A new type of dating, courting and marriage pracice has emerged as people are professing their deep love and affection for their prized possessions. Is this the future of relationships?

Lauren Duran | Contributing Writer

When asked to describe the ideal spouse, most would not respond with “I want him or her to be 125 years old, 1,063 feet tall and over 10,000 tons,” unless of course your name was Erika Eiffel, the “wife” of the iconic Eiffel Tower.

A similar situation is portrayed in the recent film Her, directed by Spike Jonze. In the movie, the main character, Theodore Twombly, played by actor Joaquin Phoenix, finds himself feeling lonely as he goes through the final stages of his divorce. To subside these feelings of solitude, Twombly purchases the OS1, a new, highly intelligent operating system that he names “Samantha.” In the film, Twombly falls in love with his new high-tech device as he shows her what human emotion and affection feels like.

Although Her is not based on a true story, the film sheds light on a type of relationship that is reality for others, known as object sexuality or objectophilia. This is a sexual orientation in which individuals develop romantic relationships with inanimate objects. These relationships supercede the average person’s love of pizza, an iPhone or even a car. These relationships have gone as far as wedding ceremonies between a person and the object with which the individual feels they are deeply in love.

Buzzfeed and Rankers boast lists of a few distinct individuals who participate in object sexuality. Amy Wolfe Weber, a 35-year-old church organist from Pennsylvania, married a roller coaster known as “1001 Natchs” with which she has felt a “physical and spiritual relationship” with since she was 13. Similarly, 42-year-old Erika Eiffel, originally from San Francisco, Calif., is in a deeply committed relationship with the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Eiffel even went so far as to have a “commitment ceremony” with the Tower as well as changing her last name to match that of the famous structure.

In an interview for Hungry Beast, an Australian current events show that aired on ABC, Nick Hayden sat down with Erika and asked, “How can you be in a relationship with something that can’t return your feelings?” Her response?

“You are implying that what I need out of a relationship is the same as what everyone else needs…You are implying that I need my object to talk to me, that I need my object to show emotion, that I need my object to wrap his arms around me…but actually that is not what I look for in a relationship with my other half,” she said.

Instead, Erika looks for an object that is going to help her be successful in all aspects of her life, whether that be through her own personal achievements or through her career.

Although marrying objects is not acceptable by law, many have held wedding ceremonies simply for what it symbolizes: their deep commitment and love for their objects. In 2010, Lee Jin-gym held a wedding for himself and his large anime character body pillow, Fate Testarossa. This was not the first time this had taken place, as Japanese gamer Sal 9000 also held a ceremony with his bride, Nene Anegasaki, a Nintendo DS video game character from “Love Plus,” a virtual dating video game.

Likewise, 27-year-old Nathaniel, featured on the hit TV show My Strange Addiction, shared with viewers the com- mitted and intimate relationship he has with his car, Chase. In much of the footage, Nathaniel is seen kissing and caressing the “curves” of his vehicle.

People may wonder how someone could develop romantic feelings for an object. Marriage and family therapist Christy Zail, located in Tustin, Calif., acknowledged some of the possible causes of these rare relationships.

“In 2009, Dr. Amy Marsh, who is a clinical sexologist, conducted research on individuals with object sexuality. She found that there was an incidence of Asperger’s Syndrome in respondents,” Zail said.

Another possibility is that “an individual with object sexuality has developed an association with the object and feelings of love or sexual arousal,” added Zail. This seems to be the case with many of the individuals who have found genuine love in their prized possessions. They have formed a bond with their objects, both physically and emotionally, and often associate it with romantic feelings of love.

In Dr. Marsh’s study, she deter- mined object sexuality to be a sexual orientation in itself, as the emotions and experiences felt coincide with the general definition of an orientation, that is, “feelings and self-concept” according to Zail.

Psychologist Robert Sternberg developed a theory stating that love is defined through intimacy, passion and commitment. Those who participate in object sexuality may experience what Sternberg’s theory describes as “romantic love.” They experience feelings of intimacy and passion, yet they lack reciprocated feelings of commitment from the in- animate object.

“Some individuals with object sexuality believe that their feelings are reciprocated by their desired object; therefore, [they] are quite content with their relationship with their specified object,” Zail said.

Although these rare relationships are difficult to imagine, there are many people in the world today who identify with objectophilia. Through television series such as My Strange Addiction and the new film Her, society is just beginning to catch a glimpse of the feelings that are experienced in these unorthodox relationships. As society continues to adapt to materialism, could this possibly be the future of our relationships?