View source for Vorarephilia

{{Short description|Erotic desire to eat or be eaten by someone}}
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{{distinguish|text=[[Sexual cannibalism]] among animals}}
[[File:Dealing with bullies colored.jpg|thumb|An example of [[manga]]-style vorarephilic artwork]]
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'''Vorarephilia''' (often shortened to '''vore''') is a [[paraphilia]] characterized by the erotic desire to be consumed by, or to personally consume, another person or creature, or an erotic attraction to the process of eating in general practice.<ref name="Lykins" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Ågmo |first=Anders |chapter=Hyperactive sexual desire and the paraphilias |url=https://archive.org/details/functionaldysfun0000agmo |title=Functional and dysfunctional sexual behavior: a synthesis of neuroscience and comparative psychology |publisher=Academic Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-12-370590-7 |page=454 |doi=10.1016/B978-012370590-7/50013-X |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Brundage2002">{{cite journal |last=Brundage |first=Sandy |date=31 July 2002 |title=Fetish Confessions |url=http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?articleid=22026&pagename=article |url-status=live |journal=The Wave Magazine |volume=2 |issue=15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927061721/http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?articleid=22026&pagename=article <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=30 April 2007}}</ref> Soft vore fantasies are separated from sexual fantasies of [[human cannibalism|cannibalism]], also referred to as "hard vore",<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-07-25 |title=2021 Vore Survey Results from Eka's Portal |url=https://ia600505.us.archive.org/28/items/2021-vore-survey-results/Eka%27s%20Portal%20Vore%20Survey%20Results.pdf |access-date=4 September 2023 |website=Internet Archive |language=en |publication-date=2023-09-04}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}} because the soft vore victim is normally swallowed alive and whole.<ref name="Lykins" /> The word ''vorarephilia'' is derived from the [[Latin]] ''{{Lang|la|vorare}}'' (to "swallow" or "devour"), and [[Ancient Greek]] {{Lang|grc|φιλία|italic=no}} (''{{Lang|grc-latn|philía}}'', "[[love]]").

== Content ==
Usually, vorarephilic fantasies involve a consumer (usually referred to as ''predator'' or ''pred'' for short) ingesting one or multiple victims (sometimes called ''prey'') in some way. Since vorarephilic fantasies cannot be acted out in reality without injuring or killing someone, they are often expressed in stories or drawings as well as [[sexual roleplay]].<ref name="Lykins">{{cite journal|last1=Lykins|first1=Amy D.|last2=Cantor|first2=James M.|title=Vorarephilia: A Case Study in Masochism and Erotic Consumption|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|date=21 September 2013|volume=43|issue=1|pages=181–186|doi=10.1007/s10508-013-0185-y|pmid=24057211|s2cid=21413433}}</ref>

Vore is most often enjoyed through pictures, stories, videos, and [[video games]], and it can appear in [[mainstream media]].<ref name="brathwaite">{{cite book |last=Brathwaite |first=Brenda |url=http://www.charlesriver.com/resrcs/chapters/1584504595_1stChap.pdf |title=Sex in video games |publisher=Charles River Media |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58450-459-7 |series=Advances in computer graphics and game development |place=London |page=20 |chapter=Defining sex |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927180711/http://www.charlesriver.com/resrcs/chapters/1584504595_1stChap.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> Expressions can involve humans, animals, [[Dragon|dragons]], giant snakes, and other creatures, real or fictional.<ref name="Lykins" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Staughton |first=John |date=2019-11-28 |title=What Is Vorarephilia? |url=https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/what-is-vorarephilia.html |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=ScienceABC |language=en-US |archive-date=26 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426162903/https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/what-is-vorarephilia.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In some cases, vorarephilia may be described as a variation of [[macrophilia]] and may combine with other paraphilias.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ceilán |first=Cynthia |url=https://archive.org/details/weirdlybelovedta0000ceil |title=Weirdly Beloved: Tales of Strange Bedfellows, Odd Couplings, and Love Gone Bad |publisher=Globe Pequot |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59921-403-0 |page=90 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Apart from macrophilia, vore fantasies often have themes of [[BDSM]], [[microphilia]], [[pregnancy fetishism]], [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphized animals]], and sexual cannibalism.<ref name="Lykins" /><ref name=":1" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}}

Most vorarephiles are not overly interested in [[sadomasochism]];<ref name=":1" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}} instead, they may get their pleasure from the psychological aspects, such as the total annihilation of identity. This does not necessarily indicate [[Suicide|suicidal]] tendencies but is more often linked to general fantasies of [[escapism]] and [[solitude]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

== Variations ==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Sadayo Kawakami scat vore by Lordcuckness.png|thumb|300x300px|A depiction of a woman digesting a person and defecating the remains]]
There are several variations to the fantasy, often changing the way in which the victim is ingested. Typically, when the victim is consumed [[Mouth|orally]], artwork may depict what is known as "soft vore", meaning that the victim is swallowed whole and enters the [[stomach]] of the consumer, then is either left unharmed or [[Digestion|digested]] inside.<ref name=":0" /> If the victim is kept safe (also known as ''endo vore'' or ''endosoma''), the victim can eventually be let out by [[Regurgitation (digestion)|regurgitation]] or [[defecation]], whereas if digestion happens, the victim is usually killed, but may be magically reformed in some cases.<ref name=":1" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}} The more extreme and less common form of the fetish is "hard vore", in which the victim is chewed and torn apart by the consumer, followed by a more gruesome depiction of digestion.<ref name=":0" />

Aside from oral vore, there are plenty of subcategories, some of which are:
*Anal vore depicts the victim being ingested through the [[anus]] instead of the mouth.
*Unbirth is the ingestion of a victim through the [[vagina]] of the consumer.
*Cock vore depicts the insertion of a victim into the [[penis]] of the consumer (which may be depicted as [[Erection|erect]]).
*Breast vore depicts the insertion of a victim into the [[breast]]s of the consumer.
As there is room for artistic interpretation and niches, there are many other subcategories that may be less commonly seen, but they all more or less amount to a victim being inserted through a consumer's [[Body orifice|orifice]] in some way.<ref name=":0" />

The sizes of the consumer and victim can vary. Macro/micro vore is used to describe art in which the victim is much smaller than the consumer. Same-size vore, on the other hand, depicts a scenario where the victim and consumer are roughly the same size.<ref name="Lykins" />

== Research ==
{{More medical citations needed|section|date=October 2023}}

One [[case study]] analysis connected the fantasy with [[sexual masochism]], and suggested that it could be motivated by a desire to merge with a more powerful other or permanently escape loneliness.<ref name="Lykins" /> With "no known treatment" for vorarephiles who feel 'ill' with their sexuality, psychologists at Toronto's [[Centre for Addiction and Mental Health]] have recommended trying to "adjust to, rather than change or suppress" the sexual interest.<ref name="NP">{{cite news | author = Brean, Joseph | date = 1 October 2013 | url = https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-who-desired-to-be-eaten-by-a-large-dominant-woman-a-baffling-case-for-toronto-psychiatric-hospital-doctors | title = Man who desired to be eaten by a 'large, dominant woman' a baffling case for Toronto psychiatric hospital doctors | work = National Post}}</ref> Medication for [[libido]] reduction could be used if deemed necessary.<ref name="Lykins" />

==See also==
*[[Autassassinophilia]] – Sexual arousal by the risk of being killed
*[[Human cannibalism]]
*[[List of paraphilias]]
*[[Sexual cannibalism]] – Animals' behaviours involving eating their mates during or after copulation
*[[Food play|Sitophilia]] – Sexual arousal by situations involving food

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary inline|vorarephilia}}
* {{commons category-inline}}

{{paraphilia}}
{{Sex fetish}}
{{Cannibalism}}

[[Category:Paraphilias]]
[[Category:Sexual fetishism]]
[[Category:Fiction about cannibalism]]
[[Category:Sexual roleplay]]