by William S. Dean
(04/04/07)
Mark Twain thought about sex after death. In his "Letters from Earth," he writes that humankind "has imagined a heaven and has left entirely out of it the supremest of all his delights -- the one ecstasy that stands first and foremost in the hearts of every individual of his race -- sexual intercourse!"
Even a cursory reading of Anne Rice's vampire novels shows the popularity of hot sex after death or at least with the temporarily living dead. In fact, hot, unreal nasty action seems to be one of the prime ingredients of most fiction about our pre-deceased population. Of course, sometimes it's tricky to draw the line between sexual fantasy and erotic fiction when it comes to those who have shuffled off this mortal coil.
Not surprisingly, sex after death -- I mean the real stuff, not writerly imaginings -- crops up as a significant feature in our religions, too. Western Judeo-Christian orthodoxy, naturally, ignores any sensual couplings in the after life, just as they'd prefer to do in present life. But eastern religions have an entirely different concept.
We frequently hear about the virgins, for example, awaiting the Islamic martyrs' lusty dalliance. Anwar Shaikh says that Moslem belief "holds that sexual urge does not perish with death because the man is Muslim, he will be resurrected and given a place in paradise where he will enjoy the choicest sex day and night. Again, sensual pleasures are reserved for man only, and houris i.e. the most beautiful virgins, who inhabit paradise, are totally submissive to their male master. This view represents the Islamic sexual psychology for being consistent with the Prophetic stand point of 'Dominance-urge versus Feminine Charm' because here woman surrenders herself completely to man along with her physical, emotional and artful beguilements. Thus, pleasing man, becomes her only pleasure."
And the houris are not simply exceedingly beautiful virgins. No, the delightful sexual creatures that await the male dead in Mohammed's paradise, according to the Hadith Tirmzi (a book of holy sayings by Mohammed) are "free from the routine physical disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause, urinal and offal discharge, child-bearing, and the related pollution."
The belief in sex after death takes a very modern turn in China. Most people are familiar with Chinese "hell money," bank notes and copies of bank notes that are ritually burned so that the venerated ancestors will be rich in the hereafter. But lately some new kinks have invaded the centuries old practice. Paper replicas of Viagra, pictures of condoms, and photos of heavily made up bargirls are being sold at Chinese cemeteries so that dead relatives can have plenty of safe, naughty, and chemically-enhanced sex once they've passed over the bar between life and death.
While the authorities in the newly consumer-oriented China have turned a somewhat blind eye on the burning of paper televisions, luxury cars, DVD players, and cell phones, they have, apparently, tried to crack down on the paper nookie without success. The demand has been simply too high. And what a nice thought really, isn't it? Wouldn't you get a kick out of providing the potential of hot sex to great granddad? Wouldn't you'd like the thought of great-great grandma breaking up her lonely post-death vigil with harp by sending her a Chippendale's hunk-hunka burnin' love?
The Hindus sort of get around dealing with sex after death through their belief in reincarnation. Simplified, the idea of reincarnation is that after you lay down your mortal body, you become "re-born" in another form which can be anything from an insect to (eventually) another human being. Along the way, if you're an insect, fish, or some other kind of animal, you still get to have their version of sex, so all is not lost.
Physical sex between the living and the dead, however, is still one of society's major taboos in most cultures. It's called necrophilia, literally loving the dead, in a down and dirty carnal manner. Apparently, it's been carried out by individuals for millennia, hence all the laws against committing such an "atrocity" and sacrilege.
The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that in Egypt neither the wives of high-ranking men nor the bodies of beautiful women were delivered intact to the embalmers upon their death. Instead the corpses were allowed to putrefy for three or four days. This was done so that the embalmers would lose any sexual interest in the dead women. Herodotus cites that after one embalmer had been caught mounted upon a fresh female corpse, and was exposed by a fellow worker, a three-day waiting period was made law.
Necrophilia, however, has not been universally regarded as a criminal activity. Pottery artifacts of the Moche civilization of South America have been discovered which depict skeletal figures engaged in coitus with living humans. And some ancient cultures actually encouraged post-life fucking as a means of taking in the sexual powers of the deceased.
Curiously, the state I live in -- California -- went for about 150 years without a law against necrophilia on the books. After having to deal with cases of it over the decades, public prosecutors finally convinced legislators in Sacramento to institute criminal penalties and now those desiring sex with the dead can be punished with up to eight years in prison.
The lack of criminal penalties for necrophilia surfaced again last year. On September 15, 2006, a judge dismissed charges of attempted sexual assault against three men accused of trying to dig up a woman's body to have sex with the corpse, noting that Wisconsin (still) has no law against necrophilia. Twins Nicholas and Alexander Grunke, 20, and Dustin Radke, 20, were arrested after an alleged attempt to dig up the body of 20-year-old Laura Tennessen who was killed earlier that August in a motorcycle crash. Officials said a caller reported suspicious activity in the cemetery and deputies found someone had dug down to her vault. Radke told police that the three had stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way to the cemetery to buy condoms. Authorities said the three were not acquainted with Tennessen, but had seen an obituary with her photo.
As of May, 2006, there was still no federal legislation specifically barring sex with a corpse.
According to Wikipedia, it's not just humans who get involved with post-life sex: "Necrophilia is not unknown in animals, with a number of confirmed observations. Kees Moeliker allegedly made one of these observations while he was sitting in his office at the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, when he heard the distinctive thud of a bird hitting the glass facade of the building. Upon inspection, he discovered a drake mallard lying dead about two meters from the building. Next to the downed bird there was a second drake mallard standing close by.
"As he observed the odd couple, the living drake picked at the corpse of the dead
one for a few minutes and then mounted the corpse and began copulating with it.
The act of necrophilia lasted for about 75 minutes, in which time, according to
Moeliker, the living drake took two short breaks before resuming with
copulating behavior. Moeliker surmised that at the time of the collision
with the window the two mallards were engaged in a common motif in duck
behavior which is called rape flight. "When one died the other one just went for it
and didn't
get any negative feedback -- well, didn't get any feedback,' according to Moeliker. This is the first recorded case of necrophilia in the mallard duck -- though not the only recorded case of homosexuality within the bird family.
"In the case of a praying mantis, necrophilia could be said to be part of their methods of reproduction. The larger female will often decapitate or even eat her mate during copulation. However, since praying mantids have two or more brains within the whole of their bodies, with only one of these being in the head, the male could still be said to be alive even after decapitation."
Pseudonecrophilia (having your partner pretend to be dead) is even a recognized fetish among psychiatrists and sex workers. Among some sexually active folk, it may even be something of a joke or an acidic complaint that their sexual partners don't move or pretend to be dead.
Popular entertainments, from horror novels to animated films, take necrophilia to
strange even bizarre lengths, such as Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. It seems the ick factor of decomposing lovers is even -- at least in the publishing and film realms -- becoming fun. Your mileage (and mine!) may vary.
