The concept of cannibalism is usually unpleasant, frightening and macabre for most people. 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 will talk in this article.

Vorarefilia: the desire to eat someone or be eaten

One of the most dangerous paraphilias is called vorarefilia, which is characterized by the recurrent existence of sexual fantasies linked to the idea of devouring or being devoured in life by another person, either in part or in whole. Sometimes also with the idea of being digested. These fantasies are repeated constantly for at least six months and are generators of great sexual excitement or even 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 dying, 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 they are dead.

It is also worth noting that what is erotic to people with voraciousness is the idea of consuming or being consumed, or the idea of being physically integrated into another person. This 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 kind of inverted birth) or by a man’s urethra, by the anus or even by the nipples.

There are different types of vorarefilia depending on the type of fantasy involved, although two of them stand out. The soft vore in which the devoured is eaten alive and/or whole and in which there is little violence, and there may even be no injuries until they reach the stomach. The second is the hard vore in which the devotee receives abundant lacerations and wounds, with violence and suffering and a great deal of blood and even mutilations and amputations. The latter is the less frequent, more sadistic and less linked to sexuality.

Link to other paraphilias

Vorarefilia can often be confused with sexual cannibalism because of its close resemblance. However, there is a difference between both concepts, although it is a nuance that can be difficult to detect for many people: sexual cannibalism involves the excitement of eating human flesh, which is the object of desire. In voraephilia, however, the object of desire is not to eat human flesh but to devour or be devoured by something or someone , and it is not necessary that this consumption be carried out through ingestion .

This paraphilia has links with other types of paraphilia, 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, a common fantasy being that of being devoured by a giant) or microphilia (sexual attraction to a much smaller creature, with the possibility of also fantasizing about devouring or being devoured).

This is a rare paraphilia, which can appear in people of different ages and sexes. However, it is more common in males between 18 and 46 years of age. It is possible that it generates clinically significant discomfort in the person who suffers it or a functional limitation in the person’s life, although in some cases the fantasies are not lived with discomfort.

A fantasy generally not put into practice

Generally voraciousness does not go beyond the realm of fantasy, with people with this paraphilia knowing its implications and the damage it can cause. People with this type of fantasy generally resort to onanism or other sexual practices, or use pornographic videos linked to the subject or to simulation and role-playing. This paraphilia is also rare, making it extremely complex for two people to reach such an agreement .

However, this does not always mean that there have been cases of subjects with voracity who have practised cannibalism or become victims of it, resulting in the death or mutilation of one of the persons involved. And although it may not seem credible, in some of these cases the acts are carried out with the connivance of the one who is to be devoured. In other cases where psychopathy is present it can even lead to the commission of murder.

This is why voraciousness is one of the most dangerous paraphilias, since in the case of passing from fantasy to action in most cases it will mean death or serious damage to someone’s physical integrity . It would therefore be, whether with or without the consent of the person consumed, a blood crime punishable by law in most countries.

Sadly, this paraphilia is also known to have led to several deaths, one of the most high-profile 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 about it.

Firstly, we must take into account that vorarephilia is related to power and the roles of domination and submission , with the person who devours the control and assimilating the devoured, which is consumed. In fact, many of the people with this paraphilia employ role plays of this type because of their similarity.

Some people link the fantasy of being devoured to the need to lose control, as in people of dominant character or excessively self-controlled . On the contrary, the fantasy of being devoured could be an attempt by the subject to overcome a lack of perceived control.

Also, in different cases we have seen poor family models, with rigid parents and lack of positive emotional expression. In these cases there is the possibility that the devoured being seeks assimilation by another person as an attempt to withdraw or 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 needed 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 Roteborg: when vorarefilia becomes a reality

One of the best known recent cases of voraephilia and cannibalism was the case of the so-called cannibal of Roteborg, Armin Meiwes .

This man, who claimed to have 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 to devour the latter (an act that Brande himself had consented to).

After meeting and having sex, according to the 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 (previously Brande had consumed various substances to reduce the level of pain). After that, Brande began to feel sick due to blood loss, being taken by Meiwes to the bathtub and losing consciousness.

Once there, Meiwes cut his throat, then cut up his victim and put his flesh away. He would not be discovered until 18 months later , even with Brande’s remains in his refrigerator, when he posted the fact on the Internet, allegedly looking for a repeat of the experience. A user would end up alerting the police, which stopped 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.

Bibliographic references:

  • Griffiths, M. (2013). Turn on the eater: a beginners guide to vorarephilia. Psychology Today [Online]. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201311/turn-the-eater.
  • Lykins, A.D., & Cantor, J.M. (2014). Vorarephilia: A case study in masochism and erotic consumption. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 181-186.
  • Pfafflin, F. (2008). Good enough to eat. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 286-293.