History of zoophilia

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Historical and cultural perspectives on zoophilia
)

The history of

mythology and folklore through the classical period and into the Middle Ages (e.g. the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan)[2]
and several ancient authors purported to document it as a regular, accepted practice—albeit usually in "other" cultures.

Explicit legal prohibition of human sexual contact with other animals is a legacy of the

crimes against nature" into civil sodomy
laws, usually remaining a capital crime.

Bestiality remains illegal in most countries. Arguments used to justify this include: it is against religion, it is a "crime against nature," and that non-human animals cannot give consent and that sex with animals is inherently abusive.[4] In common with many paraphilias, the internet has provided a connective platform for the zoophile community, which has lobbied for the recognition of zoophilia (or zoosexuality as an alternative sexuality), and advocated for the legalisation of bestiality.[5]

Prehistory

Depictions of human sexual activity with animals appear infrequently in

Vale do Côa in Portugal. It shows a man with an exaggerated, erect penis juxtaposed with a goat. However, there is some doubt that the two figures are contemporary; while the goat is depicted in characteristic palaeolithic style, the scene may have been altered in a later period with the insertion of the human figure.[6]

From the

petroglyphs have been found with similar scenes.[8]

Classical antiquity

See also: Sexuality in ancient Rome
Leda and the Swan, copy of lost Michelangelo

Several

Europa and the bull, Ganymede and the eagle, and Leda and the Swan.[2] Only the latter legend includes actual copulation between Leda and Zeus in his animal form, but depictions of this act, fairly uncommon in antiquity, became a popular motif in classicising Renaissance art, contributing to a lasting prominence in Western culture.[9]

Zoophilia carving on Rock with Old Kannada script engraved at Kedareshvara Temple, Balligavi

Various classical writers recorded that bestiality was common in other cultures. Herodotus was followed by Pindar, Strabo and Plutarch[citation needed] in alleging that Egyptian women engaged in sexual relations with goats for religious and magical purposes – the animal aspects of Egyptian deities being particularly alien to the Greco-Roman world.[10][11] Conversely, Plutarch and Virgil make similar accusations of the Greeks.

Despite their place in mythology and literature, actual acts of bestiality were probably as uncommon in antiquity as they are today.

lepers from praying inside church if they had committed bestiality while they suffered from leprosy.[13]

Hittite law mandated the death penalty for intercourse with animals, excluding horses and mules (violators were instead barred from the priesthood and from approaching the king).[14]

Europe: Middle Ages

In the Church-oriented culture of the Middle Ages, zoosexual activity was met with execution, typically burning, and death to the animals involved either the same way or by hanging.[citation needed] Sects deemed heretical by the Church such as the Hussites were accused of bestiality.[15] Masters comments that:

"Theologians, bowing to Biblical prohibitions and basing their judgements on the conception of man as a spiritual being and of the animal as a merely carnal one, have regarded the same phenomenon as both a violation of Biblical edicts and a degradation of man, with the result that the act of bestiality has been castigated and anathematized [...]"[citation needed]

In 1468, Jean Beisse, accused of bestiality with a cow on one occasion and a goat on another, was first hanged, then burned. The animals involved were also burned. In 1539, Guillaume Garnier, charged with intercourse with a female dog (described as "sodomy"), was ordered strangled after he confessed under torture. The dog was burned, along with the trial records which were "too horrible and potentially dangerous to be permitted to exist" (Masters). Other accusations of bestiality in the period include the trials of Thomas Weir[16][17][18] and John Atherton.[19][20][21] In 1601, Claudine de Culam, a young girl of sixteen, was convicted of copulating with a dog. Both the girl and the dog were first hanged, and finally burned. In 1735, François Borniche was charged with sexual intercourse with animals. It was greatly feared that "his infamous debauches may corrupt the young men." He was imprisoned, and there is no record of his release.[citation needed] Historians claim there were more than a thousand executions recorded for bestiality in Sweden throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.[22][23]

On the other hand, other accounts are more possibly fictitious, such as

Pietro Damiani's, who in his "De bono religiosi status et variorum animatium tropologia" (11th century) tells of a Count Gulielmus whose pet ape became his wife's lover. One day the ape became "mad with jealousy" on seeing the count lying with his wife that it fatally attacked him. Damiani claims he was told about this incident by Pope Alexander II and shown an offspring claimed to be that of the ape and woman. (Illustrated Book of Sexual Records)[citation needed
]

Clergyman and chronicler

pagan ritual in Ireland.[24][25]

Although thousands of female

familiars, court records available in Europe and the United States, dating back to the 14th century and continuing into the 20th century, nearly always show males, rather than females, as the human parties in court cases. (Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, Humboldt University)[citation needed
]

Further information:
Demons and animals and Animal trial

French Revolution and legal reform

From at least the 13th century and until the

Louis-Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau presented a newly drafted penal code to the National Constituent Assembly. He explained that it outlawed only "true crimes" and not "phoney offenses, created by superstition, feudalism, the tax system, and [royal] despotism." Zoophilia was not mentioned in the new Penal Code (promulgated September 26-October 6, 1791) and thus decriminalized it.[26][27]

19th-Century

In 1835, the Russian Empire criminalized skotolozhstvo (bestiality) in the country. In 1845, the Russian Empire merged both muzhelozhstvo (sodomy) and skotolozhstvo statutes together into a single statute prohibiting protivoestestvennye poroki (vices contrary to nature).[28] On August 20, 1848, Norway adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1687 law that implemented the capital punishment by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor of the fifth degree.[29]

In 1855, the

donkeys as a cure for coxalgia.[30]

In 1852, the

Faroes) adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1683 law that implemented the death penalty at the stake by means of royal pardon for "intercourse against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor ranging from about eight months to six years, which was further reduced with about one third if the penalty was served in solitude.[29] On June 25, 1869, Iceland adopted a new penal code that replaced a 13th-century law mandating death by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) to a punishment of work in a house of correction.[29]

On May 15, 1871, the German Empire enacted Paragraph 175 into the “Reichs-Criminal Code” (RStGB) which outlawed zoophilia and punished it by imprisonment.[31][32] In 1878, the penal code of the Kingdom of Hungary criminalized bestiality with a maximum of one year in prison.[27] Sweden, in 1864, and Grand Duchy of Finland, on December 19, 1889, adopted new penal codes replacing and a 1734 penal code, which applied to both countries and criminalized bestiality with being burnt at the stake. The 1864 Swedish law punished "fornication with animals" (bestiality) with two years hard labor, while the 1889 Finished law punished bestiality with imprisonment for two years.[29]

20th-Century

Plate XVII by Édouard-Henri Avril, De Figuris Veneris (1906)

On June 28, 1935, Nazi Germany enacted legislation that created a separate category in Paragraph 175 for "fornication with animals" and penalized with up to five years in prison.[31]

During the 20th century, zoophilia was legalized in the

Faroes) on January 1, 1933,[29][33] in Iceland on August 12, 1940,[29] in Sweden in 1944,[34] in Hungarian People's Republic in 1961, in West Germany in 1969,[31] in Austria in 1971,[31] in Finland on January 15, 1971,[29][35] and Norway on April 21, 1972.[29]

21st-Century

In 2003, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 lowered the criminal penalty of bestiality in the United Kingdom from life in prison to two years in prison.[36]

In 2006, Denmark's Council for Animal Ethics said there was no need to ban bestiality unless it took place in pornographic films or sex shows. Only one of the 10 members of the council, set up by the Danish Justice Ministry to establish and uphold animal ethics, wanted bestiality expressly prohibited. The other members said current laws provided enough animal protection.[37] Denmark outlawed bestiality in 2015 after all parties except the Liberal Alliance voted in support of a ban, leaving Hungary, Finland and Romania as the only European Union countries without bans on bestiality.[38]

During the 21st century, bestiality was re-criminalized in the following countries or territories:

United States of America: Iowa (illegal since 2001),[39] Maine (illegal since 2001),[40] Oregon (illegal since 2001),[41] Illinois (illegal since January 1, 2003),[42][43] Maryland (illegal since October 1, 2002),[44][45] South Dakota (illegal since July 1, 2003),[46][47][48], Washington (illegal since June 7, 2006),[49][50] Arizona (illegal since September 21, 2006),[51][52][53], Colorado (illegal since July 1, 2007),[54][55][56] Indiana (illegal since July 1, 2007),[57][58] Tennessee (illegal since July 1, 2007),[59][60] Alaska (illegal since September 13, 2010),[61][62] Florida (illegal since October 1, 2011),[63][64][65] and New Mexico (since June 2023).[66]

Outside the United States of America:

France (illegal since March 10, 2004),[67] Belgium (illegal since May 11, 2007),[68][69][70] Netherlands (illegal since 2010),[71] Norway (illegal since January 1, 2010),[72] Australian Capital Territory (illegal since 2011),[73] Germany (illegal since 2013),[74] Sweden (illegal since January 1, 2014),[75] Denmark (illegal since April 2015),[38]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e Cornog, M.; Perper, T. (1994). "Bestiality". In Haeberle, E. J.; Bullough, B. L.; Bullough; et al. (eds.). Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. New York & London: Garland. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  3. ^ a b Leviticus 20:15
  4. ^ Regan, Tom. Animal Rights, Human Wrongs. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, pp. 63-4, 89.
  5. ^ Francis, Thomas (20 August 2009). "Those Who Practice Bestiality Say They're Part of the Next Sexual Rights Movement". Broward Palm Beach New Times. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
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  7. ^ Anati, E. (2008). "The Way of Life Recorded in the Rock Art of Valcamonica" (PDF). Adoranten (2008). Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-19.
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  13. ^ "THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA, HISTORICAL NOTE & CANONS". Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  14. ^ The Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BCE Retrieved 24 July 2013
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  32. ^ Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall
  33. ^ Animal Slaughter is Illegal in Denmark but Animal Prostitution Is Not
  34. ^ Sweden Considering Ban On Beastiality
  35. ^ Kilpinen, Pekka (2001). "Järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa". University of Helsinki (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  36. ^ Intercourse with an animal
  37. ^ Animal sex proposal spurs call for referendum
  38. ^ a b "Denmark passes law to ban bestiality". BBC Newsbeat. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  39. ^ 717C.1. Bestiality
  40. ^ Maine
  41. ^ 167.333. Sexual assault of animal
  42. ^ Erickson, Kurt (July 27, 2002). "Ryan signs anti-bestiality legislation - The Pantagraph Bloomington". HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  43. ^ 5/12-35. Sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal
  44. ^ § 3-322. Unnatural or perverted sexual practice
  45. ^ 2002 Regular Session HOUSE BILL 11
  46. ^ § 22-22-42. Bestiality--Acts constituting--Commission a felony
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  50. ^ 16.52.205. Animal cruelty in the first degree
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  52. ^ "General Effective Dates". Archived from the original on 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  53. ^ § 13-1411. Bestiality; classification; definition
  54. ^ Summarized History for Bill Number HB07-1235
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  56. ^ § 18-9-202. Cruelty to animals--aggravated cruelty to animals--cruelty to a service animal--restitution
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  58. ^ Action List: House Bill 1387
  59. ^ *SB 0487 by *Finney R. ( HB 0953 by *Maggart)
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  75. ^ Sweden set to ban bestiality in 2014

Further reading

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