Cannibalism

Cannibalism, which is practiced by humans and other animals, is the act or practice of consuming any part of the body of a member of one's own species. In some cultures the practice is sacrosanct; in others, including the majority of those in the West, it is taboo. Although the origins of cannibalism are unclear, "archeological evidence suggests that cannibalism was practiced as far back as the Neolithic Period and Bronze Age in what is now Europe and the Americas" (Bell 2006, p. 2). According to William Arens's The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy (1980), the word stems from an expedition to the West Indies led by Christopher Columbus during which he and his crew purportedly learned of the ritualistic consumption of human flesh among members of the Carib tribe. "The explorers mispronounced the name of the tribe and referred to them as 'Canibs,' which was over time changed to 'canibales,' meaning thirsty and cruel in Spanish. The English translation of the Spanish word became cannibalism," whereas "the Latin form of the word cannibalism is anthropophagy and is a term used mostly in anthropology and archeology" (Bell 2006).

TYPES OF CANNIBALISM

Survival cannibalism (the consumption of flesh to survive a desperate situation) is exemplified by the 1846 Donner Party expedition through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the 1972 crash in the Andes of the airplane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team, the story of which was told in the 1993 film Alive. The most prominent forms of ritualistic cannibalism are epicurean and/or nutritional (practiced for the taste or nutritional value of the consumed flesh), exocannibalism (cannibalizing members outside one's social group), and endocannibalism (cannibalizing members within one's social group).

Exocannibalism usually is associated with violence and the belief that consuming the flesh of an enemy endows a cannibal with the spirit and/or abilities of the deceased. Commonly based on the same belief, endocannibalism most frequently is practiced in the form of mortuary cannibalism (consumption of the already deceased) and may be referred to as compassionate cannibalism. Prominent historical examples include the ancient Aztecs of Mexico, who employed all these forms in their cannibalization of several thousand individuals per year, and the Iroquoian North American Indian tribe, which is thought to have engaged in exocannibalism as recently as 1838. Certain tribes in Papua New Guinea practiced all three types of ritualistic cannibalism until the 1950s and 1960s. Such practices were accompanied by the spread of kuru, a deadly and highly infectious illness similar to mad cow disease. Large-scale ritualistic cannibalism was curtailed by the early 1900s, largely as a result of the activities of Christian missionaries.

Sexual cannibalism (sexualized consumption of one's own species), although widely considered a psychosexual disorder, is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Vorephilia (sexual interest in things eating other things) may involve sexual cannibalism, although it typically does not (Adams 2004). In 2002 the psychologist Steven Scher of Eastern Illinois University conducted an atypical research study regarding cannibalism and sexual interests in which he and his team "found that people were more likely to eat someone that they were sexually attracted to" (Bell 2006, p. 5). Modern serial killers who may be placed under the heading of sexual cannibalism include Andrei Chikatilo, Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Fish, Robin Gecht and the Chicago Rippers, Ed Gein, Georg Grossman, Fritz Haarmann, Edmund Kemper, Armand Meiwes, Issei Sagawa, and Sascha Spesiwtsew.

MODERN CANNIBALS

The Russian Andrei Romanovitch Chikatilo (1936–1994), known as the Rostov Ripper, was convicted of and executed for the murders of fifty-two women and children. After his first killing in 1978 Chikatilo was unable to achieve sexual arousal separate from violence, and he was known to mutilate and consume parts of his victims, including their breasts and sexual organs. Furthermore, "Chikatilo claimed that he was disgusted by the 'loose morals' of many of his victims, who served as painful reminders of his own sexual incompetence" (Bell 2006, p. 5).

The American Albert Fish (1870–1936), known as the Moon Maniac, the Gray Man, and the Brooklyn Vampire, was a self-mutilating sadomasochist who enjoyed driving sharp objects deep into his genital region. Although Fish apparently never harmed his six children, whom he raised largely by himself, he tortured and/or killed numerous other children, whose flesh, urine, blood, and excrement he admitted to consuming for sexual pleasure. Fish referred to his implements of torture as "instruments of hell" and used a belt studded with nails to tenderize the flesh of his victims before cooking and consuming them. Fish pleaded insanity in 1935 but was found sane and guilty and electrocuted in Sing Sing Prison in 1936, an experience he predicted would be the "supreme thrill." Fish's final words apparently were "I don't know why I'm here."

The advent of the Internet brought the worldwide subculture of cannibalism fetishism to the surface through a myriad of websites and bulletin boards where individuals can post classified advertisements. The advertisers have been mostly homosexual males seeking men or heterosexual men seeking women. In 2001 such postings translated into actual cannibalistic activities when the forty-one-year-old homosexual computer administrator Armin Meiwes of Rotenburg, Germany, placed an advertisement on the Internet searching for "young, well-built men aged 18 to 30 to slaughter" and received a promising reply (one of approximately two hundred) from the forty-three-year-old Bernd-Jurgen Brandes (BBC: "German Cannibal" 2003). The ensuing activities, which were videotaped by Meiwes, began with the two attempting to flambé, then fry, and then consume Brandes's penis at Brandes's request and ended with Meiwes slowly killing, dissecting, and partially consuming Brandes as well as storing parts of the deceased in his freezer. Meiwes was caught after he again advertised on the Internet ten months later. As in most industrialized nations there are no laws directly governing cannibalism in Germany. Meiwes was charged with murder for "sexual satisfaction," convicted of manslaughter in January 2004, and sentenced to jail for eight and a half years. In 2005 the gay filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim turned Miewes's case into a feature entitled Your Heart in My Brain.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Cecil. 2004. "Eat or Be Eaten: Is Cannibalism a Pathology as Listed in the DSM-IV?" Chicago Reader. Available from http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040702.html.

Arens, William. 1980. The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy. New York: Oxford University Press.

BBC News. 2003. "German Cannibal Tells of Fantasy." Available from http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3286721.stm.

BBC News. "German 'Cannibal' Tells of Regret." Available from http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3230774.stm.

Bell, Rachel. 2006. "Cannibalism: The Ancient Taboo in Modern Times." Court TV Crime Library. Available from http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/cannibalism/index.html.

"Rosas Biografie." 2006. Available from http://www.rosavonpraunheim.de/bio/bio_engl.html.

Sanday, Peggy Reeves. 1986. Divine Hunger: Cannibalism as a Cultural System. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

                                      Whitney Jones Olson