Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Word of the Week: Necrophilia

Necrophilia is the sexual attraction to corpses. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association classifies necrophilia as a paraphilia.  

Other terms are: Thanatophilia and Necrolagnia
Related term: Necrochlesis (sex with a corpse)

Definition and derivation found in Wikipedia:
The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek: νεκρός (nekros; "corpse" or "dead") and φιλία (philia; "friendship"). The term appears to have originated from Krafft-Ebing's 1886 work Psychopathia Sexualis.
Motivations for this behaviors was reviewed by Rosman and Resnick (1989) from 34 cases of necrophilia and the behaviors described in each case. 

The following reasons were what they found:
  • desire to possess an unresisting and unrejecting partner 
  • reunions with a romantic partner 
  • sexual attraction to corpses 
  • comfort or overcoming feelings of isolation 
  • seeking self-esteem by expressing power over a homicide victim

Some readings online:
  1. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/28/content_7950768.htm
  2. http://potomac9499.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/homosexual-necrophilia-in-the-mallard-duck 
  3. http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/03/necrophilia.html
  4. http://www.experiencefestival.com/necrophilia/articleindex
  5. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1315385
  6. http://www.reasonforliberty.com/current-affairs/necrophilia-a-fantasy-obsessive-necrophilia-a-crime.html

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