Dilemmas in treating self-identifying vampires

This week’s Vampire Study of the Week is:

“Do We Always Practice What We Preach? Real Vampires’ Fears of Coming out of the Coffin to Social Workers and Helping Professionals,” D.J. Williams and Emily E. Prior, Critical Social Work, vol. 16, no. 1, 2015, pp. 79-92. (Thanks to Ivan Oransky for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Idaho State University, the College of the Canyons, and the Center for Positive Sexuality, explain:

Nobody knows an exact number, but there are many people worldwide who self-identify as vampires (Atlanta Vampire Alliance, 2007). Despite the use of the word “vampire,” people with such alternative identities do not seem to be psychologically and socially unstable (Browning, in press; Laycock, 2009a, 2009b; Williams, 2008, 2009). Even still, it is not surprising that vampires prefer to keep these alternative identities private (i.e., stay “in the coffin”) due to fears of being misunderstood and discriminated against (Williams, 2008)….

The first author of this study has worked specifically with self-identified vampires for over five years, and both authors have considerable experience working amicably with multiple alternative communities…. Approval to conduct the study was granted through a university institutional review board (IRB). Well-established and personally known contacts, who are vampire leaders in Atlanta, Georgia, were asked to select 11 adult participants through purposive sampling. In an effort to ensure self-identities were chronic and stable, participants were included if they self-identified as vampires for several years.

Here is a photo of lead author D.J. Williams, who has worked specifically with self-identified vampires for over five years:

Here are the studies to which the study alludes:

Browning, J. E. (in press). The real vampires of New Orleans and Buffalo: A research note

towards comparative ethnography. Palgrave Communications.

Laycock, J. (2009a). Vampires today: The truth about modern vampirism. Westport, CT:

Praeger.

Laycock, J. (2009b). Modern vampires: Your neighbors and spouses. Religion Dispatches (May

28, 2009). Retrieved on October 29, 2009 from: http://www.religiondispatches.org

Laycock, J. (2010). Real vampires as an identity group: Analyzing the causes and effects of an

introspective survey by the vampire community. Nova Religion, 14, 4-23.

Williams, D J (2008). Contemporary vampires and (blood-red) leisure: Should we be afraid of

the dark? Leisure/Loisir, 32, 513-539.

Williams, D J (2009). Deviant leisure: Rethinking “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” Leisure

Sciences, 31, 207-213.