Introduction
“He could just about fit a hand around her top lip, it was soft like a pillow. Alex reached out his other hand and rested it on her bottom lip. A low giggle came from the god’s throat as he touched her lips, her mouth slowly opening. The boy stared inside, his heart throbbing in his chest. He slid his hand between her lips and closed it around one of her canines, it was like the horn of a cow.” People often disparage vore as either extreme to the point of disgust or extreme to the point of comedy, however, this view neglects to engage with the genuinely erotic aspects of vore present in its depictions. The act of vore is embodied, sensory, and driven by the eroticisation of primal fear. Themes in vore often extend beyond the simple act of swallowing or being swallowed leading to a greater focus on the phenomenological aspects of the fantasy. My case is not that vore is for everyone, but rather, that the distance people place between themselves and this fantasy is situated in an abhorrence for that which is different and unconceived, and you are in fact closer to an appreciation for vorarephilia than you might expect.
Full disclosure: I am not into vore, particularly. While I have a definite appreciation for the common tropes and themes on which vore fantasy is built, it doesn’t really do it for me. So, ultimately, this should be considered an an outsider’s perspective on the erotics of vore.
Head-first: what even is vore?
“Vorarephilia” (from the Latin “vorare” to swallow, devour + the Greek “philia” love of), also known more commonly as “vore” is an eroticised desire to be consumed, or to consume, another living being. This being does not necessarily need to be human, but can also be an animal or some kind of fictional creature (such as a dragon, giant snake, or lamia). In most cases, the voree is swallowed whole, though this is not always the case. The desire to harmlessly swallow, or be swallowed, whole is often referred to as “soft vore”, as opposed to “hard vore” which would include bodily destruction of the voree during the consumption process and is more analogous to sexual cannibalism. I will be focusing on the eroticism of “soft vore” and will for the remainder of this essay refer to it simply as “vore”. Vore can be divided generally into five main categories: oral, vaginal, anal, through the nipples, and through the phallus, with oral is generally the most common type of vore as far as I can tell. In depictions of vore, the terms “predator” (often shortened to pred) and “prey” are often used to refer to the vorer and voree. There is a great focus on the embodied, sensory experience of being swallowed both for vorer and voree. For the voree, much attention is paid to the sensation of being squeezed by the oesophagus and stomach, it being a tight fit, and the pressure exerted during digestion (though digestion is not necessarily part of the fantasy). For the vorer, the sense of fullness is emphasised both in sensation and in depictions of engorgement and its consequences. The end result has more variation in vore, often the initial swallowing is survived and the voree then suffocates or is dissolved in stomach acid. However, the end result is not necessarily or even commonly the death of the victim. While there is a lot in depictions of vore which focus on the sensory experience of digesting someone else, just as common is the trope of “magically reforming” known as “reformation” or even being held in the womb in relative safety. Death is not necessarily the end goal of vore. Excretion can sometimes be part of the fantasy but is not a tenant of the genre, though regurgitation is common in soft-soft vore.
There is much overlap between vore and other sexual interest thought of as outside the norm. This includes heavy themes of sadomasochism and a focus on dominant/submissive roles; macrophilia/microphilia (the sexual attraction to inhumanly big or small beings); pregnancy fetish; furry themes; unbirthing, which is the idea of being swallowed alive by a vagina and returning to the uterus; as well as sexual cannibalism, non-consent (though, not necessarily sexual), oral fixation, and the eroticisation of fear. These themes appear to various degrees in depictions of vore with some having more cross over with other sexual desires than others.
Enveloped: the erotics of vore
Vore is often thought of as an extreme paraphilia relegated to the depths of the internet at its most depraved, or, and in many cases in conjunction with the belief, that vore is bizarre and ridiculous to the point of comedy. Very little consideration is given to the erotic tropes on which vore is predicated and how these tropes are fairly common in sexual and non-sexual desire. To better understand the appeal of vore, it is necessary to break down the themes that are both inherently present as well as tangentially related to vorarepilia.
Fantasising about being vored, or voring, is an embodied fantasy. There is a heavy focus on the physicality of the act for both vorer and voree. For the voree, the sensation of being enveloped is often emphasised, as well as the pressure exerted from the muscles in the wall of the stomach and oesophagus, the burning of the stomach acid, and the sense of compression and claustrophobia of being entombed within a prison of flesh. This focus on the sensory aspects of being swallowed is highly erotic. The language used, for something which could be considered a profoundly violent act, is gentle: warmth, softness, a comfortable compression are all commonly used ways to describe the experience of being swallowed. Sometimes, the voree is described as having pressure applied to sensitive areas and erogenous zones to maximise the sensory aspect. Given the importance of touch and physical contact for humans, and how sex, in and of itself, is a deeply physical and tactile experience, would this aspect of the fantasy of vore not fall within that scope? Is it not just an extension of the desire to be held somewhere warm, soft and enclosed? For the vorer, the fantasy is just as embodied. Commonly, the vorer is referred to as insatiably hungry proceeding the actual swallowing, which is then juxtaposed with the experience of profound fullness, satiation and a sense of being at ease after the voree has been swallowed. There is much focus on the way that the voree sits or squirms or otherwise moves within the vorer and the sensory experience of digestion – both positively and negatively. Further, much reference is made to fullness (often by the way of an exaggeratedly large or “pregnant looking” stomach), rubbing of the stomach, and burping post swallowing. Often, the vorer will, after swallowing their victim, rest or sleep. The experience is akin to a heavy, satisfying, and often special meal like one you might have for a particular occasion. There is much to be said on the similarities in experience post-sex and post-heavy meal. Both are often characterised by satisfaction, rest, exhaustion and pleasure. These two embodiments crossing paths does not seem as unreasonable as the concept of vore itself.
Another central theme of vorarephilia is the power dynamics of the situation and their implications. Power dynamics and the subversion of social power dynamics are a part of sexual practice. This is most easy to see in a wider context in more intense forms of sexual power play such as in sadomasochism and rapeplay fantasies. There is a lot of overlap in vore with sadomasochism and with “non-consent” situations so this is particularly pertinent. Vore is the ultimate act of submission: the voree is being consumed and made to be a part of the vorer on a physical level. There is a sense that the victim has lost their agency and is completely at the will of the vorer, and this is an erotic concept. The sublimation of the self and disintegration of boundaries between the vorer and voree is a central tenant of the genre. As previously mentioned, as the voree is thought of as being “a special meal”, it places them in a position of esteem and almost can be thought of as a position of devotion. This swings the balance from the typical power dynamics one might ascribe to vore. While one might assume that the power play would focus on the inherent and absolute power of the predator juxtaposed with the vulnerability of the prey, and that this would be the core aspect of the power dynamic, this is not the whole story. While yes, the vorer does have power in this situation as the swallower, but we should not ignore the position of the voree. The voree is special, often chosen specifically. They are the means by which the vorer can, in many cases, survive. Their relationship is a symbiosis. Vore often depicts the victim as being willing (though not necessarily, an unwilling victims of vore have their own power dynamics that I will examine) and prepared for what is to come. They may not have any actual power, at least when compared to the predator, but they have status and esteem. There is no mistaking the importance of their position within the dynamic. In this sense, there is a devotion on the part of the voree to the vorer. The voree gives up themselves, in body and totality to something else, despite the consequences, for the benefit of the other. In non-consentual vore, the dynamics are slightly different and there is much for focus on the absolute power of the vorer as juxtaposed with the absolute vulnerability of the voree. The sublimation is total and complete and terrifying. Here there is obviously a playing with power dynamics, but more than that, there is a playing with primal fear. The fear of being consumed, of being enclosed and trapped, the fear of the loss of personhood. The eroticisation of this fear is like the eroticisation of any fear. The thrill of facing the fear of total annihilation is poignant. Here there is a focus on what is lost, that being selfhood, and is part of a long tradition of reflecting social anxieties within erotic work. There is a safety and distance in the imagined fantasy of non-consensual vore: you cannot literally lose your personhood being swallowed by another and therefore it is a safe space to explore that loss of personhood as opposed to the realities in which one might actually do so. In this very bodily loss of the self there is room for exploration of the loss of the self in less bodily ways.
Perhaps the most important themes in vore are those of comfort, protection, and as previously mentioned, the eroticisation of primal fear. Vore focuses heavily on the enclosed space of the stomach (or womb, which I will get into) within which the victim is. Commonly spoken about is the sense of protection, of nurturing each other, the comfort of a warm, soft, enclosed space in which nothing can happen to you as the voree. Seeking comfort and protection is in our nature as people and utilising this concept erotically makes perfect sense. In some cases, an aspect of vore is the return to the womb. Some depictions will have the voree, in some way, move from the stomach to the womb, or in many cases, as in vaginal vore, the route to the womb is more direct. The return to the womb, the return to the place of protection, of being inherently nurtured and dependant upon another is a core theme. The return to the womb can be seen in two ways: one way would be to look at it in its physicality and the other would be to look at it as a return to a child-like or pre-personhood state of innocence. In terms of the physicality, the womb, like the stomach, is enclosed. It is safe from the outside world. In the womb (or the stomach), the voree is protected, safe, and often comforted by their surroundings. In terms of the return to a pre-personhood state, there is a sense of returning to a state before responsibility, before agency, before anything that makes human life so complicated. You are protected from the ramifications of your personhood as you are enveloped and subsumed by another. In addition to this, the element of facing and eroticising fear adds a layer onto this sense of protection from harm. Being eaten and enclosed are common and basal fears, and in playing with this concept, and changing the outlook to see it as a starting place for protection from harm is an important aspect of its erotic nature. There is both a sense of thrill from the fear associated with vore, especially on the part of the voree, but this is in conjunction with the ultimate protection gained from the experience. Vore is a return to a loving embrace, and from loving embrace there is always the possibility of sexual progression.
Conclusion
This is by no means a comprehensive analysis of vore or of its erotic nature. However, whilst it may not be to your specific liking, there is no denying that vore is erotic. The themes underpinning vore are central to themes of sexuality within other contexts, and they do not become less erotic because the fantasy deviates from the socially acceptable. The consumption of another, could be seen as an act of malice, or evil, or otherwise negatively; but it can also, just as easily, be seen as an act of love or protection or comfort. The playing with of power dynamics and fear, as well as the obviously embodied aspects of vore are typical aspects of sexual fantasy. Further, the sense of devotion to the other is also a key aspect that is essentially erotic to an extent that the claim it is not is hard to negate. The act of voring someone or being vored is sexually exhilarating not only in the base understanding of the genre, but within the tropes on which the genre is predicated.
Note: You can read the rest of the piece which I quoted in my first paragraph here.