This woman is attracted to inanimate objects and she wants you to ask about it

Erika Labrie is attracted to inanimate objects, and she wants to clarify the way her sexuality was depicted in a documentary about those who identify as 'Objectum Sexual' (OS).

The term 'OS' was coined by the Swede Eija Riita, who married the Berlin Wall in 1979, and even changed her full name to Eija Riita Berliner-Mauer.

Since then a community has sprung up of approximately 400 or so people, organised as the Objectum Sexual Internationale (OSI) and their Facebook has a similarly modest number of supporters.

Labrie, who is most famous for 'marrying the Eiffel tower', was the focus of a 2008 documentary which also looked at her former relationships with other inanimate objects.

A former US Air Force cadet, Labrie was a world champion in archery, and had a relationship with her bow 'Lance', and before that her military sword. In recent years Labrie's relationship with the Eiffel tower has also come to an end, but she has a new, undisclosed OS relationship, and is the current head of the OSI.

Labrie was unhappy with the way the documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower focused on the sexual and fetish side of her sexuality, and did not address the emotional or intimacy she felt with the objects in question. She also felt it focused too much on the psychology of OS, and that the documentary implied that their attraction to objects was related to former sexual traumas or mental illness. Speaking to News Australia, Labrie said this:

I find my type is an object that’s misunderstood by the world. The Eiffel Tower is surrounded by millions of tourists who are in love with each other, not with her...This documentary raised misconceptions that OS people were inclined towards objects for the sake of control due to factors such as abuse and mental illness.

Addressing the suggestion made by skeptics that her sexuality is due to being unable to have relationships with humans, Labrie said:

I have always maintained good friendships with people and been very social but I have never felt drawn towards any romantic relationship. Despite early attempts to date due to the pressure to conform, it never worked. It felt very alien to me.

On the subject of how other people relate to OS, Labrie believes it's a an extension of the way a person might feel sentimental about a personal effect.

I always say that everyone is closet OS but they simply don’t know it yet. These sentimental relationships that people have with some objects are very similar to how we feel. However, most don’t have the instinct to develop a deeper connection.

Labrie says realised she was an OS when she was a teenager.

I didn’t realise I was different until my teens when others started dating each other and I had deep feelings for a local bridge.

Feeling attracted to objects is still not an accepted sexuality by many people, and Labrie has said she does not expect people to understand.

I think OS would be more openly accepted once people realised how harmless we really are. We are different, but we are harmless.

The best way to understand this sexuality better is to ask more questions.

HT: Jeremy Cassar

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