Death by cannibalism might seem like a high price to pay for sexual pleasure, yet some people find the idea of being someone else\u2019s lunch quite arousing.<\/p>
Sexual fetishes involving cannibalistic fantasies are very rare but not unknown. Vorarephilia – usually shortened to vore – is a fixation on the idea of being eaten, eating another person, or observing this process for sexual gratification.<\/p>
Henry Miller touches on the idea behind the fetish in his essay, \u201cInside the Whale<\/em>,\u201d in which he discusses the cocooned \u201csafety\u201d of infants in the womb.<\/p> There isn\u2019t much statistical research out there on the eat-or-be-eaten fetish. Vorarephiles are unsurprisingly reluctant to speak about their sexual predilections. <\/p> But most behavioral experts agree that the fascination develops early in a person\u2019s life. A study from the 2015 International Academy of Sex Research conference says the median age at which a person might develop an interest is 12.<\/p> Some 113 vorarephiles aged 18 to 46 participated in the study, most of them were heterosexual males who fantasized about being eaten by women.<\/p> Since the fetish is unlikely to actually be carried out except in the ghastliest cases of sexual cannibalism, \u201csoft vore\u201d usually involves role-playing and different media.<\/p> Participants in the 2015 study reported acting on their fantasies in a variety of ways. These included the use of puppets, swallowing small animals that are still alive, as well as \u201cfashioning a makeshift predator\u2019s stomach out of blankets, pillows, or sleeping bags.\u201d<\/p> Psychologists have investigated comparisons between hunger and sexual desire in porn and literature and suggest this may play a part in the popularity of the fetish.<\/p> The man-eating scenarios in vore pornography come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You\u2019ll find anything from bikini-wearing popular anime characters eating each other to enormous, ferocious giantesses gobbling up villagers.<\/p> \u201cCompared to \u2018hard vore,\u2019 soft vore is usually seen as more sensual and sexually-oriented because of its relatively non-violent nature,\u201d says Mark Griffiths, a professor of behavioral addiction at Nottingham Trent University.<\/p> Enthusiasts point out that soft vore and hard vore porn aren\u2019t always strict binaries, though. Some sexually explicit depictions may straddle the line between the sensual and the outright violent.<\/p> For example, the artist Karbo shows stomach acid and digestion in his giantess vore illustrations, but stops short of depicting blood and dismemberment.<\/p> That said, given the paraphilia’s primary basis in fantasy, almost any orifice or body part can be capable of engulfing a person.<\/p> For instance, female genital vore is where the person is consumed by the vagina. This is often called \u2018unbirthing\u2019 or \u2018reverse birth,\u2019 Griffiths says.<\/p> There are still other types, says Griffiths. \u201cAnal vore is where the person is consumed by the anus and taken into the rectum, colon, or stomach,\u201d he adds. \u201cBreast vore is where the person is consumed by the nipples and taken into the breast.\u201d<\/p> The regular porn viewer who stumbles on a vore video or illustration will probably miss the eroticism beyond noticing the highly-sexualized depictions of women. Indeed, the comment section of vore videos on Youtube will sometimes have one or two viewers asking, \u201cWhat did I just watch?\u201d<\/p> But the driving force underlying vorarephilia in some people appears to resemble that of sadomasochism, according to a study published in 2013. Researchers have also found that it could be motivated by a strong urge to merge with a powerful other to escape loneliness.<\/p> In both interpretations, the act of devouring someone is viewed as a definitive act of dominance. One does not have to stray too far to get a sense of the mental construct behind this particular fascination.<\/p> In everyday, colloquial language, we say someone beautiful \u201clooks good enough to eat\u201d or that a sexually attractive person looks \u201ctasty\u201d or \u201csweet.\u201d<\/p> Being eaten alive, on the other hand, would be the ultimate act of submission. The \u2018victim\u2019 in vore porn is usually helpless: a man bound, gagged, and humiliated, or else he is tiny \u2013 literally, the size of a bug.<\/p> Pop culture references to vore are many and varied. Man-eating women have been appearing in a range of film genres, TV shows, and comic books for decades. <\/p> An early example is the 70\u2019s film, Die Weibchen<\/em>, which is set in a women\u2019s health spa where men are food. There are also cannibal horror-comedies, such as 1973\u2019s Cannibal Girls<\/em> and 2009\u2019s Doghouse<\/em> and Jennifer\u2019s Body<\/em>.<\/p> The voracious women in these movies are portrayed as literal monsters. That\u2019s probably because it\u2019s much easier to accept a person eating someone alive if mainstream viewers are told they\u2019re actually not human.<\/p> There are hundreds of animated videos along this theme on YouTube. They all more or less run along the same basic elements: scantily clad women consuming men whole and alive.<\/p> These clips sometimes garner views running into the hundreds of thousands. Some of those who comment on the clips are acknowledged vorarephiles. \u201cEat me,\u201d says one. \u201cIt\u2019s my fantasy.\u201d<\/p>![\"Sexual](\"https:\/\/mysecretdrawer.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/10\/VORE-ART.jpg\")
(Art by Karbo via deviantart.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Hunger, Sexual Desire, and Vore<\/h3>
![\"\u201cSoft](\"http:\/\/mysecretdrawer.co\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/10\/VORE-1.jpg\")
From the Sensual to the Violent<\/h3>
![\"You\u2019ll](\"http:\/\/mysecretdrawer.co\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/10\/vore-4.jpg\")
\u201cWhat did I just watch?\u201d<\/h3>
![\"The](\"http:\/\/mysecretdrawer.co\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/10\/VORE-2.jpg\")
(Art by Karbo via deviantart.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cEat me. It\u2019s my fantasy.\u201d<\/h3>
![\"Man-eating](\"http:\/\/mysecretdrawer.co\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/10\/vore-3.jpg\")