), with a sexual element manifesting during teenage years with the onset of puberty.

One unproven theory is that individuals drawn to WAM have low tactile sensitivity (Sensory processing disorder) which is increased and intensified by wet substances acting as a lubricant under applied pressure or friction. "Messy Play" is a common clinical therapy used in treating hypo-tactile patients (mostly pediatric cases) to give them an outlet and appropriate time and place to engage in "messy play".

Another aspect is the link to other fetishes, as some Wet and Messy play is done in a submissive/dominating way and has possible links to BDSM; the emphasis being on the humiliation of the victim, although this is often mitigated or negated by the victim taking it in good humour. The dominant partner inflicting the mess can also be an object of attraction as an assertive figure of playful mischief.

For many, the simple breaking of taboos - doing what you were told not to as a child - brings about a sense of personal liberation.

In any form, the fetish is about sensual stimulation, whether visual, tactile/kinesthetic, or even stimulating other senses.

In media

The popular sex column Savage Love has mentioned WAM. In one article, there was a reply to a letter from the roommate of someone who masturbates with condiments. Daniel Savage, the writer of Savage Love, did not condemn the fetish in that incident, but instead, he only condemned the fetishist for using condiments that were used by others.

Wet and messy fetishism made mainstream news when, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Bernard Bertola, who had taught for nearly 20 years at Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School and headed its information-technology department at the time, was disciplined for searching for WAM-related terms on a school computer. An article about the incident in the Halifax Evening Courier described what Mr. Bertola was looking for as "bizarre." He was given a two-year conditional registration order.

Publications on the fetish have been produced, most notably the British magazine Splosh!.

Several web-based forums and numerous sites devoted to the fetish exist.

In popular culture

• The television show Attack of the Show! did a piece on a pie fetish showing different pie related videos including eating pies and being hit by pies, inaccurately labeled all of the videos as Vorarephilia, when in fact videos shown included videos related to WAM and Saliromania.
• The 1999 Jonathan Creek episode Miracle On Crooked Lane features WAM as a major subplot.
• 2004 film A Dirty Shame featured a woman who enjoyed WAM, described as "an English fetish". This scene was filmed with input from the British Splosh! magazine.
• CSI: NY aired on November 4, 2009 an episode which included a WAM-related subplot, though this involved "sploshing parties" - an extremely uncommon practice invented principally for an episode of HBO's Real Sex series.
• The fetish featured in series three, episode four of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, aired in February 2010.
• The UK print magazine Bizarre has featured WAM activities and known WAM models, generally under the UK term 'Sploshing', on several occasions, and fully messed up WAM models have competed in their "Bizarre Babe Of The Month" competition from time to time.
• The cult film Tommy featured a "WAM" scene with Ann-Margret covered in baked beans, chocolate, and foam.
• In an episode of the second season of The Client List, one of Riley Parks's clients, acted out by Trevor Donovan, asked Riley (Jennifer Love Hewitt) for sploshing.

See also

• Food play
• Lotion play
• Mud wrestling
• Mysophilia
• Saliromania
• Slapstick
• Splosh!
• Wet T-shirt contest
• Wetlook