Dacryphilia is a fetish in which a person becomes sexually aroused by another person's crying or tears. The term generally refers to those who are turned on by the crying of others, but can sometimes refer to the pleasure someone experiences from their own crying, both as a physical release and an emotional catharsis. A very small survey conducted in 2014 found that those who experienced dacryphilia did so out of compassion for the person crying, or in response to a dominant/submissive dynamic as a form of sadism. Dacryphilia may also be voyeuristic in nature when the person enjoys watching another person in this vulnerable state.
The term comes from the Greek word for tears, "dakrya," while "philia" means love.
Dacryphilia is also known as dacrylagnia.
More About Dacryphilia
In practice, dacryphilia may be incorporated with various types of BDSM play. A dominant partner may elicit tears from their submissive partner through heavy pain play, rough body play, verbal humiliation, or power play. Conversely, a submissive partner might cry during a BDSM scene as a display of service or deep emotion. Within a BDSM scene, tears and sobbing can be pleasurable to both submissives and dominants.
Although there isn't a lot of content online for those with dacryphilia, online forums devoted to this fetish tend to be less explicit and mostly focused on images, gifs and videos of people crying. FetLife also includes a group for dacryphiliacs.
