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The term sexual abuse of animals refers to animals suffering pain, stress or serious discomfort from sexual acts performed on or with the animal by one or more people.

It is also a term which is sometimes applied indiscriminately to sexual contact between humans and animals in general. For this reason, terms such as zoophilia or bestiality are frequently presented as synonyms for the sexual abuse of animals ^[1]. Obviously, this usage of the term implies that any sexual contact with animals is abusive, even if the animal does not suffer pain, stress or serious discomfort from sexual acts performed with them per definition. This notion that all sexual acts with animals are abusive is usually backed by the idea that animals can in no way consent to what is happening and that humans abuse the position they have in relation to the animal to force them in to participating. However, animals are considered to be able to find sexual contact with humans pleasurable ^[2] and for this reason, the definition here only considers sexual abuse those cases where the animal suffers pain, stress or serious discomfort.

[edit] Forms of abuse

The sexual abuse of animals can roughly be devided in to two categories: sexual abuse as a goal and sexual abuse as a side effect. When abuse itself is the goal, meaning that the perpetrator wants the animal to experience pain or discomfort as he or she derives pleasure from this, it is usually considered to be a form of zoosadism. An extreme example of such behaviour is a convicted murderer and horse-ripper from the Netherlands who besides killing a homeless person and attempted murder of three other people also mutilated, occasionally fatally, a large number of horses, ponies and sheep, usually aiming at their genitalia ^[3]. Similar cases are known around the world.

The second category of sexual abuse usually results from ignorance about or lack of interest in animal welfare when performing sexual acts with animals. This may result in harm to animals, even if abuse may not be desired by the person in question. It is not uncommon for animals to be restrained, for example by using ropes or hobbles, to facilitate performing sexual acts with them, or to prevent the animal from hurting the person peforming the act. Animals that are too small and/or young may also suffer pain or injury from sexual acts and the anatomy of some animals, such as birds, makes intercourse with them impossible without pain or injury and in some cases even death. Even without physical pain, animals may also suffer from anxiety or stress because of sexual acts performed on them. In many cases, owners or caretakers of abused animals have noticed changes in their behaviour, such as the animal becoming more nervous when around people. Even if animals are not restrained and do not protest, this does not per definition mean that the animal enjoys the experience and because of this, it can be hard to judge when an act becomes abusive.

Some forms of animal husbandry with a sexual nature are also considered to be abusive by many. An example of this is the production of the hormone replacement medicine Premarin (short for PREgnant MARe's uRINe). The mares are artificially impregnated and kept confined for six months of their pregnancy to be able to collect their urine. Most of the foals and older mares are killed.

[edit] See also

• Zoosexuality and the law
• Research into zoophilia

Parallels with human sexual abuse:

• Sexual abuse
• Rape

[edit] References

1. ^ Example of incorrect use of terminology: [1] - "Animal sexual abuse may also be referred to as zoophilia, bestiality, zooerasty, or sodomy."
2. ^ Masters, in 1962, wrote:

   "Where sadism is not present, there is considerable room for doubt as to whether there is any cruelty. It has always been noted in fact, by ancient historians and up through Kinsey in our own time, that animals tend to become affectionately attached (not only physically) to humans who have sex relations with them, and sometimes have even been known to forsake intercourse with their own kind in testimony to their preference for relations with humans. Whatever one may think of bestiality, this does not sound as if it were an act of cruelty so far as the animal is concerned."

   And ultimately speculated that:

   "One seems forced to conclude, the animal derives a considerable psychical and/or emotional pleasure from sexual contact with a being of a higher nervous, emotional, and intellectual organization, who is somehow able to provide the animal with non-material rewards which another animal is not able to offer."

   Similar findings are also reported by Kinsey (cited by Masters 1962), and others earlier in history. Likewise Miletski (1999) notes that information on sex with animals on the internet is often very emphatic as to how to give pleasure and identify consent beforehand, to the point that "one can find instructions on how to tell if the animal is in the mood for sex."

3. ^ Expatica.com article on Dutch horse-ripper

category:Sexual abuse category:Animal abuse category:Zoosexuality