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What causes cannibalism?

It is important to understand various forms of cannibalism and their motivations or causes.


This is obviously for learning. I do not encourage cannibalism.

Content warning: brief mentions of self-harm, eating disorders and sexual abuse.




Types of cannibalism:

There are multiple different types of cannibalism, exo, endo and even auto.


Endocannibalism is practiced as funerary ceremony, like burial and cremation.
It may seem disgusting but consuming a loved one is considered an act of affection in certain tribes and cultures.


Exocannibalism is an act of violence rather than affection.


Autocannibalism is not practiced but is actually a pathological behavior caused by a few mental conditions.
Things that count as autocannibalism are; eating your own skin, scabs, nails, hair, etc.
There are treatments and medications for it since it can damage the body severely.


Human vampirism is also technically cannibalism, but that will not be a major topic in this writing.


꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷


Motives and causes:

Although cannibalism is usually associated with psychiatric disorders, it does not come from mental illness alone.
Substance abuse, antisocial traits, environmental upbringing and survival instincts from trauma or abuse can all lead to cannibalistic acts.


Autocannibalism

I have already stated how this is a type of cannibalism, but there is more to it.

It can be a disorder or even a symptom, since it can be considered self-harm, however it is not a disorder in itself.

Some do it as a choice for extreme body modification, such as eating their own skin, possibly due to body issues.

Autocannibalism would also be forced as torture and war crimes.

Placentophagy, where a mother consumes her placenta after childbirth, is commonly debated if it is autocannibalism or not.



Sacrificial cannibalism

This is possibly one of the more common motives people think about when they hear cannibalism.

Sacrificial cannibalism is consuming the flesh of a human sacrifice. Many have practiced this, such as the Aztecs and Celts in Britain.


Medicinal cannibalism

Many in Europe and China consumed various parts of the human body, dead or alive, since it was believed to treat or prevent ailments and diseases.
Blood was an elixir, especially when warm and fresh, since it carried more of the persons soul.
Blood from criminals was actually very valuable because of its supposed strong healing powers.
In ancient Rome, the blood of gladiators was thought to cure epilepsy. 
There are many examples of what was believed to cure certain things; powdered blood helped bleeding, fat helped bruising and powdered skulls helped migraines or dizziness.


Infanticidal cannibalism

This motive for killing and consuming ones children is due to the belief of the child being unfit to live or just unwanted.
The parents and or other relatives will consume the childs remains.
This is somewhat common with animals, especially fish. It is called filial cannibalism.


Sexual cannibalism

Some with severe paraphilic disorders find cannibalism sexually pleasing, leading to fantasies, thoughts and urges cannibalizing.
It is unclear what can cause this disorder but, believed that sexual abuse in childhood can form this disorder, leading the person to associate arousing feelings with twisted things.
It could also resemble sadomasochism from a dominance and submission perspective.
There are also different types of sexual cannibalism; erotophonophilia, vorarephilia and sexual autophagy.


Criminal cannibalism

This also has different types; defensive and aggressive.
There is offensive too but it is practically sexual cannibalism.
Defensive criminal cannibalism is usually consuming the remains of a murder to hide evidence.
Aggressive criminal cannibalism should be obvious, it is characterized with rage, mutilation and dismemberment is common with the victim still being alive.


Wendigo psychosis

This psychosis is characterized by hallucinations, paranoia and, of course, cannibalistic thoughts.
Some disorders that can be symptoms are depression and anorexia.
Cultural beliefs and mental vulnerability also cause this psychosis to happen.
As the psychosis advances, the individual will believe they have been possessed by a wendigo, leading to paranoia and violent hallucinations of victims being killed and devoured.
Eventually, the individual will view loved ones as potential victims.
Once human flesh is consumed, the transformation of the wendigo is complete.




If you find that there is misinformation please let me know and with your source so I can research it more and correct myself.


Feel free to ask questions and any hate will be deleted!


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Comments

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Anthny (KaiserPug)

Anth🎃ny (KaiserPug)'s profile picture

so... biting your nails is autocannibalism?

damn


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bella ★

bella ★'s profile picture

I read a little more about wendigo psychosis, very interesting to say the least


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NITSA

NITSA's profile picture

this was a super interesting read!


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wetsugatsu

wetsugatsu's profile picture

I have been listening to a podcast which talks a lot about cannibals most of the time, and this actually explained a lot to me that I have not known; Such as the different types of cannibals and that opens a whole new prospective to me knowing that most cannibals are different and do what they do for different reasons.


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I'm so happy that I taught you new perspective!!!

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

Dirtydeeddonedirtcheap

Dirtydeeddonedirtcheap's profile picture

this is super interesting i've got new facts cause of this thankss


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F L 0 (aka F L 0 (F L 0))

F L 0 (aka F L 0 (F L 0))'s profile picture

Okay, this blog post makes me believe i have developped some form of autocanibalism...
I eat my nails, cut-off skin, and sometimes my hair...
Welp, guess i'm going to the psychologist...
Thanks for bringing that to my attention !


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that actually sounds a little like pica disorder!! its usually not very harmful but i recommend you to read abt it if youre interested!

by Rusty; ; Report

Will do, thanks !

by F L 0 (aka F L 0 (F L 0)); ; Report

StaticDreamzz

StaticDreamzz's profile picture

this was super interesting!!


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Thank you! I appreciate that

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

Zombiezzz

Zombiezzz's profile picture

this is rlly interesting thank u!!!


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Thank you so much and no problem !!

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

sky1711

sky1711's profile picture

FANNIBAL ON SPACEHEY EEEEEEEEK


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Ᏼᥲɾꪮᥒꫀ᥉᥉ᏙᏴꪮᥒᏴꪮᥒ 🍬 (PROFILE UNER CONSTRUCTION)

Ᏼᥲɾꪮᥒꫀ᥉᥉ᏙᏴꪮᥒᏴꪮᥒ 🍬 (PROFIL...'s profile picture

This was so interesting whattt


Could you pls do one on human vampirism? Or maybe like a side note idk but im curious now! =DD morbid curiosity going off rn


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Like it's all so interesting especially the Wendigo psychosis one??? It's mad what the human brain is capable of - especially when it comes to tricking itself

by Ᏼᥲɾꪮᥒꫀ᥉᥉ᏙᏴꪮᥒᏴꪮᥒ 🍬 (PROFILE UNER CONSTRUCTION); ; Report

Thank you so much! I dont feel like making a blog about human vampirism really but i am currently working on a blog about psychopathy and possibly wendigo psychosis! I love learning about wendigo psychosis for the exact thing you said, its just so interesting

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

yeppie

yeppie's profile picture

i eat hooman


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yeppie

yeppie's profile picture

i eat hooman


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help i accidentally commented it twice welp

by yeppie; ; Report

hazardous

hazardous's profile picture

yummy yummy human into my tummy


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ugh never related to a comment so much

by !! WILL GRAHAM !!; ; Report

Valentine

Valentine's profile picture

what if i just wanna go nomnomnom


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Going nomnomnom because your mouth is bored and needs stimulus

by Insomniac ˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ; ; Report

nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom

by Anthny (KaiserPug); ; Report

VamprClots

VamprClots's profile picture

also the Will Graham account really brings this informative cannibalism post tg! xD


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VamprClots

VamprClots's profile picture

This reminds me of that one guy that decided to eat his severed leg with his friends!! It was cooked into tacoz!!


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Canniballs

Canniballs's profile picture

What caused canniballism well it's just being too cool to eat your everyday food, had to upgrade to eating the rich/j
nah but I remember one day I was sitting there like ".. I don't like eating animal meat its not good for the economy.. and I can't just eat veggies and beans forever...what about Cannibalism?"


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Michael

Michael's profile picture

I'm into psychology a lot so this is FIRE
Is there perhaps a term for those who cannibalize from loneliness? Lots of serial killers have done this, e.g. Jeffrey D4hmer


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That is a good question, I can't find anything really to research this currently but I would assume it would be in the same nature as sexual cannibalism, just more on the romantic aspect of course

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

LEON LAWLESS!!!

LEON LAWLESS!!!'s profile picture

THIS IS SO COOL WHAT!!!!!! i love this so much, excellent job!! by the way, what music is playing n the background?


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It's bloodfest!

by Insomniac ˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ; ; Report

Huzzah! thanks so much ^_^

by LEON LAWLESS!!!; ; Report

Thank you! And yes the song is Bloodfest, it is a song track from the season two finale of hannibal because hannibal got me interested in cannibalism!

by ! Asmo !; ; Report

Insomniac ˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ 

Insomniac ˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ 's profile picture

I'm not even into cannibalism, but this post was very interesting and informative! Your way of writing is attractive(??)
This is the kind of post that should be on the front page!


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Thank you so much! That is so sweet and I appreciate you saying that a lot ♡♡♡

by ! Asmo !; ; Report