Vampirism

The vampire lifestyle or vampire subculture is an alternative lifestyle. The vampire subculture has stemmed largely from the goth subculture, but also incorporates some elements of the sadomasochism subculture. The Internet provides a prevalent forum for the subculture along with other media such as glossy magazines devoted to the topic.

Many self-professed vampires actively resent the term "lifestylers", as it tends to carry the connotation that vampirism is not real.

Active vampirism within the vampire subculture includes both sanguinarian vampirism, which involves blood consumption, and psychic vampirism, whose practitioners believe they are drawing spiritual nourishment from auric or pranic energy.

The vampire and therian subcultures are related to the otherkin community, and are considered part of it by most otherkin, but are culturally and historically distinct movements of their own despite some overlap in membership.

Like Dracula and other literary vampires, some traditions of modern vampires drink blood, either animal or human, although human is preferred. They claim they need blood to make up for a deficiency of proper energy processing within the body, or that it helps them gain energy and strength.

The link between vampirism and sexuality was present even before Stoker’s Dracula. With the modern vampire movement, “eroticism has become so entwined with the contemporary vampire scene that popular vampire magazines, like Bloodstone, include previews of the latest vampire pornography, featuring combined acts of sex and blood-letting.” This focus on sex and sexuality stems from vampire literature. In fact, sexual attraction was the most frequent response in a survey conducted among a group of 574 college and high school participants, where the participants were asked what they found most appealing about vampires and vampire literature.

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