Piquerism
Piquerism (from the French piquer - "to prick") is a sexual interest in penetrating the skin of another person with sharp objects (such as pins, razors, knives, etc). Sometimes, this is serious enough to cause extreme injuries or even death.[1] Piquerism is a paraphilia as well as a form of sadism. The most frequently targeted areas of the body are the breasts, buttocks, or groin.[2]
Examples
Andrei Chikatilo
Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo was impotent and could only achieve sexual arousal through stabbing and cutting people with a knife.
Jack the Ripper
Dr. Robert D. Keppel and his colleagues concluded in an analysis of London's Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 that "the injuries sustained by the victims displayed the signature characteristic of picquerism."
Albert Fish
Notorious serial killer Albert Fish has been said to have engaged in piquerism upon his victims and his own body, flagellating himself constantly with a nail-studded board. After his arrest and subsequent jailing for the murder of Grace Budd, an X-Ray revealed at least 29 needles that were inserted into his groin and pelvic region.
Frank Ranieri
A 25-year old American was arrested in June 2007 for bribing multiple young females with large sums of money in exchange for poking their buttocks with sharp objects.[2]
See also
- London Monster
- "Pique", an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Fictional account with piquerism as a main plot element
Footnotes
- Davis, MS (2002). The concise dictionary of crime and justice. SAGE Publications. pp. 196. ISBN 978-0-7619-2176-9.
- "Life On A Knife Edge". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2017-09-30.
References
- Keppel RD; Weis JG; Brown KM; Welch K (2005). "The Jack the Ripper Murders: A Modus Operandi and Signature Analysis of the 1888-1891 Whitechapel Murders". Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 2 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1002/jip.22.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)