Opening the Files: ZOOPHILIA

Zoophilia has been practiced since the ancient times but it still remains a taboo. Read about zoophilia from psychoanalytic point of view.

Zoophilia is still a taboo

Zoophilia or bestiality is considered as one of the biggest taboos among sexual practices. We know from history of culture, art and the genre that the bigger the taboos are, the greater the pleasure is when they are destroyed. Bestiality is as old as humanity. We find most examples in ancient myths and stories, where divinities get near to mere mortals in the form of a specific animal. Just remember Leda who is visited by Zeus in the form of a swan and Zeus’s mistress Io who had an affair with a bull. Zeus also changed into a bull when he took Cadmus’s sister Europa. In ancient times, they believed in the magic of the sexual union between man and beast. The only ones who were capable to create offspring in this sacred union were their gods.

Zoophilia from the psychoanalytic point of view

The development of psychoanalysis has also encouraged more detailed research of human sexuality and Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), an American biologist and one of the pioneer researchers in this area, also focused on zoophilia in his report, which caused a great stir in the conservative American public. From 20,000 people involved in the poll, he came across almost a hundred American people who have reached an orgasm more than three times when in contact with an animal. Kinsey’s findings lead us to conclude that men are predominant in this group. Most cases stem from the rural environment. According to him, zoophilia is limited to adolescence and should end when a youth establishes a sexual relationship with a person of the opposite or same sex. Kinsey believes that human beings get sexually close to an animal due to sheer curiosity or when there’s no other way to satisfy their needs.

Richard Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902), German psychiatrist, neurologist, criminologist and professor at the University of Vienna published the famous Psychopathio Sexualis in 1886, where he was the first to systematically classify sexual deviations and try to explain them scientifically. He defined zoophilia as a form of fetishism which stems from a natural oversensitivity of sensory nerves. In other words, petting pets can cause sexual arousal which leads to coitus with a psychologically immature person with a sexual drive that becomes active too soon. Krafft-Ebing is also the author of the coined term zooerastia, which distinguishes zoophilia from the cases where sexual intercourse with animals occurs from pathological tendencies. The psychoanalytical explanation of zoophilia is also interesting: a zoophile feels no fear and duty for the object of desire. The object will not take vengeance if the person cheats or leaves this object. It’s exactly the absence of these emotions that enables the zoophile to experience a more perfect type of sexual enjoyment. It’s generally considered that sexual relations with an animal cause anxiety, especially because of the fear from social stigma and mocking. It is worrying when it becomes a regular form of sexual activity and when it affects the establishment of bonds and sexual connections with human partners. In such a case, the end of sexual intercourse with animals doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the relationships with men or women will improve.

Read more about sexual deviations in the Encyclopedia of Sexuality.