ABSTRACT
Exhibitionism is an uncontrollable urge to exhibit one’s genitals to an unsuspecting stranger. It is an obsessive-compulsive paraphilic disorder, which typically involves men exposing themselves to women.* According to most surveys, it is the most common of the paraphilias and the behavior most frequently seen by clinicians.1,2,3 According to Rooth4 and Kahr,5 exhibitionism constitutes about one third of all sexual offenses committed. Freeman6 cites almost similar gures, 20-35%. This is not a consistent nding, though. Different surveys have reported other paraphilias as being most prevalent. Among the mental health facilities in England, it was found by Bancroft to be the second most common sexual deviation.7 Some surveys show obscene telephone calls to be the most common paraphilia.8 Yet others show child molestation to be most common.9 In a review of 3,050 separate magazine and book titles sold in “adults only” pornographic outlets in 1986, the U.S. Commission on Pornography found that as many as 49.9% of the reviewed titles were devoted to the theme of sadomasochism, making it the most common paraphilia (if prevalence of thematic magazines and books is taken to accurately reect the corresponding prevalence of a particular paraphilia).10 By and large, the consensus of opinion, however, is that exhibitionism is the most common of all paraphilias, comprising about one third of all paraphilias and sex offenses.
