Vorarephilia

Vorarephilia or vore, also known as phagophilia and often misspelled as voreaphilia and voraphilia, is a fetish and paraphilia where arousal occurs from the idea of being eaten, eating another, or watching this process. The fantasy may include digestion, painless or otherwise.

Etymology and psychology
The word is derived from the Latin vorare (to 'swallow' or 'devour') and the Ancient Greek φιλία (philia, 'love').

The term vorarephile describes someone who enjoys vore. Most vorarephiles describe themselves as being "prey" — based on how animals are considered to be prey for other animals who are in a higher chain position — while those who actually do the eating in the fantasies, are referred to as a "pred" (derived from the word predator).

Being a fantasy, any orifice may be thought of as capable of vore, but it's really just adding a body part to the word vore. This incorrect use of the word vore is now commonplace. Examples of this well known twisting of the word vore are the "genital vore" scenarios, such as unbirthing, also known as female genital vore or vaginal vore, and “vorginal”, which involves a character(s) "consumed" via the vagina and taking refuge in the womb, which is simply a reverse birth. Others think of it as a mutual, erotic and consensual activity with no injury to the sexual partners involved — in that case, it is not considered a form of vore.

Vorarephilia is typically considered an "imaginary fetish", as fulfilling them, in reality, is both difficult and illegal. Most vorarephiles are aware of the improbability of the paraphilia and are largely uninterested in the idea of cannibalism.

Vorarephilia and furry
Though still considered a fringe interest, vorarephilia is a relatively popular topic for roleplay and art in furry fandom, being shared to a greater or lesser extent by perhaps 2-5% of furry fans. Its popularity may be due to a large number of predator/prey species that mingle daily, although some vorarephile characters will eat just about anything with no regard for the conventional food chain. Furry vore is also made somewhat easier to depict since many furry characters do not wear clothes to begin with; those eating often have claws to handle the rest.

Vore is often a consensual activity, even when in character. For every player who wants his prey to go down kicking and screaming as he is ruthlessly gobbled up, there are others who enter a chatroom with the comment "I'm feeling tasty tonight." Some wish to be hunted while others offer themselves up on a platter, and not always figuratively.

Preferences vary so widely in regards to the 'ideal' vore scenario that MUCKs like FurryMUCK and Tapestries allow players to create publicly accessible tables of 'flags' to indicate their preferences and facilitate compatible pairings. Flags like 'no pain,' 'predator,' and 'soft vore' supplement broader flags not specific to vore like 'bisexual' and 'male-biased.'

Popular places for vorarephiles include the Vor Cafe on Tapestries (adjoined by The Feedery, which caters to fat furs), the Zaftig City mailing list, (for some inhabitants) The Giants' Club on FurryMUCK, Jess and Avon's Vor-com, the largest vore MUCK Voregotten Realm, and one of the largest Vore communities, Eka's Portal. F-list is also used by many vorarephiles to roleplay said acts.

Types

 * Soft vore - In soft vore, prey is consumed alive and whole — though not always willingly — and are often unharmed before reaching the stomach, where digestion, asphyxiaton, transformation or simple captivity may await. Soft vore is often regarded as sensual and sexually-oriented due to its largely non-violent nature. Some vorarephiles derive pleasure from watching animals like snakes eat other animals, as they usually swallow their prey whole, a major element in soft vore.


 * Non-sexual soft vore is used in a variety of literature and artwork. Examples come from Native American folklore, such as one story where Coyote enters the stomach of a giant to rescue a number of people who were eaten alive, or the biblical story of Jonah. Soft vore is also used in today's cartoons and anime (such as "Eat or Be Eaten: Panic in the Forest", an episode of the anime Naruto). Most instances are harmless sight gags or minor inconveniences for a character, such as any Footsoldier being eaten by a Kodo in Warcraft III.


 * Sometimes the prey simply being in the pred's mouth--often with implied intent-to-eat--but without actually being swallowed is considered soft vore. Examples include when a recurring character can't actually be eaten, such as in Tom & Jerry, or when they are only supposed to appear to have been eaten, like in Shark Tale. This tends to be for humor. In these cases, the prey is likely to comment on the pred's breath upon exiting the mouth.


 * Hard vore - Hard vore describes scenarios where prey is subjected to injuries, being ripped and chewed. This type of vore involves cutting, biting, tearing and usually blood. Although there is no inherent sexual characteristic to these actions, to someone with a vore fetish they could be taken in a sexual context. Hard vore has sometimes been referred to as "gore" to separate it from soft vore. Non-sexual hard vore is regularly portrayed in movies for mature audiences, such as the Jaws franchise and Deep Blue Sea.


 * Macro vore (or, for females, giantess vore) is quite common, which describes being consumed by a large or giant predator. Conversely,
 * Micro vore is a combination of vorarephilia and microphilia; the transformation into a smaller being often via magic.
 * Tiny Vore is the opposite of Macro vore, in which case a tiny predator consumes prey much larger than itself. Tiny vore can also refer to an average or even larger-sized predator who has consumed multiple preys of its own size. In a sense, tiny vore refers to any kind of vore where either prey larger than the predator is involved, or where the predator ends up with a belly much larger than itself due to multiple beings and/or objects consumed.

Uncommon variants

 * Cock vore (or male genital vore) - Cock vore refers to being consumed by the penis. Prey enters the urethral opening at the top of the penis, after which they are pulled down the urethra to the predator's scrotum, in which prey are absorbed, digested, or turned into semen (sometimes known as cum vore) and ejaculated. Further variants involve the prey being taken to the prostate for conversion into semen, or to the bladder for storage or digestion.
 * Anal vore - Anal vore is the consumption the character via anus or cloaca. The prey is typically drawn through the digestive tract to the stomach where they are digested in a normal fashion. Conversely, prey may simply remain in the predator's rectum for a time.
 * Breast vore concerns prey being engulfed into the predator's breast through the nipples. The consumed prey is usually held there; occasionally they are transformed into breast milk.
 * Navel vore refers to the ingestion of prey through the predator's navel cavity. This usually occurs through pressing the prey firmly against the predator's waist, forcing them against the navel, which expands to an unrealistic size to envelop the prey and eventually force him/her into the stomach. There they are either digested or merely contained.
 * Pouch vore - Pouch vore is a process present in the case of a marsupial predator such as a kangaroo, which involves enticing or forcing prey into his/her pouch. Upon entry, prey is then shoved further down by the predator or sucked down through contracting muscles. Prey may be forced into the stomach or stay in the confines of the pouch, as the predator's preferences dictate.
 * Absorption - Absorption refers to the process where the prey is dragged into the predator by either being consumed by a tail/tentacle or if the predator is a slime, they are covered in the host's body upon any form of physical contact. Either way, the predator's stomach is where the prey usually tends to end up.
 * Soul vore - The drawing out and consumption of the ethereal spirit of a person, leaving them a mindless husk or slave.

Motivations behind the vore paraphilia vary, but endosomatophilia (attraction to fantasies involving complete encapsulation of a living thing within the body of another living thing) and dominance/submission play are two common driving forces. Allowing oneself to be devoured represents an ultimate act of submission on the prey's part, and the ultimate act of dominance by a predator.