Objectum

Objectum Sexuality, also known as Objectum, Objectum Romanticism (OS/OR), or Pygmaliosexual, is the attraction to inanimate objects. This attraction can be sexual, romantic, or both, it can also be a form of tertiary attraction. The objects that an objectum (or 'OS') individual is attracted to are often called "beloved objects", these objects often have names and personalities to the objectum individual. They may go on dates or do other intimate acts with their beloved object. Objectum is not an exclusively queer experience, nor is it inherently LGBT+.

Beloved objects can be "private objects", meaning objects that one owns, which can include: toys, cars/trucks, plants, musical instruments, articles of clothing, etc. They can also be "public objects", meaning objects that are something public or in a public space, which can include: buildings, bridges, machines, statues, fences, water, amusement park rides, etc. Objects do not have to be tangible and can also include things such as logos, letters, or concepts. Some objectum individuals are polyamorous, and are dedicated to many objects, while some are devoted to a single object. Objectum individuals can be attracted to individuals as well or they could be exclusively attracted to objects.

Some objectum individuals believe in animism; the idea that everything has a spirit or spiritual energy, including individuals, plants, animals, and objects. Others have noted the high number of OS individuals who identify as being on the autism spectrum, leading to the accepted understanding that there are two separate ways to experience objectum sexuality. Some autistic OS individuals have stated that they do not identify as animists and do not feel that objects have a spirit, but that their attraction is the result of synesthesia^[1]. Regardless, objectum individuals will often talk to their beloved objects and many feel that the object talks back in its own way.

Paraphilic Disorders vs Objectum

Objectum sexuality is different from a paraphilic disorder, as a paraphilic disorder does not imply a devoted personal relationship, feeling mutual and reciprocal attraction, and usually does not include animistic beliefs. Dr. Amy Marsh, a sexologist who has studied OS individuals, has developed a spectrum that explains some of the differences between object fetishism and objectum orientation.^[2]^[3]

The objectum community generally finds the term "objectophillia" to be very misinforming towards their attraction, as the term implies that they do not have a healthy bond, and implies that their attraction is disordered. While having a paraphilic disorder should not be villanized, it is harmful to spread the ideology that being objectum is a paraphilic disorder; this spreads misinformation on what disordered attraction is, and groups together experiences it should not.

Objectum Umbrella Terms

There are many Objectum identities, subterms, and microlabels amongst the community. While this page will only be covering the larger umbrella terms, if one wishes to check out more specific labels, they may visit this Tumblr post (however it may not cover all existing subsets.)

Abandum

An Objectum who is attracted to all abandoned things (abandoned toys, buildings, furniture, etc.)

Agalmatum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to toys, dolls, mannequins, statues, sculptures, etc.^[4]

Amusrum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to amusement park rides.^[5]

Applianceum

An Objectum who is attracted to appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, etc.

Conceptum

An Objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to concepts. It can be an attraction to representations of a concept, or to the concept itself, as well as other possible variations.^[6]

Consolum

An Objectum who is attracted to gaming consoles, such as Nintendo Switches, Xbox 360s, Sony Playstations, etc. This label falls under vehium and techum.

Inflateajectum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to inflatable objects, such as pool toys.^[7]

Jewlerum

An Objectum who is attracted to jewelry.

Multum

An objectum who has attraction to some objects, but not others. For example, one could be both turum and plushum. Panjectum (someone who is attracted to all forms of objects/concepts) falls under this.

Musica

An Objectum who is attracted certain musical aesthetics, genres, songs, or specific band/artist’s music.

Naturum

An objectum who is attracted to nature (other than plants). This includes fire, water, rocks, mountains, landscapes, etc.

Onsum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to certain food or recipes.^[5] This term is also sometimes called foodsexual (though that term is typically associated with trolls.)

Plantum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to plants, gardens, fruit, vegetables, forests, etc. This term is also sometimes called botano-/botani-^[8] or flora-, and sometimes known as plantsexual/plant-.

Plushum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to stuffed toys or other soft objects.^[9] This term is also sometimes called pelusexual or pelu-.

Private Object Objectum

An Objectum where one's object of affection is an object they own.

Public Object Objectum

An Objectum where one's object of affection is something public like a building or street sign.

Quiltum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to quilts or blankets.^[5]

Sculptum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to things that they create themselves. Can be sculpted, sewn, etc.^[5]

Soundrum

An Objectum/Conceptum who is attracted to sounds and music.

Spirictum

An Objectum who's objectum buds/partners have a spiritual form.

Turum

An objectum who is primarily or exclusively attracted to furniture, such as couches, chairs, beds, etc.

Vehium

An objectum who is attracted to vehicles, robots, and/or other technology. Techtum (the attraction to mobiles/phones, computers, and televisions) falls underneath this umbrella term.

History

Relationships and orientations that can be described as objectum are found throughout human history in mythology, folklore, and the lives of real individuals. The term "objectum sexuality" was coined by Eija-Riitta Eklöf and two other objectum-sexuals in the early 1970's. In 2008, Erika Eiffel and Oliver Arndt founded Objectum Internationale^[10], an organization dedicated to providing education about the orientation both to individuals questioning themselves as well as the general public. Since then its members have made appearances in documentaries, on news programs, and in journalistic publications. Unfortunately, the organization has had to withdraw support for many of these features due to sensationalized and discriminatory editing of interviews that result in willful misrepresentation of OS individuals.

Objectum sexuality saw a surge of interest and recognition on Tumblr in the 2010's, independent from the community formed around Objectum Internationale.

The terms soundrum and spirictum are coined by Tumblr user mogaisoup on November 27th of 2020.

The term techtum is coined on April 24th of 2021 by wiki user Friendly Clown Boy.

Flags

The main objectum flag was coined by the OS-Positive moderators in 2016, with input from several community members. The blue represents physical objects, whether man-made or nature based. Gray represents conceptual or non-tangible objects. Yellow is eye catching and bright, representing public objects. Purple is muted and calming, representing personal objects. White represents the animistic belief held by many OS folks, as well as the representing the object's essence, soul, or personality. The red circle represents the objectum community and its history.^[11]

The queerplatonic objectum flag was coined by Tumblr user queerso on December 24th of 2020. It has no confirmed meaning.

The abandum flag was coined by Tumblr user hallowum on November 28th of 2020. It has no confirmed meaning.

The amusrum, onsum, sculptum, and quiltum flags were coined by Tumblr user imsingi on April 8^th of 2020. They have no confirmed meanings.

The agalmatum flag was coined by Tumblr user hallowum on December 24th of 2020. The colors were taken from the 1987 movie Mannequin.

The consolum flag was coined by an unknown at an unknown date. The colors are mainly based off of the colors on the Playstation 2 controller face buttons. The blue represents Sony, the red represents Nintendo, the green represents Microsoft, and the pink represents other companies that aren't those main three.

The original conceptum flag was coined by an anonymous through the Tumblr account beyond-mogai-pride-flags. Purple is the color for imagination and creativity when it comes to envisioning these concepts, grey is the color of putting concepts into perspective, green is for the harmony one may get from concepts, yellow is the color of mind and intellect and for more rigid concepts, the cloud in the middle represents a thought bubble, and the turquoise around it represents the communication of concepts with each other and clarity of mind.

The alternative conceptum flag was coined on April 23rd of 2020 by Mod Jupiter on the Tumblr account known as forgotten-mogai. They merged the bubble with the circle on the objectum flag (in order to represent thoughts), and used the original colors of the flag.

The panjectum flag was coined on November 15th of 2020 by Tumblr user gender-horderz. The colors of the flag are a slightly more pastel reverse pan pride flag to show a more tender love that comes with being objectum and to show how objectum individuals experience attraction in a different way. The white heart is meant to represent objects and love for all objects regardless of category.

The soundrum/musica- flag was coined by Tumblr user Plurgai on April 18th of 2020. It has no confirmed meaning.

The spirictum and soundrum flags were coined by Tumblr user mogaisoup on November 27th of 2020. They have no confirmed meaning

The naturum flag was coined by Tumblr user Hallowum on November 26th of 2020. It has no confirmed meaning.

The botanosexual flag was coined by beyond-mogai-pride-flags on June 14th of 2018. The botanisexual and botaniromantic flags were coined by Tumblr user beyond-mogai-pride-flags on June 16th of 2018. Other flags they made for botani- attraction can be found here. None of the flags have any confirmed meaning.

The flora- flag was coined by Tumblr user gender-horderz on May 26th of 2020. Pink represents the tender love (platonic or otherwise) that someone may feel for a plant or nature, light green represents the life and growing of nature, and light yellow represents the happiness objectum folks feel when with their partners. The flower is there to further drive the idea of nature into the pride flag, and is white to show the purity in objectum and similar identifying individuals’s hearts.

The plushum flag was coined by an anonymous and was posted through the Tumblr account xeno-aligned on March 20^th of 2019. The colors had no confirmed meaning.

The pelu- flag was coined by Tumblr user genderplaylist on November 17th of 2020. It has no confirmed meaning..

The private object objectum and public object objectum flags were coined by Tumblr user genderqueer-dream on November 27th of 2020. They have no confirmed meaning.

The alternate agalmatum, alternate amusrum, alternate conceptum, alternate naturum, alternate onsum, alternate plushum, alternate quiltum, alternate sculptum, inflateajectum, multum, plantum, turum, and vehium flags were coined by Cryptocrew in December of 2020. Listed below are each flags individual meanings:

-Alternate agalmatum flag: the pink represents attraction, the tan represents sculptures, the grey represents statues, and brown represents dolls/toys.

-Alternate amusrum flag: brownish-grey represents park rides, grey represents the thrill of amusement park rides, light red represents attraction, and dark red represents amusement parks in a whole.

-Alternate conceptum flag: the green represents social concepts, the turquoise represents emotional concepts, yellow represents mental concepts, and orange-ish yellow represents fantasy/fictional concepts.

-Alternate naturum flag: the blue represents water and ice related nature, the green represents mountains, forests, field, etc related nature, yellow represents beaches/dessert related nature, and orange represents heat related nature.

-Alternate onsum flag: the orange represents large meals and desserts, yellow represents snacks and smaller meals, blue represents candy and recipes, and green represents fruit and vegetable based meals.

-Alternate plushum flag: the pastels represent the childlike nature associated with plushes and stuffed toys.

-Alternate quiltum flag: the warm oranges represent warmth and comfort of blankets and quilts.

-Alternate sculptum flag: the yellow represents creativity and the pink represents love and care put into creation.

-Alternate turum flag: the brown represents tables, stools, and similar furniture. The red represents couches, beds, loveseats, beanbags, and similar furniture.

-Inflateajectum flag: the pink represents balloons, orange represents inflateable toys, light blue represents inflateable pool toys, and dark blue represents all other inflateable objects.

-Multum flag: the colors are based off of the multisexual flag.

-Plantum flag: the browns represent forests, jungles, trees, and bushes. The pale green represents mushrooms and fungi. Light green represents veggie, herbs, fruit/berry plants. Finally, dark green represents cacti and aquatic-plants.

-Vehium flag: the greys represent robotical structure and data, as technology are often associated with greys.