From Analog To Digital: The Fatal Evolution of Sexual Perversion of the Technological Age

Giancarlo Di Vella, MMed*, Forensic Medicine Office, Bari, Puglia, Italy; Cristiano Barbieri, MD, PhD, University of Pavia Italy, Pavia, Lombardia, Italy; Ignazio Grattagliano, MSc, University of Bari Italy, BA, Puglia, Italy; Kimberly Pagani, LLB, University of Pavia Italy, Pavia, Lombardia, Italy; Maria Grazia Violante, MSc, University of Bari Italy, BA, Puglia, Italy; Andrea De Leo, MSc, University of Bari Italy, Bari, Puglia, Italy Learning Objectives: After attending the presentation, attendees will strengthen their knowledge of the correlation between technology and atypical sexual behaviors, focusing on the perception of self-harm risk and the prevention of destructiveness, inherent in both paraphilia and techno-sexuality, that is a form of perversion in which sexual excitement is constantly triggered, amplified, or conducted thanks to the use of technology.1-4 Impact Statement: This contribution appears relevant for the forensic sciences because it demonstrates how paraphilias, over time, are modulated by the technology that facilitates their spread (lethal auto-erotic asphyxiation video recording, lethal erotic asphyxiation online, lethal online bondage). Abstract Text: The authors analyze three cases from judicial sources and social media from a criminological and psychopathological perspective. The first case, dating back to the 1990s, involves a seventeen-year-old from Northern Italy, with unknown inclinations toward exhibitionism and voyeurism, who died from accidental hanging during an autoerotic act filmed with a VHS camera. The second case involves a 21-year-old British "cam girl" who died from selfstrangulation during an online erotic act requested by a voyeuristic client who witnessed her death live without calling for help. The third case involves a fiftysix- year-old man who died in hospital following a "mummifying" bondage act performed and filmed by a 29-year-old OnlyFans "digital creator," who was handsomely paid by the victim himself for this act. The three cases share the lethal outcome of sexually perverse behaviors closely linked to technology, demonstrating that paraphilia itself evolves in tandem with technology, which facilitates its spread and facilitates relationships between victim and perpetrator, fostering atypical behaviors that can even prove lethal. In human-machine interaction, the critical issues of the former are exaggerated by the potential of the latter, because technology acts on the deepest cores of sexual perversion, namely the repetition compulsion and desperation. In this context, the risk of lethal harm, or at least self-harm, is certainly underestimated or even ignored, because the pursuit of pleasure, underpinned by addiction, seriality, and stubbornness, ends up altering the sense of reality. Furthermore, technology has also increased the elements of exhibitionism and voyeurism that negatively impact perceived and experienced corporeality, strengthening other mechanisms. References: 1. Barbieri C., Grattagliano I., Catanesi R., Crimes without a body: reflections on a case series of online crimes, Forensic Sciences Research, 8, 2023, pp.328–331. Doi: 10.1093/fsr/owad035. 2. Barbieri C., Grattagliano I., The phenomenon of destructiveness between the real world and the virtual world, Rassegna Italiana di Criminologia, 1, 2023, pp.50-56. Doi:10.7347/RIC-012023-p50. 3. Waskul, D. D. (2015). Techno-sexuality: The Sexual Pragmatists of the Technological Age. In Weinberg, Th.S. & Newmahr, S. (Eds.), Selves, Symbols, and Sexualities: An Interactionist Anthology (pp. 89-107). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Doi::10.4135/9781483399263.n7. 4. Ross M, Rosser BRS, Stanton J. Beliefs about cybersex and internet-mediated sex of Latino men who have internet sex with men: relationships with sexual practices in cybersex and in real life. AIDS Care. 2004 Nov;16(8):1002-1011.. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540120412331292444