by G.A. Pearson Department of Entomology, Box 7626 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695-7626.

For the past two years, I've been working on a project documenting insect tatoos, scarification, and other forms of body art involving insects (Pearson 1995). In the course of this investigation, I've met some highly interesting people not usually encountered on the average State University campus. Somehow, through a strange series of events that probably don't bear any further examination, I came in contact with Jeff Vilencia, publisher of The American Journal of The Crush Freaks. Vilencia describes the crush fetish as a variant of giantessophilism: "The feeling is that of letting go, powerless, helpless, tiny, small, and buglike. Wanting to see a female crush something with her foot, longing to be a helpless insect as you squirm around under her foot sole as she squishes your body into grease." Insects become a fetish object for the crush freak, who wishes to be an insect ground underfoot. Witnessing or imagining the act of a woman crushing an insect is sexually arousing. The bigger the foot the better; shoe size 9 and up are preferred. (My puny size 6 feet made me feel safe enough to discuss his obsession with Vilencia.) The AJCF has 500 subscribers, mostly in America but also a few from around the world. Inside is Vilencia's collection of letters from fellow crush fetishists, book reviews, and miscellaneous crush erotica. Two other magazines cater to crush freaks: Squish! and In Step, a foot fetish magazine. There is a flourishing industry in underground videotapes, some of which are highly produced numbers that have been exhibited at film festivals. A casting call for one of Vilencia's "crush" films is reproduced in Figure 1. Amazingly, Vilencia seems to have been inundated by hopeful actresses willing to trample for film fame, some of whom even bought their own bugs and snails to the audition. The films themselves are enough to make an entomologist weep: "Squish Playhouse #3: Starring Debbie The Crush Queen And Co-Starring Dozens of Crickets and Mealworms." "Squish Playhouse #5: Featuring a Special Guest Victim -- A Tarantula Spider!!!" The other victims in Playhouse #5 are live pinkies (baby mice). Well, were live pinkies. Vilencia sent me a copy of his award winning video "Smush!" and I watched it with a few entomological friends. It didn't do much for us besides gross us out. That is also the reaction of the actress in the film, as she mashes earthworms to death, first in bare feet and then in black pumps, grinning maniacally. "Eewwww, I'm stepping on yewwwww..." she squeals in an artificially-engineered baby-doll voice. The disgust of the stomper heightens the excitement of the crush freak, according to Vilencia. Crush freaks watch the film and -- I have to say it -- mastur-bait. The film won an award at the Toronto Film Festival, where a few animal rights activists wanted to know "When does cruelty to earthworms become art?" Audio tapes are also offered. One entitled "A Housewife's Guide to Squishing Bugs" has the following blurb: "Spiders, Ants, Silverfish ,Cockroaches, Snails, Slugs, and Fat Tomato Worms are no match for this angry housewife with her sexy size 10 feet! Follow her from kitchen to garden as she steps on her victims with no mercy! You will want to be the next insect under her foot!" A "crush mistress," Ms. J, is a professional dominatrix, making specialized videos and tapes for different clients. In an interview in the AJCF she says: "50% of the people who write to me are into the "Crush" fetish. But of the people who have maintained an ongoing relationship with me, probably only 15%. (are actually crush freaks)" When asked if she feels any remorse squishing the bugs, she laughs and says: "None, none! There's no remorse 'cause they're little bugs, I mean, what is their use?" ... I mean, I can appreciate life being sacred, but bugs have no minds you know, and no feelings..." Interviewer: Is there anything you won't step on? "As far as bugs go, I do not step on the little spindly-legged spiders, cause they're my friends. But when it comes to bugs, I mean they're just icky little creatures si I can't think why they shouldn't be stepped on!" Another woman named Kathy in Utah offers audio and videotapes to crush freaks. One called "Teacher's Pet" is described as: "A tall stiletto-heeled teacher keeps two students after school for bringing their pet beetle to class. To teach them a lesson, she steps on the beetle and crushes it right in front of them..." This particular tape echoes Vilencia's theory of how crush fetishism develops: "When it comes to the crush, several things come to mind... including the Oedipus complex, because certainly we have seen our mothers kill insects and other people kill insects, and I think that the gigantess imagery that seems to be predominant in more people than one would imagine, also come from childhood. Somewhere there was a sexual connection from seeing all the women in heels and hose while very small ourselves..." Some of the books reviewed by the AJCF are rather surprising: Kafka's Metamorphosis is to be expected, but the rest of the reviews were general interest entomology books. Bug Busters (1991) and Bugs, Slugs, and Other Things (1991) were reviewed, complete with page numbers to bug crushing references. Vilencia has also edited and republished foot-fetish excerpts of R. Von Ebbling's Psychopathia Sexualis, an 1886 treatise. Clearly, I just don't get the whole crush predilection. However, there seems to be very few crush freaks, so I don't think the invertebrate world is in great danger. Crush fetishists represent a fascinating example of the human ability to eroticize just about any activity: in this case, one of interest to entomologists. The next time you stomp a bug, better look around -- Jeff and his friends might be watching: "I think its completely harmless, because it's a fantasy and we can't really experience this (being crushed underfoot). We can do it only in our minds and I think it's probably one of the more safer things. As far as people who are into crushing insects or seeing it done, I don't see anything more wrong with that than going into a supermarket and going into the Raid section, because human beings hate insects." Acknowledgements I thank Jeff Vilencia, editor of The American Journal of The Crush Freaks for his free sharing of materials on the crush fetish and fascinating conversations. My use of the term "crush freak" is mot meant to disparage; it is used by fetishists as a self-description. Bibliography Pearson, G.A. 1995. Insect tattoos on humans: a "dermagraphic" study. American Entomologist. Fig. 1. A Casting call for Squish, a film by Jeff Vilencia. Fig. 2. Some of the film promotional material.

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