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Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός (nekros; "dead") and φιλία (philia; "love"). The term appears to have originated from Krafft-Ebing's 1886 work Psychopathia Sexualis.^[1]

Rosman and Resnick (1989) reviewed information from 34 cases of necrophilia describing the individuals' motivations for their behaviors: these individuals reported the desire to possess an unresisting and unrejecting partner (68%), reunions with a romantic partner (21%), sexual attraction to corpses (15%), comfort or overcoming feelings of isolation (15%), or seeking self-esteem by expressing power over a homicide victim (12%).^[2]

History[link]

Singular accounts of necrophilia in history are sporadic, though written records suggest the practice was present within Ancient Egypt. Herodotus writes in The Histories that, to discourage intercourse with a corpse, ancient Egyptians left deceased beautiful women to decay for "three or four days" before giving them to the embalmers.^[3][4][5]

In some societies the practice was enacted owing to a belief that the soul of an unmarried woman would not find peace; among the Kachin of Myanmar, versions of a marriage ceremony were held to lay a dead virgin to rest, which would involve intercourse with the corpse. Similar practices existed in some pre-modern Central European societies when a woman who was engaged to be married died before the wedding.^{[citation needed]}

Religious aspect[link]

Acts of necrophilia are reportedly displayed on Moche artifacts of Peru. It was reportedly used as a method to communicate with the dead.^[6][7] See also: Necromancy.

Classification[link]

A ten-tier classification of necrophilia:^[8]

1. Role players
2. Romantic necrophiles
3. People having a necrophilic fantasy – necrophilic fantasizers
4. Tactile necrophiles
5. People having a sexual fetish for the dead – fetishistic necrophiles
6. People having a necromutilomania – necromutilomaniacs
7. Opportunistic necrophiles
8. Regular necrophiles
9. Homicidal necrophiles
10. Exclusive necrophiles.

Research[link]

In 1958, Klaf and Brown^[5] commented that, although rarely described, necrophilic fantasies may occur more often than is generally supposed.

Rosman and Resnick^[2] (1989) theorized that either of the following situations could be antecedents to necrophilia (pp. 161):

1. The necrophile develops poor self-esteem, perhaps due in part to a significant loss;

   (a) He/she is very fearful of rejection by women/men and he/she desires a sexual partner who is incapable of rejecting him/her; and/or

   (b) He/she is fearful of the dead, and transforms his/her fear — by means of reaction formation — into a desire.

2. He/she develops an exciting fantasy of sex with a corpse, sometimes after exposure to a corpse.

The authors also reported that, of their sample of 'necrophiliacs,':

• 68% were motivated by a desire for an unresisting and unrejecting partner;
• 21% by a want for reunion with a lost partner;
• 15% by sexual attraction to dead people;
• 15% by a desire for comfort or to overcome feelings of isolation; and
• 11% by a desire to remedy low self-esteem by expressing power over a corpse (pp. 159).

At the end of their own report, Rosman and Resnick wrote that their study should only be used like a spring-board for further, more in depth, research.

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^{[citation needed]}.

In animals[link]

Necrophilia is known to occur in animals, with a number of confirmed observations.^[9] Kees Moeliker allegedly made one of these observations while he was sitting in his office at the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, when he heard the distinctive thud of a bird hitting the glass facade of the building. Upon inspection, he discovered a drake (male) mallard lying dead outside the building. Next to the downed bird there was a second drake mallard standing close by. As Moeliker observed the couple, the living drake pecked at the corpse of the dead one for a few minutes then mounted the corpse and began copulating with it. The act of necrophilia lasted for about 75 minutes, in which time, according to Moeliker, the living drake took two short breaks before resuming with copulating behavior. Moeliker surmised that at the time of the collision with the window the two mallards were engaged in a common pattern in duck behavior called "attempted rape flight". "When one died the other one just went for it and didn't get any negative feedback — well, didn't get any feedback," according to Moeliker.^[10][11] This is the first recorded case of necrophilia in the mallard duck- though not the only recorded case of homosexuality within the bird family.^[12]

The film The Cane Toads: an Unnatural History shows a male toad copulating with a female toad that has been run over by a car. It goes on to do this for eight hours.^[13]

In the case of a praying mantis, necrophilia could be said to be part of their methods of reproduction. The larger female will sometimes decapitate or even eat her mate during copulation. However, this only happens in 5-31% of cases.^[14]

Legality[link]

New Zealand[link]

Under Section 150 of the New Zealand Crimes Act 1961, it is an offence for there to be "misconduct in respect to human remains." This statute may be applicable to sex with corpses, although it should be noted that there is no case law as yet that would test this observation. ^[15]

India[link]

Section 297 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) entitled "Trespassing on burial places, etc", states as follows:^[16]

Whoever, with the intention of wounding the feelings of any person, or of insulting the religion of any person, or with the knowledge that the feelings of any person are likely to be wounded, or that the religion of any person is likely to be insulted thereby, commits any trespass in any place of worship or on any place of sculpture, or any place set apart from the performance of funeral rites or as a depository for the remains of the dead, or offers any indignity to any human corpse, or causes disturbance to any persons assembled for the performance of funeral ceremonies, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Although sex with corpses is not explicitly stated in IPC, a person who has sex with a corpse may be convicted under the above section in the Indian Penal Code.

South Africa[link]

Section 14 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 prohibits the commission of a sexual act with a corpse.^[17] Until codfied by the act it was a common law offence.

United Kingdom[link]

Sexual penetration with a corpse was made illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This is defined as depictions of "sexual interference with a human corpse" as well as actual scenes (see also extreme pornography). As of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, it is also illegal to possess explicit and realistic depictions of sexual interference with a human corpse, electronic or otherwise.

United States[link]

As of May 2006, there is no federal legislation specifically barring sex with a corpse.^{[citation needed]} Multiple states have their own laws:

• Alabama - Class C felony under 13A-11-13
• Alaska - Class A misdemeanor under 11-61-130
• Arizona - Class 4 felony under 32-1364
• Arkansas - Class D felony under 5-60-101
• California - Felony under Health and Safety Code 7052, up to eight years in prison
• Colorado - Class 2 misdemeanor under 18-13-101
• Connecticut - Class A misdemeanor under 53a-73a
• Delaware - Class A misdemeanor under 11-5-1332
• Florida - Second degree felony under chapter 872.06
• Georgia also has a law prohibiting sex with corpses [1]
• Hawaii - Misdemeanor under 7
• Iowa - Class D felony under 709.18
• Minnesota and Nevada also have laws prohibiting sex with corpses^[18]
• Nevada - Class A felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole under NRS 201.450
• New York - Class A misdemeanor under 130.20
• Ohio - Second degree misdemeanor, fifth degree felony under 2927.01
• Oregon - Felony for "Abuse of Corpse" ORS 166.085
• Pennsylvania - Second degree misdemeanor under 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5510, "a person who treats a corpse in a way that he knows would outrage ordinary family sensibilities commits a misdemeanor of the second degree".
• Texas - Class A misdemeanor [2]
• Washington - Class C felony for "Sexually violating human remains" RCW 9A.44.105
• Wisconsin - Class G felony under 940.225 (7)

See also[link]

Look up necrophilia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Necrophilia in popular culture
• Vulnerability and Care Theory of Love

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/necro.htm

Further reading[link]

• Lisa Downing, Desiring the Dead: Necrophilia and Nineteenth-Century French Literature. Oxford: Legenda, 2003
• Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis. New York: Stein & Day, 1965. Originally published in 1886.
• Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.