Forensic biologist Dr Mark Benecke talks to cannibal Nico Claux. Jean Rises was our friendly liaison.

Mark Benecke: Dear Nico, is cannibalism about bonding between persons? Or what?

Nico Claux: This was what was said of two different murder cases, The Armin Meiwes case and the Issei Sagawa case, but from personal experience I think that in those two cases, this is what the suspects told to the forensic psychiatrists so that they would think their murder would be understood as a «crime of passion», which in the eyes of society is considered as less immoral than sheer sexual sadism.

It is my understanding that both Sagawa and Meiwes were both driven by a mild form of sexual sadism and that they both were sexually aroused by the idea of biting into the flesh. But both of them needed an unconscious partner because the actual infliction of physical pain was too hard for them and was not part of their fantasy life.

I do not believe that cannibalism, as being part of sex life, is about bonding, but I think it is the extension of the sexual pleasure associated with biting and tasting the skin of your partner. The «romantic» concept of bonding is usually expressed by cannibal killers to hide the purely psychosexual component of the crime.

For you, is it more on the sexual or more the "I don't care, it just feels very good" side? Or something completely different?

As I said earlier, when cannibalism is associated by lustmord, it definitely is an extension of sexual sadism. But there are different type of sexual sadists and the degree of involvement that they have in the actual infliction of pain can vary greatly.

For killers like Dahmer, Nilsen or Meiwes, the act of inflicting pain was very problematic and they had to incapacitate their victims with drugs, alcool etc. so they would express less anguish during the murders. The sexual element is still there, but repressed. It is externalised by the biting and chewing of flesh of their dead victim.

As for myself, the sexual element was also there, but as an aftermath. I felt a sense of «hypersexuality» at the time where I was working in the morgue, in 1994, and later between 2005 and 2018, each time that I had the occasion to consume pieces of tissue that I cut from dead bodies or drink blood from my living sexual partners.

The consumption of flesh and blood gave me a sense of «high» similar to the rush of cocaine, like some kind of aphrodisiac. I also was aroused by the «atmosphere» of morgues (but not by dead bodies themselves and this is why I do not define myself as necrophiliac).

I have noted that this hypersexuality is common in people who work among the dead. Morgues are often a place in hospitals where nurses and morgue attendants find a quiet place to indulge in intercourse.

Why is cannibalism a taboo larger than any other, even larger than war or genocide?

Well I will tell you an anecdote about my father. He was a humanist, and he was very implied with helping migrants learn how to read in the 1970s, etc. He was also fond of anthropology and he often told me about weird culinary practices he had seen in Africa, for example.

When I was 8, I was very intrigued by stories of cannibal tribes. He told me a few storys because he understood that I really like listening to them and it was a good way to bond with me, maybe. But I could tell he felt sometimes awkward because he felt I was too focused on what he perceived as bad racial stereotypes.

So at my early age, I could sense this level of taboo. I also remember that out of curiosity, he had gone to the cinema when the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in France in 1981 after several years of being banned.

Of course I could not go the the cinema with him, I was only 9, but I was very excited to hear from him all the details of the movie. But I was very disappointed because he just told me : «This movie is a piece of shit. I am not going to tell you about it.» I said «Why?» He answered : «Because in this movie, people are shown like they are cattle. It is a denial of humanity.»

Of course this triggered even more my fascination with the subject. But in a way, my father had a key to understand why cannibalism is so taboo. Cannibalism is the ultimate denial of the sacred nature of man. Cannibals are there to remind philanthropists that humanity is not superior to other species. Humans are made of meat and bone, and as such, they also are part of nature’s «law of the strongest».

I think this is why it will always be the ultimate taboo. Cannibalism is a spit on the face of humanitarian ideals. It definitely sets those who have experienced cannibalism forever apart from society. There is no redemption possible.

I see. Thank you for your time and your insights.

Nico Claux now operates the website Serial Pleasures.