A **paraphilia** is a broad and relatively poorly-studied concept that is very difficult to define, exacerbated by the conflation of paraphilias with paraphilic disorders. There is no consistently used definition. The [[wp>DSM-IV-TR]] provides the following description:

>The term //paraphilia// denotes any intense and persistent sexual interest other than sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners. In some circumstances, the criteria “intense and persistent” may be difficult to apply, such as in the assessment of persons who are very old or medically ill and who may not have “intense” sexual interests of any kind. In such circumstances, the term paraphilia may be defined as any sexual interest greater than or equal to nonparaphilic sexual interests. There are also specific paraphilias that are generally better described as preferential sexual interests than as intense sexual interests.

It also provides a description of paraphilic disorders, which is arguably much more useful in this context (emphasis mine):

>A paraphilic disorder is a paraphilia that is currently causing distress or impairment to the individual **or** a paraphilia whose satisfaction has entailed personal harm, or risk of harm, to others. A paraphilia is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for having a paraphilic disorder, and a paraphilia by itself does not necessarily justify or require clinical intervention.

Of interest here is the second definition of //paraphilic disorder//. Such a term is rarely used within [[Radqueer]] and "[[pro-para]]" communities, but its latter definition is identical to that of //harmful paraphilias//, a label used within these communities for certain paraphilias considered to harbor the potential for harm (e.g., zoophilia). This may illustrate how such communities' definitions of //[[wp>kink (sexuality)|kink]]// and //[[wp>sexual fetish|fetish]]// differ from the academic world and the general public; for example, //paraphilia// typically means, in colloquial usage, "a harmful or dangerous kink or fetish", whereas "pro-para" communities often consider fetishes to be a harmless and/or socially accepted type of paraphilias.