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The vampire lifestyle (or vampyre subculture) is a lifestyle, involving a number of customs and beliefs, followed (in various fashions and to different degrees) by a subculture of people who are attracted to contemporary vampire lore and who seek to emulate it. While some older occult and tribal cultures have rituals and customs similar to the modern subculture, the vampire subculture itself is largely a social creation within Western culture, seemingly drawing from the rich recent history of popular culture related to cult symbolism, horror films, the fiction of Anne Rice, and the styles of Victorian England. It has been noted that the Vampire subculture has stemmed largely from the Goth subculture but also emulates some elements of the S/M subculture.^[1] Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a set of behaviors and beliefs, culture, which could be distinct or hidden, that differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong. ... Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire, 1897 Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings that subsist on human and/or animal lifeforce. ... “Horror Movie” redirects here. ... Anne Rice (born on October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of gothic and later religious themed books. ...

Active vamprism within the vampire subculture includes both blood related vamprism and Psychic Vamprirism - which involves 'feeding' from pranic energy (see Energy vampire). Members of the subculture take on a variety of 'roles', including both "vampires" and their sources of blood or pranic energy.^[2] In New Age terminology, an energy vampire or psychic vampire is a being said to have the ability to feed off the life force (often also called qi, prana, energy or vitality) of other living creatures. ...

Criminal Actions

Vampirism, or select elements of vampire subculture have been criticized for fueling the fantasies of people who are psychotic or otherwise severely mentally ill. Some self-proclaimed vampires have murdered in order to drink human blood, such as Brisbane's notorious Tracey Wigginton, who was called a lesbian vampire murderer by the press. There have been some reports of crimes committed by people who believed themselves to be vampires: for example, the "Kentucky Vampire Clan" was a vampire role-playing group in Kentucky whose activities spiraled into murder.^[3] Activity of this manner is variously encouraged^[4] and discouraged^[5] by members of the subculture itself. Psychosis is a psychiatric classification for a mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. ... For other uses, see Brisbane (disambiguation). ... Tracey Wigginton (born 1965) is a murderer who achieved notoriety for killing a man in by biting his genitals off in 1989, supposedly in order to drink his blood. ... A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ...

Health Risks

For one person to consume another's blood presents a serious hygiene risk to both parties, with a major risk of sepsis from human bites and the possibility of transmission of blood-borne diseases including HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis.^[6][7] Sepsis (in Greek Σήψις, putrefaction) is a serious medical condition, resulting from the immune response to a severe infection. ... Injuries from human bites present a particular risk to other humans, with a major risk of sepsis from infection by human oral bacteria and the possibility of transmission of blood-borne diseases including HIV/AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis. ... A blood-borne disease is one that can be spread by contamination by blood. ... Species Human immunodeficiency virus 1 Human immunodeficiency virus 2 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections). ... Hepatitis (plural hepatitides) implies injury to liver characterised by presence of inflammatory cells in the liver tissue. ...

Notably members of the vampire subculture who actively practice blood exchange in this way are often very conscious of these difficulties and practice monogamously only after appropriate medical testing has been completed.

See also

• Energy vampire

In New Age terminology, an energy vampire or psychic vampire is a being said to have the ability to feed off the life force (often also called qi, prana, energy or vitality) of other living creatures. ...

References

1. ^ A. Asbjorn Jon, 'The Psychic Vampire and Vampyre Subculture', in Australian Folklore, 12 (2002), pp,143-148 (p.145). http://www.une.edu.au/folklorejournal/ ISBN 1-86389-831-X
2. ^ A. Asbjorn Jon, 'The Psychic Vampire and Vampyre Subculture', in Australian Folklore, 12 (2002), pp,143-148 (p.145). http://www.une.edu.au/folklorejournal/ ISBN 1-86389-831-X
3. ^ Florida v. Rod Ferrell "The Vampire Cult Slaying Case". Court TV (June 22, 2001). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
4. ^ Razor The Tormented; Gabriel The Fallen. Vampyre Morals. Reapers of Blood. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
5. ^ Temple Law. Temple of the Vampire. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
6. ^ Human Bites. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (November 2002). Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
7. ^ Sowadsky, Rick (November 3, 1999). Can you get HIV from drinking another persons blood?. Forum on Safe Sex and HIV Prevention. The Body. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.