Necrophilia is a paraphilia characterized by a sexual attraction to corpses. The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek nekros- "corpse," or "dead" and philia- "love".
Necrophilia can best be described as sexual arousal stimulated by a dead body. The stimulation can be either in the form of fantasies or actual physical sexual contact with the corpse.
The DSM-IV-TR criteria for necrophilia are the presence, over a period of at least six months, of recurrent and intense urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving corpses which are either acted upon or have been markedly distressing.
Even in its truest form, necrophilia can be quite varied, ranging from simply being in the presence of a corpse to kissing, fondling or performing sexual intercourse or cunnilingus on the body.
For psychologist Erich Fromm, necrophilia is a character orientation which is not necessarily sexual. It is expressed in an attraction to that which is dead or totally controlled. At the extreme, it results in destructiveness and a hatred of life.
For Fromm, necrophilia is the opposite of biophilia, that it is not biologically determined but results from upbringing. Fromm believed that the lack of love in the western society and the attraction to mechanistic control leads to necrophilia.
Cultural Aspects
Necrophilia was practiced in some ancient cultures as a spiritual means of communicating with the dead, while others employed it as an attempt to revive the recently departed. The evidence of necrophilia practices can be found in the artifacts of the Moche civilization of South America, where pottery depicting skeletal figures engaged in coitus with living humans are among the ruins.
In some cases the use of dead bodies for the purposes of sexual gratification is purely opportunistic, an activity encountered among those who have professional dealings with corpses in the course of their daily work, for example undertakers and morgue attendants. The practice was rumoured to be prevalent among the embalmers of ancient Egypt to such a degree that the bodies of highly-born women were not embalmed immediately after death but allowed to become slightly putrid as a deterrent. There is, however, no evidence that a desire for sexual relations with corpses leads individuals into these professions. Those who come into constant routine contact with corpses soon acquire a familiarity with them which might lead to using them as what could be considered an extremely bizarre masturbatory aid.
Causes
- The necrophile develops poor self-esteem, perhaps due in part to a significant loss. He (usually male) is very fearful of rejection by women and he desires a sexual partner who is incapable of rejecting him and or he is fearful of the dead, and transforms his fear — by means of reaction formation — into a desire.
-He develops an exciting fantasy of sex with a corpse, sometimes after exposure to a corpse.
-Other factors include; the impact of modern weapon systems, idolotry of technology, and the treatment of people as things in bureaucracy.
-Minor modern researches conducted in England have shown that some necrophiles tend to choose a dead mate after failing to create romantic attachments with the living.
According to reports of sample of 'necrophiliacs,' 68 percent were motivated by a desire for an unresisting and unrejecting partner; 21 percent by a want for reunion with a lost partner; 15 percent by sexual attraction to dead people; 15 percent by a desire for comfort or to overcome feelings of isolation; and 12 percent by a desire to remedy low self-esteem by expressing power over a corpse.
"When the wife of a distinguished man dies, or any woman who happens to be beautiful or well known, her body is not given to the embalmers immediately, but only after the lapse of three or four days. This is a precautionary measure to prevent the embalmers from violating her corpse, a thing which is actually said to have happened in the case of a woman who had just died." (de Selincourt)
Notable necrophiles
+Carl Tanzler
Carl Tanzler was a radiologist in Key West, Florida who developed a morbid obsession for Elena Milagro Hoyos (1910-1931). She was one of his patients, and she died from tuberculosis in 1931. With her parents' permission, Tanzler had an above ground mausoleum built for her, so she wouldn't decompose underground. He visited the tomb almost every night, but in 1933, his obsession apparently overcame him, as he took Hoyos' corpse home with him and kept it in his bed. He restored her body as best he could and kept a full wardrobe to dress her. As her body decomposed, he replaced the skin with wax and plaster of Paris, and bought copious amounts of perfume, often several times a month. In 1940, one of Hoyos's surviving sisters became suspicious due to omnipresent rumors of Tanzler's necrophilia, and eventually confronted Tanzler at his home. She entered Tanzler's house and found Elena's corpse lying in his bed in an elegant dress, almost fully decomposed. Tanzler was later arrested and charged with "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization," but he was ultimately released, as the statute of limitations on the crime had expired.
Necrophilia has also been a motive for some serial killers, including Richard Chase, Ed Gein, Winston Moseley, Dennis Nilsen, John Reginald Halliday Christie, Bruno Lüdke, Jerry Brudos, Gary Ridgway, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate his victims after killing them (although Dahmer had only confessed to eating the bicep of a male); the technical term for this particular variant activity is necrophagia. Several other murderers have described drawing sexual excitement from killing, as well, such as Karla Faye Tucker, who claimed to have an orgasm with each swing of the axe she used to kill Jerry Lynn Dean. The guilty-plea testimony provided by the recently captured (2005) serial killer Dennis Rader provided a rare public glimpse into the workings of such a controlling mind.
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