Opinion:

'Predators of pleasure'

by D.S. Joseph

Man is a sexual being and sex his primary function relating to procreation However, for many centuries, our ancestors we have been plagued with deviant sexual fantasies.

Paraphilia, categorizes a broad spectrum of sexual perversion, which stands at 549 types! A paraphilia is basically a sexual deviation and stems from an intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations or individuals.

Sigmund Freud discovered that homosexuality or orientation to the same gender to be a form of sexual deviation. Not every homosexual has a criminal tendency. Many are distinguished personalities in modern society. Yet, in the history of sadistic crime, especially in foreign nations, many of the convicted men like Jeffery Dharmer (who killed 17 young boys and raped their corpses and refrigerated their body parts) Dennis Radar the BTK Killer (he bound, tortured and killed his young male victims)and Luis Garavito of Columbia (who raped and killed a staggering 130 street boys aged 6- 16 years) were most definitely men with strong homosexual tendencies.

However, in 1974 the American Psychiatric Association after much debate removed Homosexuality from the top list of the DSM ( Diagnostic Statistical Manual on Mental Disorder) as what is considered taboo and frowned upon in one culture , becomes accepted behaviour in another (cultural relativism).

What are the primary causes of Parphilia? It all has to do with sexual preferences, as stated first man is a sexual being. New research suggests that sexual deviations begin as early as prenatal stages sighting a link in prenatal neuro- development (there are five stages of psychosexual development) In an alarming study conducted on the basis of the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire about 200 men who displayed high degrees of fetish desires were found to have a greater number of elder brothers in their family, excessive prenatal exposure to oestrogen and a high probability of being a left-handed person. However, criminal history reveals some serial killers were amazingly ambidextrous (able to write with and use both hands) like the elusive Zodiac killer.

New Light

There is new light being shed on the impact of the disturbed hemispheric brain lateralization and its ability to induce violent behaviour in people. Some believe that this may play a major role in deviant attractions. Paraphilias are sadly conditioned early in life and may come from one experience that somehow influences the paraphilic stimulus with intense sexual arousal as per Susan Nolan. In 1914 German neurologist Albert Eulenberg concluded that a common feature in people with parphila was that it is rooted in the matrix of natural and normal sex life and connected to our feelings and expressions within our physiological Erotism.

For centuries both men and women have engaged in unimaginable acts from which they derived sexual gratification. Sadly one of these demonic mindsets is sexual sadism. This is definitely a mental disorder. It is a state where people claim to experience sexual arousal in response to extreme pain (physiological) and humiliation (psychological) inflicted on other persons (non-consenting persons , always innocent victims). It is also a pervasive disregard for the well being of others. The word sadism has a very chilling and macabre history and is derived from a Frenchman named Donatien Alphonse Francois, the Marquis de Sade (a noble title). He was an aristocrat, philosopher and politician from 1740- 1814.

Marquis de Sade wrote novels, plays and short stories that depicted explicit pornography, sexual violence and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He was a proponent of extreme freedom. Having received his education at a Jesuit school he had a military career, fighting in combat he was promoted a Colonel. He married and fathered three children. However, he secretly hired young prostitutes and engaged them violently.

He often poisoned them mildly and took pleasure in watching them struggle. On Easter Sunday in 1768 De Sade suddenly bound his maidservant Rose Keller to the divan and tied her limbs.

He then whipped her. After tearing off her dress, he cut her and poured hot wax on her bleeding wounds. Terrified and in agony Rose managed to jump through a window and escape. A warrant was issued for his arrest. As the years went by De Sade had an affair with is sister-in-law, Anne. He was incarcerated and spent 11 years in a Paris prison. He managed to escape. In 1801 his arrest order was signed by Napolean Bonaparte. He was caught, declared insane and sent to Charenton Asylum. Here he manipulated a 14-year- old servant girl into an intimate affair and continued to write erotic tales.

Sexual sadism

Sexual sadism also goes to a higher level when people display signs of Sadomasochism, a preference for sexual activity that involves bondage or infliction of pain on the non consenting victim. We may recall the savage rape and murder of Rita John on the deserted beach of Crow Island years ago, where she was tortured, raped and killed by a gang of drug induced men. The main suspect here was also a "kondaya'. This is a clear case of Sexual Sadism where the individual continues to inflict harm on the victims, irrespective of the victim's compliance which leads to death and mutilation.

Torture is used to degrade and subjugate the victim. Sadistic rape does not always involve penile penetration, as research indicates that 77% incidents show sexual bondage,60% blunt force trauma, 57% vaginal rape, 40% penetration of victim by a foreign object such as the handle of a knife or a handgun or other device found at the crime scene. It is most frightening to see that 40% of rapists kept a souvenir taken from their victims ie jewellery, reading glasses, purse or a lock of hair. Robert Hanson of Alaska killed 17 women, mostly bartenders and waitresses and kept their jewelry. Too often a person with a sexual sadism disorder is only brought to the attention of the Police, after committing a sexually motivated crime. On being evaluated for personality, such ferocious humans show signs of hyper sexuality, impulsivity, a calloused conscience and psyhcopathy. They will also have a strong interest in other paraphilias such as voyeurism and fetishism. Sadists don't have real relationships. In our analysis of the diabolic criminal mind, today law enforcement and FBI investigators have profiled a new type of serial killer, a Lust Murderer. This individual is most chilling and dangerous as he derives sexual arousal and pleasure in the very act of killing. He suffers from a condition known as erotophonophilia. He will remove with precision the sexual organs of his victims.

The offender will at times take his victims to safe location ie - basement, forest where he will pose for photographs, often in sexual positions with the victims corpse. This was portrayed in the movie Cabin by the Lake (2000). Some have even proceeded to drink the blood of their victims (Anthropophagy).

Ahmed Suradji from Indonesia killed 42 women and had a practice of draining and drinking their saliva, to take captive their soul.

The Lust killer will display an attraction towards his victims ie- women with long hair, or women of a particular body size, or children of a specific age which is classified as IVT (Ideal Victim Type). Violent fantasies are a key component in Lust murder. The purpose of the fantasy is total control over the weak victim. "Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that, unsuspected, ripens with the flower of the pleasure that concealed it" - Ralph Emerson. Society must learn to be aware of such criminal minds before strike.