Monday, November 1, 2010

On Bestiality


Peter Singer reminds us that not so long ago any form of sexual expression that did not result in the conception of a child was perceived to be, at best, wanton lust, or at worst, a perversion. Over time we’re seeing that, one by one, taboos are falling, and bigots and stigmatisers progressively becoming defeated. Thankfully, most people aren’t offended by the idea of more creative, alternative expressions to the traditional, “let’s make a baby and nothing more” method between two people, or by solitary practices and indulgences, which in some faiths are still acknowledged as a form of ‘self-abuse’. Things like contraception, homosexuality and pornography had all at one point in time provoked widespread moral panic and are now widely accepted with applause and enthusiasm.

The idea of bestiality in common contemporary thinking is however very different. Regularly condemned in the same arena as paedophilia, the practice of bestiality is considered outrageously immoral. Despite this, reported occurrences of humans coupling with animals are apparently not so rare. In the 1940s, Kinsey, in his famous endeavour into the private lives of ordinary (and not so ordinary) people, surveyed twenty thousand Americans and found that 8% of males and 3.5% of females reported that they had, at some time, had a sexual encounter with an animal. Among men living in rural areas the figure reached 50%.


Carved on the exterior of a temple in
Khajuraho
 While there have been no solid indication that at any point in history, bestiality had once been accepted and embraced, fragments from the past certainly reveal humanity’s perpetual fascination with the concept of sexual intimacy between man and beast, depicting such transgressive acts in art, sculpture and mythology. An illustration dating back from the Bronze Age was uncovered depicting a man having sex with a large, quadruped beast of indeterminate species, a vase from ancient Greece shows a man having sex with a stag, an Indian miniature from the seventeenth century portrays a deer mounting a woman and from nineteenth century Japan, one that I find most amusing, a traditional style drawing depicts a woman tangled in the tentacles of a pleasuring, giant octopus. Today, while the subject still remains deeply taboo, there is no shortage of pornographic websites dedicated to offering people footage and images of women and men engaging in erotic activities with various farm animals, readily available for an evidently substantial demographic.


German lifestyle magazine
pushing the boundaries
 If we were to take Singer’s rationalist stance, it would seem that the only problem with such practices is animal abuse, but this highlights the apparent inconsistencies in social attitudes concerning animal welfare. Take meat consumption for example: is slaughtering an animal to satisfy our taste and hunger more justifiable than having sex with an animal to satisfy our sexual hunger? This is a typical argument made by proponents of legalised zoophilia, who also point out the difference that certain animals, such as dogs, may visibility consent to such activities. But while we’ve all been in that embarrassing situation of kicking away our lustful canines from frantically rubbing up against the legs of our houseguests, the idea that such affections could ever be reciprocated remains very hard for most of us to stomach.

20 comments:

  1. One wonders, can a dog give informed consent? :-)
    As usual you have raised a thought provoking topic that many might find hard to stomach.

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  2. I guess it won't be that long before bestiality is acceptable too.

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  3. Another brilliant post I'm forwarding the link on.

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  4. Yet another very interesting post, Val.

    I don't think beastiality will ever been widely accepted because it is animal abuse. Even if the dog supposedly is 'into' it, that's only because he or she doesn't have access to mates of their own species. I'm a vegetarian, by the way, and believe that killing animals to satisfy hunger is wrong. Having sex with them is just as wrong in my book.

    Jai

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  5. There is an email in my inbox from a man who wanted to be hugged by a female gorilla until his bones cracked. He seemed to be serious, because jokers usually comment rather than send emails. I advised him to find a female bodybuilder instead. I don't believe there are animals that want to have sex with humans. The smells are all wrong.

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  6. WTF? I hope it never becomes accepted.

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  7. But dogs can't fill the dishwasher. Until they can do that, with appropriate training, I'm just not interested. No matter how long their tongues.

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  8. Someone once said the difference between humans and animals is that humans are not afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

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  9. You have a point about animal cruelty. That aside however - I'd rather eat them than copulate with them. Sooo sick.

    Makes you wonder about all those beast-men depictions in mythology however.

    ......dhole

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  10. You are the only one I trust to take the topic of beastiality and turn it into a thought-provoking article that offers facts without sensationalism. Personally, the whole idea creeps me out terribly, but you handled the issue well and provided interesting information on it, too. Well done.

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  11. I echo Janene's observation -- you are adept at tackling any subject forcing the reader to actually stop and consider things that we would otherwise shy away from....and throw in a historical perspective to boot. While I cannot imagine bestiality on anyone's sexual plate, I know understand more about it.

    Which is why I keep returning to your essays.

    Thanks.

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  12. If an octopus comes on to you I say go for it!

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  13. Well, this explains miniature horses.

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  14. Speaking of bestiality there is one must read: The History of Bestiality by Jens Bjørneboe. It's a trilogy consisting of the books Moment of Freedom, Powderhouse and The Silence.

    Cold As Heaven

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  15. Bestiality can be seen in the same light as child sexual abuse. Children might go along with it, but not because they consent, rather because they do not know what else to do and the person that is doing this to them is usually someone they trust, which is probably the case when pets are molested by their owners!

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  16. Ivana

    This is exactly the type of counter argument presented to Singer. He however is silent on the topic of sex with children.

    I still think there is a key difference though. Even if no physical harm is done to a child, we assume that the harm is psychological, this idea of "taking their innocence" impinges on what is believed to be their moral development etc

    With animals I don't think this same logic can be applied.

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  17. My only reaction is a primitive, animalistic "Ewwww." Sorry. I'm not nearly as sophisticated as you. xo

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  18. Hmmm..you've been silent for a while.

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  19. wow.
    gross, but wow.

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  20. Being a canine zoophile myself, I applaud your ponderings. Thank you for considering this rationally.

    I won't detail it here, but dogs can consent via body language, with an indication of "tail flagging". A dog would, in fact, consent to a human, due to the loose pack trait remnants that they possess from their wild ancestors. A single dog living with a single human (as many zoophiles do) sees that human as a member of the new pack and thus an appropriate sexual partner - the pack overrides species in a dog's mind.

    Again, peace and thank you. Sorry for the late reply.

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