What is "aquaphilia"

Aquaphilia may refer to:

• a love of water sports, such as rafting
• a preference for hydro power
• sexual paraphilia involving an attraction to swimsuits and water
• refers to a medical condition recognised by Central European physicians in the nineteenth century which characterised adults who liked to immerse themselves for recreation or therapy in public waters, such as rivers and lakes. In the history of malaria it was implicated as a transmission factor prior to germ theory. It was deemed important evidence to the anti-contagionist movement.

Aquaphilia is a form of sexual fetishism that involves images of people swimming or posing underwater, and sexual activity in or under water.

Literally "water lover" from the Latin aqua and Greek φιλειν (philein), the term "aquaphile" was first used by Phil Bolton, when he created the "Aquaphiles Journal" - an online magazine for followers of the underwater erotica scene published in the 1990s.

The psychology of aquaphilia was the subject of a paper by Corinne Lamberth (a therapeutic counsellor based in Lewisham, South London) in 1998. A copy of this paper was published in the Aquaphiles Journal in early 1999.