Death erection

A death erection (sometimes referred to as "angel lust") is a post-mortem erectionwhich occurs when a maleindividual dies verticallyor face-down with the cadaverremaining in this position. During life, the pumping of bloodby the heartensures a relatively even distribution around the blood vesselsof the human body. Once this mechanism has ended, only the force of gravityacts upon the blood. As with any mass, the blood settles at the lowest point of the body and causes edemaor swelling to occur; the discoloration caused by this is called lividity.

If an individual dies vertically such as in a hanging, the blood will settle in the legsand pool at the feet. The pressurewill be greatest as the weightof the blood pushes down. This causes the blood vesselsand tissuesin the feet to engorge to their greatest elasticcapacity and hold the greatest volumeof blood possible. This effect occurs right up the legs although to a lesser extent than the feet and is also notable at the waist.

The blood which remains in the torsoattempts to move to a lower position due to gravity, and as the blood in the waist (which cannot move down due to the legs being full) causes the penis, consisting of erectile tissue, to fill with blood and expand. This is the death erection. As long as the body remains in this position the effect will continue.

In popular culture

• In Act 1 of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godotthe two attendants discuss hanging themselves and refer to the death erection.

Estragon: What about hanging ourselves?

Vladimir: Hmm. It'd give us an erection.

Estragon: (highly excited) An erection!

• Kevin Smith's first film Clerks features a scene which describes a death erection, although this is the result of someone dying with an erection, not the aforementioned pooling. It also features a woman having sex with a dead man, thinking he is still alive.
• Six Feet Under Season One, Episode 2, The Will, features a cadaver with "angel lust".
• In the Thomas Harrisnovel, Hannibal Chief Inspector of the Questura, Rinaldo Pazzidies with a death erection after being hanged from a window of the Palazzo Vecchioin Florence, Italy.

See also

• Livor mortis
• Necrophiliade:Postmortale Erektion

is:Dauðaholdris

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death+erection Wikipedia article Death erection.