Necrophilia Variations
Book reviews by Mya from Bound for Trouble.com
On the many hours spent sitting in airports, trains and airplanes, I was entertained by a creative, fun, and decidedly un-morbid book by Supervert, Necrophilia Variations. Inside its covers lie short stories of fiction, mostly thought experiments probing into the consciousness of the necrophiliac. From exhumations, to murders, and of course, sexual intercourse with bodies in various stages of decomposition, it is more about cadaver pornography than it is corpse erotica. Especially of interest to this audience might be “Whoremonger For A Dying Friend,” which includes a rather one-dimensional depiction of a dominatrix in its storyline. Interesting to see what a necrophiliac perceives a pro-Domme to look like. A story catering to the those caught in the current anarchic mess in the Middle East is “Terror Groupies,” which relates the stereotype of the slutty rock-band groupie to those who are into terrorists. This story’s insensitivity to the mindset and ideals of radical Muslim terrorists makes this one a little hard to swallow, but it is colorfully written and the vehicle of disbelief you find yourself riding speeds off rather quickly. A fun read in the likes of Asimov’s I, Robot, but for those superverted folk.
Another book, or rather, textbook, that caught my attention is Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment, published by the Guilford Press. A great book which touts itself as an addendum (but I find it to be more an excellent criticism) to the American Psychiatric Association’s Bible, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, currently it its fourth incarnation. It addresses the fundamental issues in sexual deviance and the difficulty in defining and assessing sexual dysfunctions in individuals due to the notoriously wide gulfs between rigorous scientific method, social mores and contemporary political opinion.
Of special interest to me were the chapters on pedophilia, fetishism, sadism and necrophila. While I don’t agree with the authors’ extrapolated etiologies of these disorders, if you can classify them as disorders, the case studies and classifications of subjects (and objects) beloved by myself and close friends in the community piques my intense curiosity.
