ABSTRACT
I can imagine many a reader wondering about the appropriateness of including a chapter on the histories and cultures of necrophilia in a scholarly volume on inappropriate relationships. Isn’t necrophilia more indicative of the limitlessness of human fantasy than of the problematic extent of sexual misconduct within contemporary society? Aren’t there more pressing relational imbalances to be addressed than that of a human being indulging in sexual intercourse with a cadaver? Although few will presumably doubt that necrophilia ranks among the most inappropriate behaviors conceivable-if not from a moral perspective, at least from a psychological point of view-the accepted rarity of its occurrence, in combination with the global prevalence of sexual harassment at work, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence may indeed invest my contribution with an aura of suspicion, impropriety, and bad taste. It is even questionable to classify necrophilia as a type of relationship when taking account of the fact that the necrophiliac’s partner is not able to show and reciprocate any feelings whatsoever-the anticipated mutuality of human interactions purportedly forcing dead-lovers to avoid all conventional forms of bonding with living people. Instead of epitomizing an inappropriate relationship, necrophilia indeed seems more tantamount to a severely disordered state of mind, regardless of whether the individual has “live” encounters with the dead or merely cherishes the fantasy as a sexual prop.
