Understanding Necrophilia

Okay, so I'm now going to tell you more about Necrophilia.

Necrophilia, also called as thanatophilia, is a sexual attraction or sexual act involving corpses. Okay, I bet you're all a but disgusted, but keep an open mind because people don't just commit these acts for the fun of it, some have problems and doing these acts are some kind of coping mechanism for them.

As I said, there are different reasons people commit necrophilia as well as different classifications in which they fall on.

In Jonathan P. Rosman and Phillip J. Resnick's Sexual Attraction to Corpses: A Psychiatric Review of Necrophilia , which can be found in the website, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law Online.They examined 122 cases (comprising 88 from world literature and 34 unpublished cases of their own) and found out that the motivation for engaging in necrophilic behavior resulted that  two-thirds of necrophiliacs reported the desire to possess an unresisting and unrejecting partner (68%). Other lesser motivations reported included wanting to be reunited with their dead romantic partner (21%), being sexually attracted to corpses (15%), comfort or overcome feelings of isolation (15%), and/or seeking self-esteem by expressing power over a homicide victim (12%).

They also classified the behavior into three sub-types: (1) necrophilic homicide, (2) 'regular necrophilia, (3) necrophilic fantasy.

 They theorized that the reasons people commit necrophilia is that they might be fearful of rejection of others and that they desire a sexual partner who cannot reject them. Which goes to show, that necrophiliacs may probably have low self-esteem. In their review, they have also said that some necrophiliacs may be socially or sexually inept or maybe they fear the opposite sex, which makes them look for partners that are non-threatening (i.e non-living people). However, there are also suggestions in which people are fearful of the dead and as a coping mechanism, they transform their fear into sexual desire.

Anyway, they found out that 92% of the people who committed necrophilia were males, (females being the 9%) and that 100% of those who committed homicides were also males. Basically, males commit necrophiliac acts more than women. I'm not entirely sure why it is that there are more male necrophiliacs but I'll probably research that when I have time.

Unsurprisingly, necrophilia almost always appear to those who are emotionally unstable. Their emotions are probably what triggered them to commit such acts. Some say that necrophilia is a sickness of the mind, while others say that it is technically a fetish since they desire the non-living. Someone has to have some kind of problem for them to commit this act while knowing that it is wrong and widely frowned upon, not to mention illegal in some countries.

But as it is, necrophilia is a rather rare occurrence, therefore, there is still a lack of research regarding this topic.While there are some theories that has been proposed, due to lack of evidence in the matter, they still remain just that, theories. We can only hope that we can further our understanding regarding this matter and find ways to help. Sometimes, one just has to listen to help, so, if you ever meet someone who had committed these acts, try not to be too harsh on them and try to understand why is it, that they do such things.

Necrophilia in Myths and History

The first topic I'll be writing about is Necrophilia.

It occurred to me that I should first talk about what Necrophilia is, but as I went through many articles, a specific information caught my eye and my interest that I can't seem to stop wondering about. So, I thought that I should just start with that and follow up with other information later.

It turns out, the practice of necrophilia has an apparently, long and rich history, perhaps as old as civilization itself. Interesting, right? Once I found out about it, I immediately decided to do more research regarding past depictions of necrophilia, and surprisingly enough, I found more than what I expected. It was definitely an interesting read.

I found out that there are many recordings in myths and in history that narrates people committing necrophilia. I thought it was a modern thing, but I guess you never truly know things, huh. Anyway, let me share to you some stories I've read.

One is of Achilles and Penthesilea, in Greek Mythology. I read that, Penthesilea joined the Trojan War and fought against the Greeks. Being in the opposite side of the war, they fought each other. Although Penthesilea was strong and gave Achilles quite a challenge, she unfortunately lost against him.

Immediately after Achilles killed her, he removed her helmet and saw her face. He was dismayed when he learned that he had killed a woman but because Penthesilea was so beautiful, Achilles's grief was overcome by lust that he desecrated her dead body.

Other versions say that Achilles just fell in love with Penthesilea while others involved Thersites gouging Penthesilea's eyes with a spear while he mocks Achilles with her death so, Achilles killed Thersites to avenge her. I think that what Achilles felt wasn't just lust but there is love too, though, he was late to realize it since he had already killed her. I don't really know how to feel about this. It's a bittersweet feeling to love someone and then realize that you had killed her and then regret it, but making love with the dead body to show your love is a bit too much for most people.

Periander (625-585 B.C), the second tyrant of Corinth, who was known as a necrophile. It was said that he murdered his wife, Melissa, in an irrational rage of jealousy and then, in remorse, had sexual intercourse with her corpse. 

Whether or not he was in the right state of mind is another story. 






According to King Herod: A Persecuted Persecuter. A Case Study in Psychohistory and Psychbiography (pp. 170-172) by Aryeh Kasher and eliexer Witzum, M.D, King Herod had 10 wives but he loved his second wife, Mariamne 1, the most. Though he had executed her on charges of adultery, he still loved her so much that--according to legend-- he had her preserved in honey and had regular intercourse with her for seven years.

Although, it was said that he could no longer bear the tension, nor the intensity of his suspicions, he was drawn into paranoid delusions ultimately destroying the object of his love. But it seems he just caved in with all the pressure, grief, remorse, anger, jealousy and just snapped. This seems to happen with a lot of powerful people. King Herod's situation seems to fall in on one of the motives of committing necrophilia according to Rosman's and Resnick's research where it said that 15% of the necrophilia cases that they reviewed committed the act to gain comfort.

In King Herod the Great’s instance, a death of a love one can lead to these kind of practices. Love drives people to do things which are considered immoral. Though it seems that most of the time the grief that comes when you lose a lover can lead you to do it. It makes me wonder if what they did can be accepted because they were drowning in guilt and grief.

But, it seems that long ago, ancient civilizations had done certain procedures to discourage people from committing necrophilia.

 

 

In The Histories by Herodetus, it is said that in Ancient Egypt, after the death of the wives of men of rank or after the death of beautiful women, they are not immediately given to the embalmers. The Ancient Egyptians leave the deceased women to decay for three to four days, to discourage intercourse with a corpse.



Hinting, that there had been some instances that the embalmers had committed this kind of act. I think it's smart of them to do this, though I think they should have included not only beautiful women but all women, but it's the past so, not everything is equal.

These are only a few examples of necrophilia cases recorded in history. In fact, there are so many of them even though they are not wildly known. I believe that reading the history of these kind of practices can help find out more on why this exist and learn how it affects the society we live in today.