This is the raw, visceral end. Works like The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum) or certain arcs in Crossed (Garth Ennis) use consumption as the ultimate degradation. The body is not a person; it is calories. These stories are not meant to be erotic. They are designed to provoke nausea and rage. The message is pure misanthropy: Humanity is meat.

Literally translated from the Greek ( gyne for woman, phagein to eat), gynophagia refers to the thematic or literal depiction of the consumption of the female body. Before we proceed, let me be explicit: We are discussing horror, erotic horror, mythology, and surrealist art—not reality.

The Forbidden Table: Exploring the Trope of Gynophagia in Dark Fantasy and Erotic Horror