Vampire lifestyle

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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.<ref name="ResearchGate">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Browning 2015">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Mellins 2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Benecke">Template:Cite book</ref> Participants often identify with or as vampires, drawing inspiration from various media, including gothic literature, films, and role-playing games.<ref name="Browning 2015"/> The subculture encompasses a range of practices, from incorporating vampire aesthetics into daily life to engaging in rituals involving blood consumption or energy work.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Browning 2015"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The vampire subculture largely stemmed from the goth subculture,<ref name="Browning 2015"/><ref name="Mellins 2013"/><ref name=ResearchGate/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but also incorporates some elements of the sadomasochism subculture.<ref name=ResearchGate/> The Internet provides a prevalent forum of communication for the subculture, along with other media such as glossy magazines devoted to the topic.Template:Needs update<ref name="Keyworth">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Participants within the subculture range from those who dress as vampires but understand themselves to be human, to those who assert a need to consume either blood or 'human energy'.<ref name="Browning 2015"/><ref name=Benecke/><ref name="Keyworth"/><ref name="Williams">Template:Cite journal</ref> Both types of vampires may assert that the consumption of blood or energy (sometimes referred to as auric or pranic energy) is necessary for spiritual or physical nourishment.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.<ref name=fieldguide>Template:Cite book</ref>

Types of vampire lifestylersEdit

There are several types of vampire lifestylers:<ref name="Browning 2015"/>

"Template:Vanchor": (sometimes referred to as hematophages) consume the blood of others<ref name="Browning 2015"/>
"Psychic vampires": claim to attain nourishment from the aura or pranic energy of others<ref name="Browning 2015"/><ref name="Keyworth"/><ref name="Williams"/> in order to balance a spiritual or psychological energy deficiency, such as a damaged aura or chakra<ref name=ResearchGate/>
"Hybrids": both consume blood and assert that they consume psychic energy<ref name="Browning 2015"/><ref name="Williams"/>
"Blood donors": willingly allow other members of the subculture to drink their blood,<ref name="Browning 2015"/> and may or may not exhibit subservience toward those who do<ref name="Guinn">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Benecke"/><ref name="Keyworth"/>
"Blood fetishists": use blood as a stimulant or sexual fetish, sometimes drinking it during the course of sadomasochistic sex<ref name="Williams"/>
"Role-players" or "lifestylers": acknowledge that they are human beings roleplaying as vampires.<ref name="Browning 2015"/> Williams states that they may "dress up in vampire clothing, live a vampire lifestyle (e.g. sleep in coffins), and primarily participate in RPGs such as Vampire: The Masquerade"<ref name="Williams"/>

Explanations for blood-drinkingEdit

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.<ref name=ResearchGate/><ref>McCully, R. S. (1964). Vampirism: Historical perspective and underlying process in relation to a case of auto-vampirism. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 139, 440–451.</ref><ref>Prins, H. (1985). Vampirism: A clinical condition. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 666–668.</ref>

ControversyEdit

ChristianityEdit

Some self-proclaimed Christian vampire slayers have arisen in response to the vampire subculture.<ref name="Keyworth"/> Online, they swarm vampire websites with hate mail and participate in other similar activities.<ref name=Thorne>Template:Cite book</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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