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Autassassinophilia is a
The term was introduced by
paraphilia
Paraphilia (previously known as sexual perversion and sexual deviation) is the experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as sexual interest in anything ot ...
in which a person is sexually aroused
Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to sexual stimuli. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind ...
by the risk of being killed. The fetish may overlap with some other fetishes that risk one's life, such as those involving drowning or choking. This does not necessarily mean the person must actually be in a life-threatening situation, for many are aroused from dreams and fantasies of such.
Description
The term was introduced by John Money
John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and Sex determination and differentiation (human), biology of gender. He was one of the first ...
who also defined erotophonophilia as the "reciprocal condition" in which one is aroused by "stage-managing and carrying out the murder of an unsuspecting sexual partner". Money classified both these paraphilias as "of the sacrificial/expiatory type".
Criticism of the concept
These concepts, especially their imperfect reciprocity, were criticized by Lisa Downing, who wrote that:The autassassinophiliac, for Money, is more interested in his orgasm than in his death, resulting in a compulsion to stage manage the ''possibility'' rather than the ''actuality'' of his end at the hands of another person. The erotophonophiliac, on the other hand, is driven by the actualization of the other's death and – crucially – this other must be unaware of the would-be killer's intentions. These definitions, then, effectively preclude reciprocity and are constructed here in such a way as to prevent the possibility of consent. The sexologist, it seems, is incapable of imagining mutuality in this context. ... The imagined pact is used here as an incentive to the would-be libertarian to support the suppression of paraphilia and the conversion of a death-related desire to a life-giving form.Lisa Downing, "Eros and Thanatos in European and American Sexology" in Kate Fisher, Sarah Toulalan (eds.) ''Bodies, Sex and Desire from the Renaissance to the Present'', Macmillan, 2011,
See also
*Killing of Sharon Lopatka
Sharon Rina Lopatka (September 20, 1961 – October 16, 1996) was an Internet entrepreneur in Hampstead, Maryland, United States who was killed in a case of apparent consensual homicide. Lopatka was tortured and strangled to death on October 16 ...
References
Bibliography and external links
* Rudy Flora, "How to work with sex offenders: a handbook for criminal justice, human service, and mental health professionals", Routledge, 2001, , p. 90 * {{Paraphilia Sexual fetishism Paraphilias