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Necrophilia
Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia and 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 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''.
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%).
History
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.
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.
Religious aspect
Acts of necrophilia are reportedly displayed on Moche artifacts of Peru. It was reportedly used as a method to communicate with the dead.
[http://living.oneindia.in/kamasutra/spheres-of-life/2008/necrophilia-corpse-attraction-treatment1.html]
[http://www.girlsandcorpses.com/issue6_historydeadlove.html] See also: Necromancy.
Classification
Aggrawal has suggested a ten-tier classification of necrophilia:
# Role players
# Romantic necrophiles
# People having a necrophilic fantasy – necrophilic fantasizers
# Tactile necrophiles
# People having a fetishistic necrophilia – fetishistic necrophiles
# People having a necromutilomania – necromutilomaniacs
# Opportunistic necrophiles
# Regular necrophiles
# Homicidal necrophiles
# Exclusive necrophiles.
Research
In 1958, Klaf and Brown[Klaf, Franklin S., and Brown, William (1958). "Necrophilia: Brief Review and Case Report," ''the Psychoanalytic Quarterly'', 29(143), 645-652. "Inhibited forms of necrophilia and necrophilic fantasies may occur more commonly then is generally realized."] commented that, although rarely described, necrophilic fantasies may occur more often than is generally supposed.
Rosman and Resnick[Rosman, Jonathan P., and Resnick, Phillip J. (1989). [http://www.burknet.com/robsfantasy/section11a.html "Sexual attraction to corpses: a psychiatric review of necrophilia,"] ''Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law'', 17, 153-163.] (1989) theorized that either of the following situations could be antecedents to necrophilia (pp. 161):
#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.
#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 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
*11 percent 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 .
Animals
Necrophilia is known to occur in animals, with a number of confirmed observations.
In the case of a praying mantis, necrophilia could be said to be part of their methods of reproduction. The larger female will often decapitate or even eat her mate during copulation.
Legality
India
Section 297 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) entitled "Trespassing on burial places, etc", states as follows:[[http://mynation.net/ipc.htm#_Toc496765169 THE INDIAN PENAL CODE (IPC)- Dowry Law Misuse(IPC 498A) By Indian Women]]
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 Necrophilia is not explicitly stated in IPC, a necrophiliac may be convicted under the above section in the Indian Penal Code.
There have been several allegations by relatives of dead women, that the dead bodies of their kin were defiled in the night by mortuary attendants, but none have been proven.
In some cases, where a woman was alleged to have been raped and murdered and the autopsy surgeon failed to find any signs of rape, the relatives have approached the authorities for a second postmortem. The second postmortem is invariably conducted at a different hospital, often necessitating the deposit of the body overnight at the mortuary of the second hospital. In cases where the second autopsy surgeon finds signs of rape, the defendants have been known to allege that the dead body was defiled by drunk mortuary attendants at night. However, no such allegation has been proven in a court of law.
United Kingdom
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 opposed to only penetration), and would cover "depictions which appear to be real acts" as well as actual scenes (see also extreme pornography).
As of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, it is also illegal to possess physical depictions of necrophilia, electronic or otherwise. Necrophilia-pornography falls under the governmental description of extreme pornography, of which, possession is classed as illegal under the aforementioned act.
The notorious necrophiliac John Reginald Christie was hanged in 1953. He had strangled his numerous victims, and was also a serial killer.
United States
As of May 2006, there is no federal legislation specifically barring sex with a corpse.[[http://www.burknet.com/robsfantasy/section3a.html Section 3a]] Multiple states have their own laws:
*Alabama - Class C felony under [http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/13A-11-13.htm 13A-11-13]
*Alaska - Class A misdemeanor under [http://touchngo.com/lglcntr/akstats/Statutes/Title11/Chapter61/Section130.htm 11-61-130]
*Arkansas - Class D felony under [http://170.94.58.9/NXT/gateway.dll/ARCode/title03839.htm/subtitle04512.htm/chapter04513.htm/subchapter04514/section04515.htm 5-60-101]
*Arizona - Class 4 felony under [http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/32/01364.htm&Title=32&DocType=ARS 32-1364]
*California - Felony under [http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=23070023407+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve Health and Safety Code 7052], up to eight years in prison
*Colorado - Class 2 misdemeanor under [http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/29db9/2dc8a/2dca6?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm&2.0#JD_18-13-101 18-13-101]
*Connecticut - Class A misdemeanor under [http://www.cga.ct.gov/2001/pub/Chap952.htm#sec53a-65.htm 53a-73a]
*Delaware - Class A misdemeanor under [http://www.delcode.state.de.us/title11/c005/sc07/index.htm#P400_34785 11-5-1332]
*Florida - Second degree felony under chapter [http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0872/Sec06.HTM 872.06]
*Georgia - Felony, up to 10 years in prison under [http://www.ganet.org/cgi-bin/pub/ocode/ocgsearch?docname=OCode/G/16/6/7&highlight=necrophilia 16-6-7]
*Hawaii - Misdemeanor under [http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol14_ch0701-0853/hrs0711/hrs_0711-1108.htm 7]
*Iowa - Class D felony under [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE/1999SUPPLEMENT/709/18.html 709.18]
*Minnesota and Nevada also have laws prohibiting necrophilia
*Nevada Class A felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole under [http://law.onecle.com/nevada/crimes/201.450.html NRS 201.450]
*Ohio - Second/fifth degree misdemeanor under [http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2927.01 2927.01]
*Oregon - Felony for "Abuse of Corpse" [http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/166.html ORS 166.085]
*Pennsylvania - Second degree misdemeanor under [http://members.aol.com/StatutesP7/18PA5510.html Title 18 §5510]
*Texas - Class A misdemeanor [http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/PE/content/pdf/pe.009.00.000042.00.pdf]
*Washington - Class C felony for "Sexually violating human remains" [http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.44.105 RCW 9A.44.105]
* Wisconsin - Class G felony under [http://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=33332 940.225 (7)]
necrophilia
Source: Wikipedia