[A case of Williams syndrome who exhibited fetishism]

Williams syndrome is a rare congenital disease in which the etiological locus is a micro-deletion in chromosome 7. Here, we describe the case of a 22-year-old male who was diagnosed with Williams syndrome at the age of 3 years. As a child, the patient exhibited patterns of behavior characteristic of this syndrome including hyperactivity, attention deficit, and over-friendliness. He also showed persistent interest in construction vehicles, playgrounds, and gloves. He became interested in gloves after watching a television program in which the heroine fought her enemies while wearing gloves. Watching pornographic movies allowed him to attach strong sexual significance to gloves when he was 19 years old. Since that time, he has assaulted women wearing gloves four times to rob them of the gloves. The current paper discusses both the role of the cognitive profile unique to Williams syndrome and that of environmental factors in the development of fetishism in this case.