What is bestiality?

Zoophilia (zooerasty) is a paraphilia defined as a person's attraction to animals or the recognition of animals as sexually attractive. The term "zoophilia" was proposed in 1894 by the German psychiatrist Richard Krafft-Ebing in his book "Sexual Psychopathies".

It is no secret that in ancient times the attitude towards sexual attraction to animals and receiving sexual satisfaction in contacts with them differed significantly from the modern one. Primitive man "did not find it strange that a spirit or beast could be inflamed with passion for a human being, as happens with people; and since he was accustomed to anthropomorphizing and even idealizing spirits and animals, he was not at all shocked by the possibility of sexual intercourse with these creatures. On the contrary, their favor is especially attractive to him and inspires a sense of pride. Not only in folklore, but also in everyday life, one can hear "reliable" stories about girls who fell in love with this or that animal, pining for them and suddenly disappearing and then returning as mothers of children born from cohabitation with their beloved ones," writes the leading Russian ethnographer of the late 19th century L. Ya. Sternberg.

Greek mythology provides many examples of sexual relations with animals, not only with gods who took their form (the abduction of Europa, the story of Leda, etc.), but also with genuine representatives of the fauna (the most famous story is about the wife of the Cretan king Minos, Pasiphae, who fell in love with a bull and gave birth to the Minotaur, who was later defeated by Perseus). The mother of Alexander the Great claimed that her son was born from a divine serpent. One of the best examples of ancient prose, Apuleius's Metamorphoses, contains a famous description of sexual intercourse between a "noble and rich matron" and a hero transformed into a donkey (it is important to note that the woman takes him for a real donkey).

The Chinese were no less aware of the sexual capabilities of animals. A Chinese scroll from the 19th century, kept in the Hermitage, contains an image of a European woman offering her genitals to the tongue of a donkey bending over her. The watercolor "Remembering the Beloved Donkey" was also created in the 19th century and is in one of Moscow's private collections. It is curious to note that the donkey is dreamed of by a man - a participant in a heterosexual erotic scene.

The servants of the Asia Minor cult of Baal - "dedicated" youths (called kedeschim in Hebrew) not only engaged in prostitution for the benefit of the temple, but also kept special dogs trained for the same purpose. The money received from the sale of these dogs was called "dog's fee". The spread of bestiality among the ancient Jews can be judged by the fact that it was specifically prohibited by the commandments of Moses: "You shall not lie with any animal to defile yourself with it, and a woman shall not commit adultery with an animal... Whoever defiles himself with an animal - death to him! And the animal likewise" (Leviticus, 18, 22; 20, 11).

Thus, zoophilia (or zooerasty, bestiality, sodomy, bestialism, bestiophilia) is located, as it were, at the poles of sexuality, being an occupation for intellectually limited individuals (shepherds, grooms, who are in conditions of prolonged isolation from representatives of the opposite sex) or, on the contrary, one of the ways of obtaining unusual, exquisite pleasures for people satiated with everything else.

Zoophilia of the first type is widespread in livestock areas, especially where premarital relations and female infidelity are strictly punished, so that young men can begin their sexual life only after marriage. (In some villages there is a tradition of "testing" young men of 15-16 years old and teaching them the technique of coitus with the help of a donkey.) According to A. Kinsey, 40-50% of young people in rural areas have had zoophilic contacts, and in 17% of cases they ended in ejaculation and orgasm. As a rule, domestic animals act as objects of sexual satisfaction: goats, sheep, donkeys, mares, cows, but there are cases of sexual contacts with poultry (chickens, geese) and small animals (rabbits, etc.), which is usually accompanied by sadism.

Zoophilia of the second type is described in detail in European literature - from de Sade and the works of French romanticism of the first quarter of the 19th century to the sensational bestseller of the modern porn star Sylvia Bourdon "Love is a holiday". Here is how Bourdon describes her first experience with a Newfoundland: "I was overcome by an unusual orgasm, which I had never experienced before. I enjoyed both sexually and intellectually, rejoicing at the successfully realized idea, and he, spread out on me, purred, flooding me with saliva. He only lacked words."

However, according to statistics, zoophilia is less common among women and is more often performed as cunnilingus with dogs and cats. Using animals for self-stimulation is quite understandable, because they live together with humans, often become true friends, so there may be a desire to trust them physically. In addition, they will not tell anyone about the owner's sexual fantasies. However, it should be remembered that their mind is still inferior to that of humans. In clinical practice, there is a known case when an elderly woman, using a cat for self-stimulation, lubricated her clitoris with tincture of valerian. The owner "switched off" for some time from strong sensations, and the animal, also unable to stop, scratched her genitals.

In addition, when making love to animals, you need to take into account the peculiarities of their sexual behavior and the structure of their genitals, which can be very different from humans. For example, a dog's penis has cartilage, which, when fully filled with blood, becomes transverse to the penis and returns to its original position only after ejaculation. If the diameter of the hole where the penis is inserted is smaller than this cartilage, then removing the erect penis can be painful for both humans and dogs.

It is difficult to give a clear answer to the question of treating zoophilia. Classical sexopathology considers it a transitory, substitution perversion. On the other hand, a modern view of the problem suggests the need to treat sexual deviations that pose a social danger or are a disturbing factor for their carrier. Thus, it must be recognized that as long as zoophilia, that is, self-stimulation with the help of animals does not harm them or torment the person himself, it remains his personal matter.