Piquerism

"picarism" redirects here. Not to be confused with pica (disorder).

Piquerism (derived from the French piquer—"to prick") refers to a sexual interest in penetrating the skin of another person with sharp objects (such as pins, razors, knives, etc.). Sometimes, this is serious enough to cause extreme injuries or even death.^[1] Piquerism is a paraphilia as well as a form of sadism. The most frequently targeted areas of the body are the breasts, buttocks, and groin.^[2]

Examples

Jack the Ripper

Dr. Robert D. Keppel and his colleagues concluded in an analysis of London's Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 that "the injuries sustained by the victims displayed the signature characteristic of picquerism."^[3]

Andrei Chikatilo

A Soviet serial killer who operated in the late 70s and early 80s, the Rostov Ripper, after he murdered his first victim, 9 year old Yelena Zakotnova, was able to achieve erection and orgasm only upon the stabbing and slashing of women and children to death.

Frank Ranieri

A 25-year old American was arrested in June 2007 for bribing multiple young females with large sums of money in exchange for poking their buttocks with sharp objects.^[2]

See also

• London Monster
• Halifax Slasher
• "Pique", an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with piquerism as a main plot element

Footnotes

1. Davis, Mark S. (2002). The concise dictionary of crime and justice. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-7619-2176-9.
2. Griffiths, Mark D. (January 1, 2015). "Life On A Knife Edge". Psychology Today. New York City: Sussex Publishers. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
3. Keppel, Robert D.; Weisz, Joseph G.; Brown, Katherine M.; Welch, Kristen (March 17, 2005). "The Jack the Ripper Murders: A Modus Operandi and Signature Analysis of the 1888–1891 Whitechapel Murders". Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 2 (1). New York City: John Wiley & Sons: 1–21. doi:10.1002/jip.22.