Vampire lifestyle
Lifestyle based on vampires in fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The vampire lifestyle, also known as the vampire subculture or vampire community (sometimes spelled "vampyre"), is an alternative lifestyle and subculture inspired by the mythology and popular culture surrounding vampires. Participants often identify with or as vampires, drawing inspiration from various media, including gothic literature, films, and role-playing games. The subculture encompasses a range of practices, from incorporating vampire aesthetics into daily life to engaging in rituals involving blood consumption or energy work.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The vampire subculture largely stemmed from the goth subculture,[2][3][7] but also incorporates some elements of the sadomasochism subculture.[1] Many forums and websites for the communication and relevant discussions for the members of the subculture exist, along with other media such as glossy magazines devoted to the topic.[8]
Participants within the subculture range from those who dress and act as vampires but understand themselves to be human, to those who assert a need to consume either blood or human 'energy' and 'emotions', or both.[8][9][10] Though the vampire subculture has considerable overlap with gothic subculture, the vampire community also has overlap with both therian and otherkin communities, and are considered by some to be a part of both, despite the difference in cultural and historical development.[11][12]
Characteristics of the scene
Vampire lifestylers might dress up in 'vampire' clothing, indulge in habits like sleeping in a coffin, maintaining nighttime lifestyle or participating in RPGs such as Vampire: The Masquerade."[9]
Types of vampire lifestylers
Vampire lifestylers may self-identify with labels regarding their proclivities and interests. The following is a non-exhaustive list, and are not necessarily mutually exclusive:[2][9]
- "Sanguinarians", sometimes hematophages, are those who believe that they perceive a physical/mental need to consume blood (often human).[12]
- Medical Sanguinarians or "med sangs" are a subgroup inside Sanguinarians, who believe that they need to consume blood for optimal physical health, without embracing the vampire aesthetic and sometimes being apart from the Vampyre community, with some individuals seeking for a cure from this condition.[13]
- "Psychic vampires" claim to attain nourishment from the aura or pranic energy of others[8][9] in order to balance a spiritual or psychological energy deficiency, such as a damaged aura or chakra.[1]
- "Blood donors" or "black swans"[14] willingly allow other members of the subculture to drink their blood.[2][15][4][8]
- Hybrids, those who feed on both 'energy' like Psychic vampires and blood like Sanguinarians.[16]
- "Blood fetishists" or "eros" use blood as a stimulant or sexual fetish, sometimes drinking it during the course of sadomasochistic sex.[9]
- "Lifestylers" or "role-players" partake in vampiric personification, which can involve an aesthetic, a lifestyle, and even a philosophical approach (similar to Sangunarians and Psychic vampires), but acknowledge themselves as humans and don't have a need for blood.[2]
Medical Sanguinarians, unlike the classical ones, typically view their condition as a physiological or medical issue, while classical don't.
Sociology
Renfield syndrome is a clinical condition marked by a fixation on blood or blood-drinking.
Sex researchers have also documented cases of people with sexual (paraphilic) vampirism and autovampirism.[1][17][18]