Performing necrophilia: forms of female dominance in Kissed by Lynne Stopkewich, Nekromantik and Nekromantik 2 by Jörg Buttgereit

The present study aims at analysing female necrophilia in relation to female dominance. In order to do so, the theory elaborated by Judith Butler in Gender Trouble on gender performativity and the studies by Harvey Sacks on Category-Bound Activities are herein employed and problematized. Therefore, the paper proposes to look at representations of female necrophilia as “cover-up” performances of gender supremacy. For the purpose of the analysis, three films that explicitly represent female necrophilia have been chosen and investigated: Kissed (1996) by Canadian director Lynne Stopkewich, Nekromantik (1987) and Nekromantik 2 (1991) by German director Jörg Buttgereit.