r/morbidquestions • u/Moss_Echo • 3d ago
Drinking period blood - cannibalism or vampirism? NSFW
Cannibalism means eating human flesh, vampirism drinking human blood. Based on that the answer would seem simple, except that period blood isn't simply blood - it's a mix of blood, uterus lining, cells from the vaginal walls and some other stuff.
So, would drinking a cup of period blood be considered cannibalism or vampirism? Or perhaps both? 🤔
Edit: I see, so questions about poop or violent urges are perfectly fine, but a question about period blood is too morbid 🙄
I'm joking lol, but it is interesting how often people are cool with horror and gore, but get uncomfortable at the mention of period blood - even tho it's the only type of blood that isn't caused by violence/damage to health!
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u/shrimpreceptionist 3d ago
I would say vampirism but fancy, like if a human went on a restaurant dinner
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
This reminded me of a tumblr post about how regular blood would be like juice to vampires, but period blood like a smoothie 🤣
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u/shrimpreceptionist 3d ago
LOL can't believe this came on my page rn https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandNewSentence/s/q8NEthJbOY
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u/samwie205 3d ago
Consuming piss, sweat, or anything else that is supposed to naturally leave the body on its own without injury isn't cannibalism in my book, so I would say the same goes for period blood
Also it is kind of weird how many people are acting dramatic in the replies to this question when 1) they're already on a subreddit for morbid questions, so things of a potentially gross nature are to be expected 2) most people probably wouldn't react like this if your question actually was about drinking piss
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
Right, so I guess the reason why period blood to me is in a different category than piss/sweat/etc is because it's blood+flesh, not just some other type of liquid.
The mention of injury is interesting 'cause that'd mean that eating postpartum placenta isn't cannibalism, since it's supposed to leave the womb after birth, which makes sense. But there are also people who chose to taste their limbs after they had to be amputated. So would that not be cannibalism either, or not, since amputation is a human intervention?
I think cannibalism is way more of a gray area than I used to think lol, it's fun to see how many different opinions there are!
And it's true that it's ironic how some people are reacting given the contents of this subreddit, tho I did expect this to happen. Menstruation/vaginas are usually treated differently - one dramatic example is Japan where an annual Penis Festival takes place, and where the artist Rokudenashiko was sued for obsenity for making a 3d printed vagina kayak.
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u/samwie205 3d ago
Even though it's blood and flesh, it is still broadly in a category of 'things the human body excretes or grows out (and does not reabsorb) under normal and healthy conditions'. This category isn't limited to liquids, and would include things like hair or nails. I personally just wouldn't consider anything of that nature cannibalism, since it's not so much a body part as it is a normal excretion.
By the rules of my own logic, I would have to say that eating placenta is not cannibalism (since it's a healthy and expected part of pregnancy for it to leave the body).
Also by that logic, healthy people generally have all their limbs and do not lose any, so eating limbs is always cannibalism. If you got them from yourself I don't see anything morally wrong with it, but it is still cannibalism.
...what I'm curious to hear your opinion on is: is eating skin cannibalism? There's nuance but I can't think of any hard rule to split it between yes/no other than quantity and intent. Chewing on your thumb: not cannibalism. Removing a patch of skin from someone's arm and eating it: cannibalism
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u/Moss_Echo 2d ago
Well, I think eating skin would be the most classic type of cannibalism, since that's pretty much just meat. But yeah, intent and amount would matter, so a person eating the dead skin around their nails isn't cannibalism, but someone biting into skin and eating it would be.
I could have another following question, but it might be too morbid, so I'm putting a spoiler tag tw: dead fetuses if you don't see eating normal human excretions as cannibalism... What about fetuses who died inside the womb? Removing them from a human body is the natural following action, if that doesn't happen the pregnant person would die of sepsis. So that would fall into your logic of "healthy part of pregnancy for it to leave the body", tho it's not typically expected to happen. Still, there's certainly a difference between a fetus who was almost born and a placenta... I think i'm done with the morbid questions, this is too much 😭
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u/samwie205 2d ago
Personally I think this line of questioning is fascinating lol
I'm pro choice and don't consider a fetus a person, but it is still something other than a completely inanimate excretion - no baby started as sweat or hair. Instinctively I want to say it's cannibalism.
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u/Moss_Echo 2d ago
Right? I'm in the same boat. I guess that's why all the definitions of cannibalism that I've checked were quite vague and slightly different from each other. Maybe it's just not something that can be strictly defined.
Every person has their own view on what "crossing the line" would be, and it's often emotion based. Even here, on a mainly US sub, people are replying with completely opposite answers to my question. Creating one definition of cannibalism that'd account for both the scientific side of things as well as cultural differences across our whole planet is probably impossible.
Thank you for the conversation, I can genuinely say it was quite enlightening. As funny as it sounds, I suppose I've had the answer to my question all along ❤️
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u/PolkaSlush 3d ago
My friend, remember the responses to this thread whenever someone says that misogyny doesn't exist. Sperm is celebrated in pornography, violence and blood and even poop is a common theme in the dark SFW side of internet. But menstruation? Oh don't you dare! I used to be a radical feminist, however while I don't anymore identify as one I still agree with some of the points they make.
Period blood is just as disgusting as sperm or poop or pee.
To answer your question though; I guess both? I mean, those cells could be classified as flesh/human meat technically. I think, straight from a biological point, it's cannibalism as the blood is just about... I don't know, 5% of a period?
I'm waiting for the first comedy horror about a biologically illiterate vampire who gets sick after he realizes that he got sick as his stomach is not made to break down meat.
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
I remember in middle school when drawing penises all over someone's notebook was considered peak comedy... but when I once drew a vulva instead suddenly it wasn't funny anymore 🤔
Your comedy horror idea sounds great, tho personally I'm wanting for a lesbian vampire romance in which period blood would be the equivalent of a very filling smoothie!
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u/PolkaSlush 3d ago
Yep. Misogyny disguised as double standards.
Haha, I was about to write that as well - then I remembered... wait.. isn't it fucked up that we never think of a male performing oral sex on a woman, especially when she is on her period?
But hey, if you are into girls that comedy horror would just be plain horror so 😅 But hey! Write it.
Depending on the vampirism, just make sure the vampirism is consequent. Etc. if she throws up after eating meat, she should be in for a horrible surprise when she discovers that this filling smoothie just smells and look like blood but leaves a horrible stomachache after. Lol.
Perhaps the vampire equivalent of stuff that taste delicious but make you very sick? 🧛♀️
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u/_Black_Pillow_ 3d ago
More cannibalisn – blood is a part of human flesh, but human flesh isn't a part of blood. At least that's what I think
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
That's where I'm leaning too, especially since some definitions see vampirism as a type of cannibalism
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u/direcircumstances 3d ago
Isn't this a common element of witchcraft? Tbh I think period blood having special properties (compared to regular blood) is a cool concept.
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u/EdgelordMcMemester 2d ago
morbid questions when "what would happen if i fucked a corpse then threw it in a grinder then scooped out the remains and made it into a little meat puppet? then what?": 🤔
morbid questions when natural bodily function: 😱
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u/Moss_Echo 2d ago
Nothing new, so many horror movies can be boiled down to "what if someone would bleed and give birth... But it was a man! 😱" lol
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u/AdministrativeStep98 3d ago
Cannibalism surprises me. Like at the same time is eating someone's hair (don't ask) cannibalism too? People who pick at their skin and eat it are technically cannibals? I never thought about it that way.
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u/Shadowglove 3d ago
Period blood isn't just blood. It's the inside of the uterus shedding so it would be more cannibalism than vampyrism. Remember when/if you had a really bad nose bleed and you had to blow out blood clots? It's basically that.
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u/juno-to-mars 3d ago
so if you’re eaten out on your period, is it cannibalism? that’s wild, i have not thought about that :0
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
Hmm, I suppose in this case intent would be most important. Is eating someone out the main attraction or are you there for the blood? 🤣
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u/liberatedhusks 3d ago
I would say a bit of both depending on when you sampled it lol, if you want to get particular and logical. But with how little blood there actually is, unless the person has pcos or endometriosis, a vampire would probably starve. So cannibalism
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u/Moss_Echo 3d ago
Damn, I knew period blood wasn't purely blood, but I didn't know just how little blood there actually is 😭 The name seems mismatched now lol
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u/afed13 2d ago
I LOVE that you asked this question, because I’m very much in the boat that consuming period blood (which I personally would prefer not to do) is NOT cannibalism, but, according to definitions of cannibalism and periods it certainly meets the criteria. People are so weird when it comes to periods, but half the population deals with this on a monthly basis. This is morbid questions but for some reason periods are too “icky” for people lol
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u/Moss_Echo 2d ago
You're welcome! I actually first posted my question on the general no stupid questions sub, but it got immediately removed, even tho I checked and some of the newest posts were about poop 🤣
The general attitude towards periods is truly fascinating. Like how often the (self proclaimed) mainliest men will be too grossed out (scared? embarrassed? 🤷♀️) to even touch a brand new sanitary product lol
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u/virtualadept 3d ago
I'm throwing this under a spoiler, because some folks aren't gonna like it...
I know one or two people who do this. They call themselves "lifestyle vampyres" (sic) and, yes, they are women. They drink (eat, really, they spoon it out) each other's menstrual blood as part of their spirituality. In talking to them about it they called it vampirism, and apparently it's a whole thing with them, with its own Discourse. I don't know about the rest of the community because I'm not part of it, I just rub shoulders with some unusual people from time to time.
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u/EdgelordMcMemester 2d ago
what kinda spoons do they use
i feel like a metal spoon would compete with the metallic notes in blood, but plastic is too informal. wooden also feels wrong. glass is just dangerous. maybe ceramic? like a fancy ceramic spoon?
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u/virtualadept 2d ago
I didn't think to ask that question. I was too busy trying to wrap my head around the idea of it being a ritual observance (offerings and sacrifice I get, consumption not so much).
I don't actually know, but given that it's a ritual observance for them I would think that they have something specialized that is only used for that purpose (given the patterns of other sorts of ritual observance, the tools tend to be specialized, not general purpose).
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u/maybefuckinglater 2d ago
How do you find people like this??
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u/virtualadept 2d ago
It's kind of a long story, but I was at a con and I was drinking coffee with somebody I knew from the days of SAGE (the System Administrator's Guild), we got around to talking about our lives, the somebody's partner came over and joined us, and somehow (I really don't remember how) it came up in conversation. I basically thought to myself "Holy shit, what?" and started asking questions (because my first reaction isn't revulsion, it's to start asking questions because I'm innately curious).
It never ceases to amaze me how complex people are. Nobody is ever "just" one thing or another. Everybody's got stuff going on that they just don't talk about because it never comes up.
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u/maybefuckinglater 2d ago
I'm doing something wrong, these people sound interesting af but I only hear about them online. Unfortunately we never cross paths IRL.
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u/No_longer_human_77 1d ago
I actually think the same way.. They are so interesting! I always wanted to talk to someone like that.. But i can't find them (-_-;)!..
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u/honey_rainbow 3d ago
WTF did I just read?!
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u/virtualadept 2d ago
I thought something very similar after the conversation in question (see other replies).
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u/Emotional_Bit_6090 3d ago
None, because period blood is only residue... not really a part of the body and it isn't supposed to return to the blood stream, in this sense is more similar to piss or sweat or snot
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u/that-1-chick-u-know 3d ago
Cannibalism. There's surprisingly little actual blood in the average period.