Sex with zombies: rape, necrophilia, or okey-dokey?

Great Debates
1

Hey everyone,
For the sake or argument, let us pretend that zombies exist. I dont mean the voodoo-style witch doctor kind, although we can debate the ethical ramifications of sex with them too if people so desire. My target is not that though, but rather the classical movie zombies. There are problems with that too of course, because there are many different styles of zombies. Anyway, we can safely call them undead.

The situation is also somewhat vague; the only main tenant is that a living person engages in intercourse with a zombie. I think we can safely assume the living person is male, because I doubt a male zombie can perform. Anyway, I was thinking about this the other day, and I got very curious as to what modern ethics and law would say about such a situation.

For rape, I suppose consent is the key factor here, unless it’s a child zombie. Can zombies give consent? Some zombies talk and have a personality, but most zombies just moan, so how would one know what the moan means? What if the zombie wants it but then changes his/her mind during the session? How would you ever know? Of course, if it was rape, the zombie could never prosecute you because the police couldn’t understand its report. Although. for many zombies, you would probably be a zombie yourself soon after climax, so it’s not a huge factor in this discussion.

As for necrophilia, it’s maybe only semantics, maybe not. Necrophilia is sex with a dead person. Zombies are not dead however, they are UNdead. Is undead the same as dead? What constitutes something being alive or dead? If the zombie is old and decaying, is that any different than if the zombie is only 15 minutes old (old being relative to the time of turning). I personally have no clue.

OK, so both rape and necrophilia are major no-no’s in most modern society; however, if sex with a zombie is neither, then it’s okey-dokey right? Sex with zombies would be just another fetish. So, what other problems does one see in this situation? Granted, I’m not too worried about it happening soon, but any discourse could prove useful for creating a work of fiction.

Thanks for your time,
Auto

2

Someone’s finally hit upon a form of sex that I don’t think is popular in Thailand.

3

Vampires come to mind?

I think they’d be the undead sex connoisseur’s usual starting point. Avoids the whole verbal consent issue for a start.

Otara

4

Reminds me of one of my ex-girlfriends. All of the excitement of necrophilia and none of the social stigma.

5

I would have to say that if the earth is in a situation where you are able have sex with a zombie, then prosecution from law enforcement would be the least of our worries.

6

I think it’s been established that if you’re in close contact with a classic zombie, what it wants to do more than anything else is eat your brains. (Yes, we know that Buffyverse-zombies only eat your brains if instructed to by their zombie masters.) So, in order to have sex with the zombie, you have to restrain it and more or less rape it because it doesn’t want sex, it wants brains. So, I think whether you’re guilty either of rape, bestiality or necrophilia, depending on whether the zombie has legal status as a person, animal or corpse. (Don’t ask me, that’s one for the legislature.) In the latter two you’re always guilty, but in the former there might be some question.

One might argue that the the zombie is indifferent to sex if it’s a given that it’s not getting your brains. You’re restraining it so it won’t eat your brains, but once that has happened it may not mind, or maybe someone would argue that it would resign itself to the situation and take sex as the second-best thing to eating brains. It comes down to two questions: Can the zombie express its approval or disapproval, and does it have any capacity to reason? (Really, tell me, I haven’t seen enough movies to decide.) If it can’t express itself (saying “but she was moaning” doesn’t count) I think it would be judged incapable of granting consent. If it can, can it also reason? If not, I think it might still be judged incapable, as children are, though I’m not sure what the laws are on mentally retarded adults.

If the zombie has legal status as a person, and can both reason and express itself we have to ask ourselves what would it decide? It may decide not to grant you anything if it’s tied up and it’s not getting your brains, or it may resign itself and consent. Or, it may go through with it only in the hopes that it will somehow break free and in fact eat your brains. It would really depend on the individual zombie, though some scholars would argue that the fact that you have restrained the zombie itself renders any consent as invalid and given under duress. Perhaps laws relating to arrestees, the mentally ill, or prisoners of war would apply.

You’re welcome.

7

This is not entirely accurate, though. Only the extremely rare O’Bannon zombie hungers specifically for brains. Romero zombies and most other varieties display no preference for cerebral matter.

O’Bannons are atypical in several other specifics, including the retention of speech, reasoning ability, and fine motor skills, none of which are displayed by the common Romero. The fact that O’Bannons are often extremely vocal has resulted in the popularly held misapprehension that all zombies crave brains.

8

I think it’s perfectly ok provided they’re allowed to eat your brain while doing it.

9

Only in certain counties of Nevada.

10

I would call it: “suicide”.
Or “converting one’s self into Human Beef Jerky”.
Yup.

11

Until someone there reads this thread!

12

Gives a whole new meaning to “she liked me for my brain.”

13

Just avoid oral. Seriously.

14

I would not offer advice to the OP as I am not familiar with the finer points of zombies under Florida law. I simply am not qualified.

15

But is it legal in Saudi Arabia?
My WAG is that it isn’t and you could get yourself imprisoned, whipped or maybe even worse in SA.

As for the legality in the US: if the Zombie had been pronounced dead and a death certificate issued, I’m pretty sure you’d be charged with necrophilia. However, there wouldn’t usually be a death certificate since most zombies get up and start killing as soon as they die, leaving little opportunity for a death certificate to be filled out. Unless we’re talking about the original NotLD movie, in which the bodies already interred in the ground came back to life and “an epidemic of mass murder being committed by a virtual army of unidentified assassins” ensues. I’m sure that sex with any one or more of those “unidentified assassins” could get you charged with necrophilia in most if not all jurisdictions in the US.

16

…and a BJ would be known as a SJ

suck job

17

I don’t see how we can seperate this question from the larger legal status of zombies. The two key points seem to be

Are zombies legally human beings, capable of being raped?

Second, can a zombie give consent?

If the answer is yes to both, than the standard test for rape (or related offenses) would apply.

If a zombie cannot consent but is legally a human being, any sex with a zombie is automatically statutory rape.

If a zombie cannot consent and is not legally a human being, then the current laws against abusing a corpse would apply.

Note-In the case of OBannon zombies it was the finding of the US government (which ran experiments on the things) that these zombies were no longer persons and had no rights. It should also be noted that in some cases, a freshly dead OBannon zombie retained enough of its mind to give consent to sex. CITE-ROTL 3

18

RE Voudoun Zombies

The horror of these zombies hinges on the loss of consent and an existence of unending slavery. They may be people- though stripped of memories, personality, free will and volition. They cannot consent. Any sex with them must be statutory rape.

19

It really depends on the type of zombie. At one extreme you have the type that are basically automatons; that’s just necrophilia. At the other extreme you have the versions that look and act perfectly human, in some cases not realizing that they are dead; that’s rape, without consent.

20

If a zombie retains its former mind, how is it unable to give consent?