Pantyhose fetishism
Pantyhose fetishism is a sexual fetish relating to pantyhose. Pantyhose fetishists may find sexual partners clothed in pantyhose to be sexually stimulating, viewing the process of putting on pantyhose or taking them off sexually stimulating, or, in some cases, wearing them to be sexually stimulating as well. There is sometimes a correlation to transvesticic behaviours.
The fetish usually is related to worn or otherwise used pantyhose rather than pantyhose that are new and unworn. Some fetishists will seek to obtain the worn pantyhose or discarded pair of selected women by either procuring them from a disposal bin or simply stealing them from the lingerie chest. Most fetishists have at least a small collection of worn pantyhose.
Pantyhose fetishism seems closely related to stocking fetishism, although many pantyhose fetishists, if asked, will prefer pantyhose on women to stockings or other types of nylon legwear. This may be related to the fact that the nylon in pantyhose is in direct contact with the genitalia whereas stockings are not.
The sub-categories of pantyhose fetishism are too many to list, as the fetish can be endlessly sub-divided and is in many cases combined with other fetishes or paraphilias so as to make an individual's preferences almost unique, a characteristic which is shared with many other fetishes.
A few examples of sub-categories include: a focus on a certain area of the body while wearing pantyhose (feet, genitalia, the buttocks, etc.), persons engaging in certain acts (not necessarily sexual) while wearing pantyhose, persons of a certain sex/age group/ethnicity wearing pantyhose, persons wearing pantyhose in combination with certain other articles of clothing (under trousers, with specific shoes, uniforms, socks, etc.), certain styles of pantyhose (opaque pantyhose or 'tights', certain colors, patterns, etc.), observing women wearing pantyhose in public settings without their knowledge (essentially a form of voyeurism), and 'pantyhose encasement', in which the subject wears pairs of pantyhose both on their legs and over their torso like a shirt, except also usually covering their head. In this regard it is very similar to zentai, although practicioners usually prefer one activity over the other.