A sex expert has issued a serious warning following the rise in popularity of a certain sexual fetish.
Valentine's Day may have come and gone, but love and lust is still in the air - if Google searches are to be any indicator.
More and more people are looking the term up, which is often spoken about in specific online forums such as Reddit, which comes as no surprise.
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It's called Vorarephilia, known as 'vore' for short, and it can be described as the sexual desire 'to consume' or 'be consumed' by a person or creature - essentially wanting to be 'swallowed whole'.
However, this niche fetish has come with its own warning labels, according to sex and relationship expert Hope Flynn.
She has urged couples to focus on communication when it comes to the fetish, as fellow expert Rachel Thompson's research around kinky words and fetishes over a five-year time period revealed that 'vore' and 'voraephilia' is up 26 percent in searches.
Some other terms that increased in popularity were Femboy (+504 percent), Thirst Trap (+335 percent), and Throuple (+230 percent).
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Thompson carried out the study in collaboration with Sensuali, looking at 160 million Google searches, analysing the growth and decline of 100 key words over five years.
Not much is known about the kink, with a report from the National Library of Medicine suggesting that there's little data on the kink, which is consistent with 'basic vorarephilic interests'.
Some of these fantasies can be presented in text or picture form, with specific communities online providing spaces for people with the fetish to share their desires.
Some admissions on social media included a man that wanted to 'eat' his significant other, claiming that he's been having thoughts like this since he was a child.
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He said he wanted to carry out 'soft vore' on her as she is 'the only person I've ever been interested in eating', but his obsession has moved onto 'hard vore'.
The user admitted: "This includes cannibalism: I've been attracted especially to biting at her neck, hands, and nose."
Another said that they discovered their love for vore at a sleepover when wrestling in a sleeping bag.
But sex expert Flynn spoke to Femail, urging couples to be clear with their partner when it comes to vore.
"It's important to know that vore is only fantasy and doesn't involve real harm or eating," she highlighted, adding that there's a 'distinction' between predators, who want to consume, and prey, who want to be consumed.
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Talking more on the influence of social media with this fetish, Flynn said that online communities make it more accessible, adding: "The idea of taking a bite out of someone has been romanticised by films and shows such as Twilight, Vampire Diaries and Venom."
She highlighted that it is still 'very niche' and isn't as popular as many other fetishes, due to its 'unconventional nature', making it 'controversial'.
"Let's be honest, eating another human or being eaten by someone is definitely considered taboo and not your usual everyday activity," Flynn said.
The expert concluded: "People who get involved in vore should communicate openly, establish consent and engage responsibly."
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Community, Social Media
Joshua Nair