Vorarephilia: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment Of This Paraphilia
The concept of cannibalism is generally unpleasant, frightening and macabre for the majority of the population. However, some people link this act to a situation of power and domination, seeing the act of devouring or being devoured by another person as something sexually exciting. This is what happens with a curious paraphilia called vorarephilia And it is about this concept that we are going to talk about in this article.
Vorarephilia: the desire to eat someone or be eaten
One of the most dangerous paraphilias is called vorarephilia, which is characterized by the recurrent existence of sexual fantasies linked to the idea of devouring or being devoured while alive by another person, whether in part or totally. Sometimes also with the idea of being digested. These fantasies are constantly repeated for at least six months and are generators of great sexual excitement or even be the only means by which the subject reaches orgasm, and may even try to carry them out.
In principle, fantasy does not have to include the idea of death: what these people find erotic is not the idea of killing or being killed, but the idea of consuming or being consumed by another person However, this does not imply that some subjects with this paraphilia fantasize about eating or being eaten once dead.
It is also worth considering that what is erotic to people with vorarephilia is the idea of consuming or being consumed, or of integrating or being physically integrated into another person. It generally involves the ingestion and digestion of the consumed but it is also possible that the fantasy involves being consumed by a woman’s vagina (in a type of reverse birth) or by a man’s urethra, by the anus or even by the nipples.
There are different types of vorarephilia depending on the type of fantasy it involves, although two of them stand out. The soft vore in which the devoured person is eaten while alive and/or whole and in which there is little level of violence, and there may even be no wounds until reaching the stomach. The second is the hard vore in which the devoured person receives abundant lacerations and wounds, existing violence and suffering and with a large amount of blood and even mutilations and amputations. The latter is the least frequent, most sadistic and least linked to sexuality.
Vorarephilia can, on many occasions, be confused with sexual cannibalism due to their great similarity. However, there is a difference between both concepts, although it is a nuance that may be difficult to detect for many people: sexual cannibalism involves the excitement of eating human flesh, this being the object of desire. In vorarephilia, however, the object of desire is not to eat human flesh but to devour or be devoured by something or someone, It is not necessary that said consumption be carried out through ingestion
This paraphilia is linked to other types of paraphilias, especially those linked to domination and submission and the link between pleasure and pain. It has some sadism and masochism, although it is not the pain itself that generates excitement. It can also appear related to other paraphilias such as macrophilia (sexual attraction to giants, with a common fantasy of being devoured by a giant) or microphilia (sexual attraction to a creature of a much smaller size, and may also fantasize about devouring or being devoured). ).
We are facing a rare paraphilia, which can appear in people of different ages and sexes. However, it is more common in men between 18 and 46 years of age. May cause clinically significant discomfort in the person who suffers from it or a functional limitation in the person’s life, although in some cases the fantasies are not experienced with discomfort.
A fantasy generally not put into practice
Generally, vorarephilia does not go beyond the realm of fantasy, with people with this paraphilia knowing its implications and the damage that can be caused. Generally, people with this type of fantasy resort to masturbation or other sexual practices, or they use pornographic videos linked to the subject or simulation and role-playing games. Likewise, this paraphilia is rare, so It is extremely complex that two people could reach an agreement of this type
Now, generally it does not always imply: there have been cases of subjects with vorarephilia who have come to practice cannibalism or become victims of it, resulting in death or mutilation of one of those involved. And although it may not seem credible, in some of these cases the acts are carried out with the connivance of the person who is going to be devoured. In other cases where psychopathy occurs it can even lead to the commission of murders.
It is for this reason that vorarephilia is one of the most dangerous paraphilias, since in the case of moving from fantasy to action in most cases will result in death or serious damage to someone’s physical integrity It would therefore be a blood crime punishable by law in most countries, whether with or without the consent of the consumed person.
Sadly, this paraphilia is also known to have caused several deaths, one of the most media-intensive cases today being that of the Rotenburg cannibal.
Causes
The causes of this paraphilia are not entirely known, although it is possible to make various hypotheses in this regard.
First of all, we must take into account that vorarephilia It is related to power and the roles of dominance and submission, the person who devours having control and assimilating the person devoured, who is consumed. In fact, many people with this paraphilia use role plays of this type due to their similarity.
Some people link the fantasy of being eaten to the need to lose control, such as in people with a dominant or excessively self-controlled character On the contrary, the fantasy of devouring could be an attempt by the subject to remedy a lack of perceived control.
Likewise, in different cases, deficient family models have been seen, with rigid parents and a lack of positive emotional expression. In these cases there is the possibility that the being devoured seeks assimilation by another person as an attempt to recollection or to become part of another being.
There may also be a basic psychopathic personality, especially in those cases that seek to put their fantasies into practice.
Treatment
Psychotherapy is necessary to stop linking these ideas and mental images with sexual arousal, something that is easier to achieve from cognitive-behavioral therapy applied to paraphilias.
The cannibal of Rotenburg: when vorarephilia becomes a reality
One of the best-known recent cases of vorarephilia and cannibalism was the case of the so-called Rothenburg cannibal, Armin Meiwes
This man, who stated that he had had cannibalistic fantasies since childhood and adolescence, came into contact in 2002 with Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, agreeing to a meeting in which the former was going to devour the latter (an act consented to by Brande himself).
After meeting and having relations, according to statements and a video recorded by Meiwes himself, they proceeded to cut off Brande’s penis and then cook it and eat it between the two of them (Brande had previously consumed various substances to reduce the level of pain.) After that, Brande began to feel unwell due to blood loss, being carried by Meiwes to the bathtub and losing consciousness.
Once there, Meiwes cut his throat, later cutting up his victim and saving his meat. It would not be discovered until 18 months later, still with Brande’s remains in his refrigerator, when he posted the event on the Internet, allegedly looking to repeat the experience. A user would end up notifying the police, who arrested him.
He is currently serving a life sentence for sexually motivated murder although there were difficulties in the trial due to the consent shown by Brandes.
