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Carol married the Santa Fe Depot in 2015
A woman married a train station and claims it is ‘just like being lesbian’.
In 2015, Carol married the Santa Fe Depot, a downtown San Diego train station, in a not legally binding ceremony.
Last week, she spoke to British newspaper The Mirror about her marriage, and said being married to an object was just like being gay.
And not just because she sees the station, who she knows as Dairdra Santa Fe, as her wife rather than a husband.
‘Objectum sexuality is not a mental illness like the media always makes out,’ she said.
‘It is our sexuality, just like being lesbian or bisexual – we are not crazy.’
Carol said she has been in love with the station ever since she was a young girl.
It has been the most stable relationship she has ever had, Carol said, and she has ‘had the time of my life’ as Dairdra’s wife.
‘I used to be scared of being in love with humans, but I’m not scared with Daidra,’ she said.
‘I could never love another train station – she is the one.’
Objectum sexuality is a recognized term.
Psychology Today describes it as referring to people ‘who develop deep emotional and/or romantic attachments to (and have relationships with) specific inanimate objects or structures’.
Despite some high-profile cases, like that of Erika Eiffel who married the Eiffel Tower in Paris, little is known about objectum sexuality.
In 2009 clinical sexologist Amy Marsh surveyed 21 English-speaking objectum sexuals. They were all members of Eiffel’s 40-strong OS Internationale, an international group of people sexually attracted to objects.
She found half of them were on the autism spectrum – six with official diagnoses (Eiffel herself lives with Aspergers), four were without diagnosis, and three other people reported ‘some traits’.
Marsh herself said she believed objectum sexuality could be a genuine sexual orientation.
She said if it were – as often perceived – a result of childhood trauma, there should be more than the few known cases.
