This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 66.61.71.205 (talk) at 23:20, 21 July 2005 (→See also). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 23:20, 21 July 2005 by 66.61.71.205 (talk) (→See also)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Vorarephilia (also referred to as voraphilia, vore, voreaphilia ,and phagophilia) is the interest/sexual fetish in which a person fantasizes about eating another person and/or creature, or being eaten. Preferences vary, but most prefer to fantasize about being devoured whole and alive. Those who prefer to be torn, chewed, and killed are often referred to as 'shreddies'. This fetish is most commonly found portrayed in stories, or cartoonish drawings, and internet role play. This is typically considered an "imaginary fetish" since practicing the fetish would be difficult, to say the least; although the case of Armin Meiwes in Germany, and possibly Jeffrey Dahmer in the United States, show that it is within the realm of possibility (though most vorarephiles are aware of the inherent silliness of their fetish, and are largely uninterested in the idea of cannibalism). The voreaphile typically has specific preferences concerning what roles they play in vore encounters, and some MUCKs allow them to list these preferences in an accessible table to help match compatible vorarephiles.
This fetish is often associated with macrophilia and microphilia as well as the furry community, where predation is more natural in roleplaying.
Related to unbirth in some respects (both are types of endosomatophilia. How this fetish develops is still currently unknown.)
See also
Introduction As a vorarephile, I have always wondered just what the cause of my fetish was. It's a common question among vores, just as common as questions of existence and the nature of life are among most people, and the reason is simply that vore tends to occupy a rather significant portion of my existence. Of fellow vores I've talked to, almost all "feel" deeper connections in the fetish then simply a pleasurable fantasy or kink; likewise, it is almost ubiquitos that the fetish for vore begins before sexual maturation, indicating that it is not a perversion of sexual development but has much deeper and older roots in the psyche.
As such, not only does it take on more significance to us, but the origins become more important to most vorarephiles because the fetish seems to stem from the basic self, actually constituting a part of our identity. And, as such, it is desirable to seek out the cause in the pursuit not only of curiosity, but also of reaching an understanding of the pure, un-influenced experience of vore, a basic underlying fantasy that has not been altered by sexual urges and the mutual exchange of other's views.
In my own pursuit, I have come to realize certain insights into the fetish. The first of these are outlined above: that vore goes beyond simple sexual dysfunction and occurs early in life. Later insights, however, deal not with the uniformity of vore but the diversity I have found through observation and conversations with fellow vorarephiles.
The most basic, and most important of these insights is that vore, as the community knows it, is not a single fetish. It is, rather, a conglomeration of different subfetishes which have found the act of vore, living consumption of another creature, to be the means of satisfying the fetish. Thus we have those who, in vore, focus on the experience of the prey, and those who focus on the experience of the predator; those who prefer digestion and those who simply find enclosement enough; those who desire blood letting and those which would rather go down unscathed. Empirically taken, vorarephiles are actually a very diverse group of people, each with their own emphasises, preferences and taboos when it comes to the vore fantasy.
With this in mind, then, I long ago gave up on finding a single root cause for this fetish, and what I write here is by no means an attempt to describe the fetish for all or even most vores. Rather, it is an attempt to describe the causes of my own version of the fetish: that is, a fetish which focuses primarily on the prey, must involve oral intake, and includes full digestion.
However, this should not preclude vorarephiles of other "formulas" from the description here; I do my best to follow a logical progression of concepts, from the very broad to the specific, and I believe that most of these have their own values of insight for almost any reader. Although I come to my own, ultimate conclusion, other readers may find that basic concepts presented apply to them as well and may even be able to follow their own, altered progressions.
Besides self-discovery on my part, the intent of this essay is to promote a better understanding of vore not only in ourselves but in others as well, so that we may not be so offended or upset by differences in tastes. A further, distant objective is to provide a believable explanation to outsiders, whether interested in the psychology of the fetish or simply ignorant and lacking insight to the nature of this fetish. As a community, we face at the moment very little exposure; however, what exposure has occurred can result in hate or disgust, born out of misunderstandings of what seems to be a bizarre and even sadistic fetish. It is imperitive that we at least have some way of offering an explanation to these people that is logically, scientifically and psychologically solid, and understandable.
This is but a single explanation among many.
"A stand in mother"
Vore is assumed to develop in the first stages of life. Evidence for this includes an almost ubiquitos reporting of fantasies during childhood among vorarephiles. Althought voraraphilia (Prey focused) occurs in all manner of people (submissive to dominant), it seems to be localized to people born with a "shy" temperament.
In individuals who are termed "shy" in psychological studies, the strength of their mother is of the utmost importance. A shy person will be unable to go out into the world alone and independent because of fear, and will often turn back, attempting to get back to the safety of the mother. A shy individual may be helped if the mother is supportive, however, as they gain a sense of security about themselves which they carry as a barrier to the world.
Should a person not have such a supportive mother, however, they will continue to be shy until they find some source of inner security, as in another figure, or eventually in a partner or through counseling. But at a young age, the mother is the only human to find comfort and security in.
An unsupportive mother is one who does not give their baby proper attention and warmth. She therefore does not provide the comfort that a shy baby desperately needs. Similarly, infants with neurological disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome may have "Face Blindness", where perception of the emotion on human faces is significantly limited. In either case, the mother will not provide the comfort which the baby desires, and it will seek out other sources(1)
What they seek out depends wildly, but it will always be something that posesses tactile comfort; it could be a pillow, a blanket, a plush toy. Or, just as commonly, a stuffed animal. Although nearly all infants seek such "tactile comforters", in vorarephilia it may be the case that this object takes the place of the mother as a source of comfort and security, and the infant attaches a maternal significance to the object.
However, whether maternalization is achieved likely depends on the object. A baby is probably more likely to associate a large or long(such as a snake) object than a small one with a maternal figure, and a more humanoid or lifelike object (A stuffed animal) than something not alive (such as a blanket or geometric object).
It is also important to note that this stage may occur in the first years of life and not later, where other stuffed animals replace old or worn out ones. Therefore, although later stuffed animals may be small or non-animal/human, an earlier, larger stuffed animal would provide the experiences needed to plant the foundations of the fetish.
So far, a case of maternal attachment has been established, wherein the infant, finding a cold or inattentive or cold mother seeks a "replacement" and finds it in a stuffed animal. I believe that this replacement may have occurred with myself in the form of a large, soft green dinosaur. My memories are blurred of the dinosaur, although I remember placing great importance on it; it developed a rip in the leg and was taken from me when I was about 2.
The case for vore itself, the act of eating, however, is still required. "A return"
Vore is often referred to as a need to return to the womb. There are obvious reasons for this, including the prevelance of unbirthing in the vore community and the act itself, reminiscent of returning to the mother. If we are to follow such an explanation, it would follow that vore, ie being eaten, is simply one way of returning to the shelter of a larger, maternal figure. This would fit the definition of endosomaphilia, regarding the pleasure of simply being inside another living creature.
But I have found that such a definition is lacking for myself. It does not address the need for oral intake in my fetish, and it does not explain why digestion is a goal.
The "return to the womb" hypothesis also seems inadequate; it is very obvious to me that it is specifically the stomach I end up in in my fantasies, and much more significantly, there is no gender associated to the predator.
But it is wise to at least start with the concept of endosomaphilia, and the need to return to the womb. Generally, I believe that these aspects are the basis to the form of vorarephilia being presented here. Both go beyond the simple need for comfort from the mother, to the desire to return within her and be protected from the outside world. Such a desire is indicative not only of a "shy" personality (Though not necesarily a submissive personality), but a frightening or bad environment that may not be the fault of the mother. For those vores with a specific need for a human female predator, such may be the root cause of it. The concept of endosomaphilia almost certainly has similar causes, likely originating in the desire to be protected from a hostile world within a living creature.
Going beyond the above, however, consider an environment which is not only frightening but physically and actively abusive. In a child, such an environment would almost certainly cause early desires to no longer live. But, as the concept of suicide and the devices of such are not accesible this becomes instead a simple desire for oblivion, and may play a large part in shaping the vore fetish.
In short, a person of a "return to the womb" or endosomaphilic version of the fetish wishes to enter the safety of a living creature, while a person experiencing actual abuse desires oblivion. An individual where endosomaphilia mixes with both, then, may wish to be oblivated within a living creature.
"A primal solution"
Now, we must consider a synthesis of these two qualities. The first is an individual which finds themselves with a lack of comfort from the mothers, and turns instead to adopting a (genderless) stuffed animal as a maternal figure. The second is an individual which desires to be obliviated within a living creature. Only one last piece to this is required, and that is the oral intake aspect.
Very simply, such an individual as above will desire to return to the maternal figure, to not only seek solace within it from the outside world, but to be obliviated within and returned to unconscious bliss. Inevitably, they will find that the only way animals "intake" things is by eating them, and indeed it is one of the big concepts pushed on us in our youngest years, appearing all over our culture for the obvious reason: the law of nature is eat or be eaten.
To the child, the connection is easy. The way by which its maternal figure may take it in is to eat it, and it finds the thought of being eaten, far from terrifying, to be a positive goal, a means by which to reach the inner solace of its adopted parent. It also must know that food intaken is not allowed back out; it is "Lost" within the predator, and as such escapes the hostile world around it.
That the child cannot experience this, however, leads to an unfulfilled desire. It pops up in dreams, causes strange feelings of need when experienced, and in later years creates sexual arousal. It will also see the physical act of digestion as necessary, as it is the mechanical process by which one is obliviated within the animal.
In the end, a fetish is achieved which desires comfort from the outside world by being eaten by another living creature and digested.
In Closing
I would like to stress that this is only a possible explanation of a single variety of vore. There is also not much evidence for the stuffed animal hypothesis; I primarily derive it from a few pieces of conversation I've seen and from my own experience. It may very well be that most vores find something else to create a maternal object. However, I do believe that the basic maternal aspect is important and fairly common among vores who focus on being eaten or on the experience of the prey. It would be beneficial, however, to know of the stuffed animals owned by these vorarephiles in order to see if any correlation exists.
And if nothing else, this is simply a possible explanation; the only real purpose is the pursuit of the knowledge of one's self. With that, i hope that this essay has given you, if not an explanation, then at least some basic insight into this fetish.
(1) A Rhesus monkey experiment used fake mothers to stimulate actual parents; one was made of wire and the other made of soft felt. Even if the wire mother gave milk, the monkey sought out the more comfortable felt monkey in seeking tactile comfort.
Terminology: Vorarephilia: a fetish in which living consumption creates pleasure Endosomaphilia: a fetish in which the act of being inside another living creature brings comfort Vore: the online community based on living consumption Voraphile: a person who has vorarephilia (shortened for common usage)
This is a good idea of where vore originated from. to see the original go to
Category: