Sexual Intercourse and Word Necrophilia

“Necrophilia (having sex with dead females) is as old as human civilization, so there is nothing wrong with it. In other words, if you can’t get a woman when she is alive take a ‘piece’ when she is dead.”
This brings to light the larger picture or definition of morality in society. Although necrophilia is an act which has been an act perpetrated from early civilization it does not make it right and I disagree with this statement. The word necrophilia is actually derived from the Greek words: nekros meaning "dead" and philia meaning "love". Firstly necrophilia is defined as being an obsessive fascination with death or corpses. However it's now more commonly recognized as an attraction to, or having sexual relations with, the deceased. The act itself was practiced in many ancient cultures as means of communicating with the dead and many times also for ceremonial purposes. In South America, numerous civilizations practiced the forbidden act. The Moche people of Peru, who lived from 100 to 750AD, even carved such images into walls and pottery. But although necrophilia has been occurring from early human civilization this rather taboo act is still wrong.
Necrophilia, first and foremost, is morally wrong. It may be true that it has been occurring from early civilization but it was also strongly discouraged in early civilization. It is said that due to tomb robbers who had a liking for dead females to discourage intercourse with a corpse, ancient Egyptians left deceased beautiful women to decay for "three or four days" before giving them to the embalmers. That way, when the body was delivered to the embalmers, the pungent aroma would be more than enough to ensure that the men would keep their prying hands off the corpse. So even in those days the practice was shunned as it was deemed inappropriate. Even in Ancient Greek culture where it was common they treated necrophilia as a crime, although the act occasionally found its way into their literature and tales occasionally. The thought of violating a female when she is deceased was not one that was widely accepted and while it was not uncommon it was still forbidden and a highly squeamish topic as it is in modern day society.
In addition, technically you cannot have sexual intercourse with a corpse. One of the properties of the good thing known as sex is that it requires consent. Nonconsensual sex is commonly taken to be wrong and is rebranded “rape,” “bestiality,” “pedophilia,” “sexual assault” or “sex slavery.” A corpse has no effective way to consent to sexual advances, so sex with a corpse cannot be consensual. Sexual intercourse is interpreted as an act of copulation mutually consented to by both partners involved. This cannot be done if one of the partners is not alive so therefore this act of sexual perversion is also technically impossible. Rosman and Resnick in 1989 reviewed information from many cases of necrophilia describing the individuals' motivations for their behaviors: “these individuals reported the desire to possess an unresisting and unrejecting partner (68%), reunions with a romantic partner (21%), sexual attraction to corpses (15%), comfort or overcoming feelings of isolation (15%), or seeking self-esteem by expressing power over a homicide victim (12%)”. Studies also show that 60% of necrophiles have a diagnosed personality disorder with 10% actually being psychotic. These numbers speak for their self as most necrophiles are not sounds in mind and therefore have impaired judgement. Not only is it socially unacceptable and psychologically dangerous, but necrophilia would most likely indicate a deeper psychological danger to society. Many famous serial killers have been necrophiles in the past and used their obsession with death as motive for their crimes.
There’s another reason sexual activities with the dead is not acceptable. It is abuse of the body of a formerly living human, and thus a crime against property, giving us another reason to reject it. There is legislature against most forms of necrophilia in the majority of the world and this fact alone should negate people from supporting necrophilia. Point blank it is against the law. The law in most ountries stands to protect the good of the nation and most of the time the law is built on good morals and preventing things such as theft, murder etc. These things are not morally just as is the case with necrophilia and so if the crime is a felony an punishable by life in prison in some regions that shows how heinous it is.
Another major objection to necrophilia, and possibly another valid reason to explain why necrophilia is traditionally seen as taboo, is the responsibility to survive and help others to survive. A society that actively engages in necrophilia instead of normal, heterosexual sex will have a lower population growth than a mostly exclusively, heterosexual population. And over years and generations, small differences in population growth lead to huge differences in populations. Huge differences in populations lead to conquest of the weaker society and destruction of its losing value system. In a domino effect, a simple act like general approval of necrophilia would ruin a whole society’s values and morals.
Other religious practices and customs that involve the collaboration of sex and death still carry on to this day although discreetly. Offshoots of Hindu, such as Shivaism and Kali-worship, believe that a physical bond between the living and dead should exist. Touching, kissing, and holding the body is not uncommon practice amongst some sects, although their actions may seem somewhat questionable by outside persons. In modern day society these practices would be labeled as questionable to say the least but general views change when crossing society lines and ancient practices are sacred in these places. Even if you do not argue about it being morally right or wrong which does differ in different cultures one thing that remains constant is the medical risks of necrophilia. Having sexual relations with a dead body is unsanitary to say the least and should not be done as a result of health concerns. A decaying body harbors millions of bacteria and thus increased interaction with the dead would heighten health risks.
Overall I stand firmly believing that even though my views or based upon this specific societies views and these are the views instilled in us, necrophilia is not right and this disresoect of the dead is heinous and is against the law for a reason. Although history shows that it was in practice from the beginning of civilization it also shows that from those early days it was also forbidden in some societies. (1,100 words)

Tré Cumberbatch