Xenophily or xenophilia means an affection for unknown objects or peoples. It is the opposite of xenophobia or xenophoby. The word is a synthesis from the Greek "xenos" (ξένος) (stranger, unknown, foreign) and "philia" (φιλία) (love, attraction).[1]
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Xenophilia is a theme found in science fiction, primarily the space opera sub-genre, in which one explores the consequences of love and sexual intercourse between humans and extraterrestrials, particularly humanoid ones. A satirical example is XXXenophile, an X-rated comic book written by Phil Foglio. A more somber example is the relationship of Sarek and Amanda Grayson (Spock's parents) in Star Trek. There are also multiple examples of xenophilia between the main character and his or her alien shipmates in the Mass Effect (series) of games for the Xbox360, PC, and most recently the Playstation 3
In the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a character named Xenophilius Lovegood (the father of one of Harry Potter's more eccentric friends, Luna Lovegood) is characterized by his interest in unusual or unknown objects, animals, and concepts - as his name unmistakably implies.
The film Watermelon Man centers in part around a white man trying to have sex with a white woman he works with. His efforts fail until he is magically turned into an African American at which point she is more than willing to sleep with him. It is only the following day that the protagonist realizes to his horror that the woman is a Xenophile and only had sex with him because of his race she had no interest in him as a person.
George Washington, in his 1796 Farewell Address, described the influence of xenophilia in politics, which he saw as negative:
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.[2]