Zoophilia is a paraphilia in which a person experiences a sexual fixation on non-human animals.[1][2] Bestiality instead refers to cross-species sexual activity between humans and non-human animals.[a] Because of the lack of research on the subject, it is difficult to conclude how prevalent bestiality is.[4] Zoophilia on the other hand, was estimated that to be prevalent in 2% of the population in 2021.[5] The historical perspective on zoophilia and bestiality varies greatly, from the prehistoric era, where depictions of bestiality appear in European rock art,[6] to the Crow and Ojibwe tribes where bestiality was a historically accepted practice,[7] to the Middle Ages, where bestiality was met with execution. In many parts of the world today, bestiality is illegal under animal abuse laws or laws dealing with sodomy or crimes against nature.
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The term zoophilia was introduced into the field of research on sexuality in Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) by Krafft-Ebing, who described a number of cases of "violation of animals (bestiality)",[13] as well as "zoophilia erotica",[14] which he defined as a sexual attraction to animal skin or fur. The term zoophilia derives from the combination of two nouns in Greek: ζῷον (zṓion, meaning "animal") and φιλία (philia, meaning "(fraternal) love"). In general contemporary usage, the term zoophilia may refer to sexual activity between human and non-human animals, the desire to engage in such, or to the specific paraphilia (i.e., the atypical arousal) which indicates a definite preference for animals over humans as sexual partners. Although Krafft-Ebing also coined the term zooerasty for the paraphilia of exclusive sexual attraction to animals,[15] that term has fallen out of general use[citation needed].
Some zoophiles and researchers draw a distinction between zoophilia and bestiality, using the former to describe the desire to form sexual relationships with animals, and the latter to describe the sex acts alone.[17] Confusing the matter yet further, writing in 1962, William H. Masters used the term bestialist specifically in his discussion of zoosadism.[citation needed]
Stephanie LaFarge, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School, and Director of Counseling at the ASPCA, writes that two groups can be distinguished: bestialists, who rape or abuse animals, and zoophiles, who form an emotional and sexual attachment to animals.[18] Colin J. Williams and Martin Weinberg studied self-defined zoophiles via the internet and reported them as understanding the term zoophilia to involve concern for the animal's welfare, pleasure, and consent, as distinct from the self-labelled zoophiles' concept of "bestialists", whom the zoophiles in their study defined as focused on their own gratification. Williams and Weinberg also quoted a British newspaper saying that zoophilia is a term used by "apologists" for bestiality.[19]
By 1974, the farm population in the USA had declined by 80 percent compared with 1940, reducing the opportunity to live with animals; Hunt's 1974 study suggests that these demographic changes led to a significant change in reported occurrences of bestiality. The percentage of males who reported sexual interactions with animals in 1974 was 4.9% (1948: 8.3%), and in females in 1974 was 1.9% (1953: 3.6%). Miletski believes this is not due to a reduction in interest but merely a reduction in opportunity.[22]
In one study, psychiatric patients were found to have a statistically significant higher prevalence rate (55 percent) of reported bestiality, both actual sexual contacts (45 percent) and sexual fantasy (30 percent) than the control groups of medical in-patients (10 percent) and psychiatric staff (15 percent).[24] Crépault and Couture (1980) reported that 5.3 percent of the men they surveyed had fantasized about sexual activity with an animal during heterosexual intercourse.[25] In a 2014 study, 3% of women and 2.2% of men reported fantasies about having sex with an animal.[26] A 1982 study suggested that 7.5 percent of 186 university students had interacted sexually with an animal.[27] A 2021 review estimated zoophilic behavior occurs in 2% of the general population.[5]
Beetz described the phenomenon of zoophilia/bestiality as being somewhere between crime, paraphilia and love, although she says that most research has been based on criminological reports, so the cases have frequently involved violence and psychiatric illness. She says only a few recent studies have taken data from volunteers in the community.[42] As with all volunteer surveys and sexual ones in particular, these studies have a potential for self-selection bias.[43]
Instances of zoophilia and bestiality have been found in the Bible,[45] but the earliest depictions of bestiality have been found in a cave painting from at least 8000 BC in the Northern Italian Val Camonica a man is shown about to penetrate an animal. Raymond Christinger interprets the cave painting as a show of power of a tribal chief,[46] it is unknown if this practice was then more acceptable, and if the scene depicted was usual or unusual or whether it was symbolic or imaginary.[47] According to the Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art, the penetrating man seems to be waving cheerfully with his hand at the same time. Potters of the same time period seem to have spent time depicting the practice, but this may be because they found the idea amusing.[6] The anthropologist Dr "Jacobus X",[b] said that the cave paintings occurred "before any known taboos against sex with animals existed".[49] William H. Masters claimed that "since pre-historic man is prehistoric it goes without saying that we know little of his sexual behavior";[50] depictions in cave paintings may only show the artist's subjective preoccupations or thoughts.
In Part II of his Summa Theologica, medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas ranked various "unnatural vices" (sex acts resulting in "venereal pleasure" rather than procreation) by degrees of sinfulness, concluding that "the most grievous is the sin of bestiality".[54] Some Christian theologians extend Matthew's view that even having thoughts of adultery is sinful to imply that thoughts of committing bestial acts are likewise sinful.
In many jurisdictions, all acts of bestiality are prohibited; others outlaw only the mistreatment of animals, without specific mention of sexual activity. In the United Kingdom, Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (also known as the Extreme Pornography Act) outlaws images of a person performing or appearing to perform an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive).[58] Despite the UK Ministry of Justice's explanatory note on extreme images saying "It is not a question of the intentions of those who produced the image. Nor is it a question of the sexual arousal of the defendant",[59] "it could be argued that a person might possess such an image for the purposes of satire, political commentary or simple grossness," according to The Independent.[60]
Laws on bestiality are sometimes triggered by specific incidents.[77] While some laws are very specific, others employ vague terms such as "sodomy" or "bestiality", which lack legal precision and leave it unclear exactly which acts are covered. In the past, some bestiality laws may have been made in the belief that sex with an animal could result in monstrous offspring, as well as offending the community. Current anti-cruelty laws focus more specifically on animal welfare while anti-bestiality laws are aimed only at offenses to community "standards".[78]Notable legal views include Sweden, where a 2005 report by the Swedish Animal Welfare Agency for the government expressed concern over the increase in reports of horse-ripping incidents. The agency believed current animal cruelty legislation was not sufficient in protecting animals from abuse and needed updating, but concluded that on balance it was not appropriate to call for a ban.[79] In New Zealand, the 1989 Crimes Bill considered abolishing bestiality as a criminal offense, and instead viewing it as a mental health issue, but they did not, and people can still be prosecuted for it. Under Section 143 of the Crimes Act 1961, individuals can serve a sentence of seven years duration for animal sexual abuse and the offence is considered 'complete' in the event of 'penetration'.[80]
As of 2022, bestiality is illegal in 48 U.S. states. Most state bestiality laws were enacted between 1999 and 2022.[82] Until 2005, there was a farm near Enumclaw, Washington that was described as an "animal brothel", where people paid to have sex with animals. After an incident on 2 July 2005, when a man was pronounced dead in the emergency room of the Enumclaw community hospital after his colon ruptured due to having had anal sex with a horse, the farm garnered police attention. The state legislature of the State of Washington, which had been one of the few states in the United States without a law against bestiality, within six months passed a bill making bestiality illegal.[83][84] Arizona,[85] Alaska,[86] Florida,[87] Alabama,[88] New Jersey,[89] New Hampshire,[61] Ohio,[90] Texas,[91] Vermont,[92] and Nevada[93] have banned sex with animals between 2006 and the present, with the latter five all banning it in 2017. In 2021, Wyoming and Hawaii passed legislation banning bestiality.[94][95] When such laws are proposed, they are never questioned or debated.[96][97]
In Japan, animal pornography is used to bypass censorship laws, often featuring models performing fellatio on animals, because oral penetration of a non-human penis is not in the scope of Japanese pixelization censorship. While primarily underground, there are a number of animal pornography actresses who specialize in bestiality movies. 2ff7e9595c
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